BS ventures into science-fiction territory in its upcoming series Century City, about a law firm in 2030 Los Angeles. The firm of Crane, Constable, McNeil & Montero has a practice on the cutting edge of society's trends, dealing with cases that test ethical and moral boundaries.
In a future of holographic judges and genetic engineering, the firms handles such cases as the one in which parents sue their doctor for problems with their child's genetic mapping, or the one in which a baseball player sues the league for firing him because he has an artificial eye. Is a man guilty of theft for stealing back his identify from his ex-fiance, who has uploaded his "presence" into all of her electronics? Does an abusive mother have the right to stop her ex-husband from erasing her from their child's memory?
Century City stars Hector Elizondo as Martin Constable, Viola Davis as Hannah Crane, Ioan Gruffudd as Lukas Gold, Nestor Carbonell as Tom Montero, Eric Schaeffer as Darwin McNeil and Kristin Lehman as the "genetically re-engineered" lawyer Lee May Bristol. Paul Attanasio and Katie Jacobs (Gideon's Crossing) and Ed Zuckerman (Law and Order) will executive produce the series, which premieres March 16 and airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT. The cast and producers talked with Science Fiction Weekly recently about the show; the following is taken from interviews and a press panel conducted at the network's January winter press tour in Hollywood, Calif.
Ed Zuckerman, Century City seems to be science fiction, but you're really trying to prognosticate things that will actually be.
Zuckerman: It's all extrapolated from what's happening right now. When I read about these fish in Israel that have had their memories chemically altered to forget traumatic experiences, well, it's one step from that to human beings who can have their memories altered to forget traumatic memories.
And then you get to a court case [about] a divorced couple [in which] the mom brutalizes the son, and the dad has sole custody, and the kid's messed up. It's post-traumatic stress syndrome. So if you could actually make your child better by erasing his traumatic memories, you would want to do it.
But then mom says, "Wait a minute. I was a bad mother, but to wipe me out of my son's mind is above and beyond any punishment that I conceivably deserve." And you have a trial. And you have a story.
Were any of the producers science-fiction fans?
Zuckerman: I'm not a hard-core science-fiction fan. It's technically science fiction. Anything that prognosticates the future. But [when] science fiction is generally delivered in the media, there's sort of this cliche of the future, this sort of dark, Blade Runner-ish future. And I loved Blade Runner 20 years ago, but now I've seen it 500 times. And I think [a] more realistic future is like today, but it's down the road.
By having a near-term, bright future that is based in today more than it's based in any gimmicks or gadgets or huge societal changes, I mean, you see many using the term science-fiction where everyone's wearing spandex uniforms and stuff, and that's just not realistic.
People are likely to see this and think L.A. Law 50 years from now, but that's not really what this is.
Zuckerman: I'm happy if they do think L.A. Law. L.A. Law was a great show. I was a huge fan of L.A. Law. And I think we are going for something of that same tone, where we have multiple cases, we have pieces that are very dramatic, we have a lot of humor in the show. ... So I think we have something of that tone, and that's not a bad thing.
Will there be personality stories about the lawyers themselves?
Zuckerman: It's a balance. I think in a new show it's easier to gain interest by interesting stories going on, and I spent years on Law and Order where it's all the stories and nothing with the personalities. So it'll be a balance. I think we have characters that can develop in interesting ways, and they will be.
Technology evolves so fast, is there a point where you worry about being overtaken by advances in reality?
Zuckerman: It's already happening. I mean, we are managing to stay ahead, but not nearly as far as we once thought likely. But actually, that's not crucial. As long as we are the least little bit ahead, that makes a provocative viewing, I think.
Paul Attanasio, how did you come up with the look of your future city?
Attanasio: Our idea of the future is an optimistic future, so that's why there's no wide lapels [laughs]. Seriously, we wanted to portray a future in which progress continues. There's reason for hope and optimism. But that progress has its own problems and costs, and how much progress is progress?
We wanted to shy away from the kind of blue-light, metal technology, science-fiction look and look more like a future which is really what the futurologists talk about: [something] more organic, more green and more with miniaturization. The technology is in the background. The people actually will be in the foreground. ... We consulted a lot of people who actually call themselves futurologists, which is a great job to have.
Katie Jacobs: The futuristic element of the show ... of the virtual assistant that Darwin gets, we talked to a lot of futurists about whether or not you would still have people as your assistants. And the fact of the matter is that in the upper-level executives, these lawyers would absolutely have human beings, because human beings are always going to be able to do more. But we want to let you into the world of what's possible.
So [McNeil] gets punished and has a virtual assistant from the same old reason that today you might be banned from having an assistant. So we will go there with future technology when it makes sense for our story. But we won't have flying cars, because the truth is we actually don't believe that we will have flying cars 25 years in the future.
Kristin Lehman, your character is described as being "genetically re-engineered." What does that mean?
Lehman: It's the concept of, as we know now, genetically modified foods, enhancing certain things, taking out certain things. ... She was part of an experimental program that looks at the possibility of eliminating susceptibility to certain diseases and enhancing certain qualities that will ensure long life, health and success in society. ...
[But] I've played her as completely human, just having the knowledge that there are certain things that she's not susceptible to. She innately strong. She is innately smart. She is all of these things. And that also brings up some really interesting paradoxes, like how does that affect one's emotional life?
Ioan Gruffudd, did you have to play your character as American? [Gruffudd is Welsh and is best known to TV audiences for playing the title character in A&E's Horatio Hornblower.]
Gruffudd: Yes. He is an American character, and that was one of the elements that attracted me to the project ... a chance to play an American character. I certainly didn't want to make him British. And certainly CBS and Paul and Katie didn't want to make him British. I'm an actor, and hopefully I have that ability to present myself in many different coats, and this is just a new string to my bow, I hope.
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