In one of the rare TV development stories where the word "surprising" is used appropriately, HBO has passed on The Corrections, the series adaptation of Jonathan Franzen's novel that seemed destined for not only pick-up but also Emmy accolades and NPR's Fresh Air profiles based on its pedigree. As we reported numerous times, because we were pretty sure it was all going to be worth it someday, the Noah Baumbach-directed show had amassed an impressive all-star cast that included Ewan McGregor, Dianne Wiest, Chris Cooper, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Greta Gerwig, and Rhys Ifans to bring to life Franzen's story of family dysfunction. But in the end, it seems that Baumbach presented his finished pilot to his HBO parents, and they remained unimpressed by all his fancy, big-city movie stars and their liberal neuroses, and said that they'd respect him more if Baumbach had stuck with more salt-of-the-earth Midwestern types. Or, as HBO actually put it, they had issues with the accessibility of the story's time-shifting narrative—because no one in this HBO family ever talks about their feelings.
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