There’s an old cliché (often misattributed to Albert Einstein) that says something like, “the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” It’s a silly aphorism that is grossly overused, but it’s hard to think of anything else when NBC decides to resurrect Emerald City, the grim and gritty Wizard Of Oz retelling that it killed last year. For anyone who doesn’t recall which Wizard Of Oz retelling Emerald City was (understandable, since there have been a ton), it was the one where Dorothy was some kind of edgy-yet-beautiful woman, one of the witches was drug addict who hated herself, and there was some sort of group known as the “Munja’kin.” NBC canceled the project after it and writer Josh Friedman couldn’t agree on the show’s direction—and not because it sounded like garbage, which it did.
But all that’s old is new again over at NBC, and (according to Variety) the drama series is being given new life by Do No Harm creator David Schulner. We don’t know if NBC will include the Munja’kin in this new version—please don’t, NBC, we’re begging you—but the basic plot synopsis sounds pretty similar to the one from last year. Variety says it will follow Dorothy and her police dog as a tornado sends them to a magical world full of “competing kingdoms, lethal warriors, dark magic, and a bloody battle for supremacy.” Oh, did we mention that Emerald City is supposed to be heavily influenced by Game Of Thrones? Because that description of the show could only have made it clearer if it had mentioned “loads of incest.”
NBC seems to have had The Wizard Of Oz on the brain lately, as it also recently announced that its next live musical event will be a Cirque du Soleil-produced version of The Wiz. Maybe next it’ll do a Wizard Of Oz-themed Law & Order: SVU episode.