"Diamonds" Mini-Series to Air Memorial Day Weekend

It *MUST* be trashy if it knocks the gold-hearted and never evil
diamond industry. you're pathetic, my friend. diamonds suck, and
slowly but surely i'll change the tide towards other more precious
stones.

Hi Paul ... Regarding the budget, the deal seems to be: This
mini-series was done for an overseas producer, made for $15
million, and was purposely filled with international actors, so it
can be shown in different markets. ABC bought it, and now has a
fancy high-budget miniseries for a low cost (at a time networks
want to cut expenses.)

Rob – Thanks much for posting this. It’s obvious some
producer just isn’t going to let this subject go –
sadly. For me, I’ve always judged a production (film, TV or
mini-series) based on casting and the budget earmarked for the
project. Judy Davis (an Aussie) and James Purefoy (a Brit) are both
accomplished actors that don’t come cheap. This indicates to
me on a cursory level that ABC put some fairly serious resources
behind this mini-series. And, the production budget was $15
million. I know, this isn’t much in terms of production
budgets, but it demonstrates someone thought this much money was
worth at least this amount of money. Another thought is the
mini-series is simply a rip-off of a subject used in a James Bond
and Leonardo DiCaprio movies. I did a quick Google search and found
the article below on “Variety” online. The industry can
only hope that this ABC mini-series will air when “American
Idol” or “Dancing with the Stars” is on. Read on:
ABC picks ups 'Diamonds' miniseries Judy Davis, James Purefoy star
in project By MICHAEL SCHNEIDER ABC has mined the international TV
landscape for "Diamonds," picking up the four-hour movie starring
Judy Davis and James Purefoy from Alchemy TV and Sienna Films.
Alphabet web plans to air the project in late May, but is still
ironing out its early summer plans. "Diamonds" was financed outside
of the U.S. and originally developed and produced for Canada's CBC
by Sienna Films. Alchemy TV put together the $15 million miniseries
through a co-production between Canada and the U.K. Besides ABC and
the CBC (which airs the longform in April), "Diamonds" already has
been sold in territories including France (Canal Plus) and Spain
(Antena 3). "Diamonds" features five storylines linked to the
"personal and political effects of the blood diamond trade on a
global scale." Davis stars as a U.S. senator who travels to Africa
to find out why her daughter was killed at a diamond mine in Sierra
Leone. Derek Jacobi, Louise Rose and Joanne Kelly also star, while
Andy Wilson directed and David Vainola wrote. "Diamonds" was shot
in South Africa and Canada. Alchemy TV produced the longform "Coco
Chanel" for Lifetime, Italy's RAI and France's FR2; company also is
behind "Burn Up" for BBC and Global; and "Iron Road" for CBC. "It's
a big playing field, and much more advantageous than selling only
into one market," said Alchemy TV CEO Carrie Stein, noting her
shingle's status as a U.K.-based company with a head office in L.A.
and projects set up all over the globe. Read the full article at:

Is there anything but trash on TV anymore......I gave up on
mainstream TV programs and news long ago....so no surprise.