TCA: Chris Albrecht On 'Spartacus', Comedy

Spartacus: Blood and Sand will continue. Ending months of speculation, Starz president and CEO Chris Albrecht confirmed that the costume drama will proceed with Season 2. "We are officially going ahead with the long planned but unfortunately delayed second season of Spartacus," he said at the opening of Starz's TCA session. "We don?t have casting news but ... we?re very confident where we are in the casting process that we will find an actor who will step in the sandals of Spartacus although we will never be able to replace (cancer-stricken original star) Andy Whitfield." In November, Starz flew 3 actors to New Zealand, with one of them, Australian Liam McIntyre, still in the running for the lead as he is bulking up for the task. Albrecht was unapologetic about the channel's creative direction towards noisy, commercial dramas or as he called it "premium TV-flavored popcorn. "We're leaving the quiet dramas to other networks." Here are few more soundbites from Albrecht's short impromptu Q&A: - On how Starz is able to do expensive-looking costume dramas like Spartacus and Camelot: "We borrowed costumes from Rome," a series he once launched on HBO. - On Starz's decision to get out of the comedy series business with the cancellation of Party Down: "We're not a very funny group." He then added: "We decided to focus on one-hour dramas, those are the kind of productions that travel better. And it takes one to fill an ... Read More »

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