While TV has plenty of respectable actors of its own, everyone knows that movie actors are the stars that truly shine the brightest. For years, though, only the best and/or worst movie actors have had the talent (or lack thereof) to make it on TV. Actors like Mads Mikkelsen, Zooey Deschanel, and Christian Slater made the jump from movies to regular roles on TV, and, at the very least, they all managed to avoid burning anything down. Some more than others.
Now, sadly, we won’t get to see Paul Giamatti do the same, as FX has decided not to pick up the pilot for Hoke, a darkly comic detective show that Giamatti was set to star in. This news comes via Deadline, which also reports that Hoke is the only drama pilot ordered by FX this year that it is not moving forward with. The other two, Tyrant and The Strain, did get series orders, as evidenced by their confusing commercials that constantly air on that channel. Deadline also points out that FX did pick up nine comedy pilots, since it’s trying to bolster the ranks of its FXX offshoot a little more, which seems to suggest that the network wasn’t really interested in paying for too many dramas when all it wanted was comedies.
At least Giamatti can return to Hollywood now and appear in more Spider-Man movies. That’s the other mark of a great/terrible actor.