Deadline reported today that Michael Connelly is looking to create a television series featuring Hieronymus “Harry” Bosch, the character that has appeared in over seventeen of his award-winning bestsellers.
Connelly is working with Fuse Entertainment (BURN NOTICE, THE KILLING) and producer Eric Overmyer (TREME, LAW & ORDER). Overmyer would act as the showrunner. The article stated that no deal is currently in place and that the plans are to cable first with the idea of doing 1-2 stories (novels) a season.
Bosch is a homicide cop that served in Vietnam as a tunnel rat. That background plays a role in the first novel, BLACK ECHO. Bosch was orphaned at an early age when his mother, a prostitute, was murdered. Bosch has an unwavering sense of right and wrong and often clashes with authority.
I really think Overmyer is the key to this not only getting made, but getting made well. He has a background not just as a producer, but has written as well. He has worked with David Simon not just on Treme, but on Homicide: Life On The Streets and The Wire as well. He has worked on three Law & Order series (original, CI and SVU) and wrote the screenplay for the television version of Rear Window that starred the late Christopher Reeves. So his shows have had not just commercial success, but critical as well.
Cable definitely makes the most sense. The two cablers that make the most sense would be TNT and FX, both have the budgets needed to make this happen and it would fit with their programming. Each of them has had success with dramas based on crime novels (FX with Justified and TNT with Rizzoli & Isles) and that might make them a little more interested. USA seems a little too lite for the like of Bosch and I just don’t think AMC and A&E could afford to bankroll this sort of thing. HBO or Showtime would not be out of the question, but this is not the sort of thing they usually go for.