Banshee (TV series)

Banshee

Banshee title card
Genre
Created by Jonathan Tropper
David Schickler
Starring
Composer(s) Methodic Doubt
Country of origin United States
Original language(s) English
No. of seasons 4
No. of episodes 38 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s) Jonathan Tropper
David Schickler
Peter Macdissi
Alan Ball
Greg Yaitanes
O.C. Madsen
Adam Targum
Producer(s) Chad Feehan
Robert F. Phillips
Editor(s) Chris A. Peterson
Location(s) Charlotte, North Carolina (Season 1-3)
Vandergrift, Pennsylvania (Season 4)
Cinematography Christopher Faloona
Running time 43–59 minutes
Production company(s) Your Face Goes Here Entertainment
Tropper Schickler Productions
One Olive
Distributor HBO
Release
Original network Cinemax
Picture format 1080i (HDTV)
Original release January 11, 2013 (2013-01-11) – present
External links
Website

Banshee is an American action television series created by Jonathan Tropper and David Schickler originally appearing on the Cinemax network beginning on January 11, 2013. Set in the small town of Banshee in Pennsylvania Amish country, the series' main character is an enigmatic ex-con (Antony Starr), who assumes the identity of Lucas Hood, the town's murdered sheriff, to hide from powerful crime lord Rabbit (Ben Cross). Imposing his own brand of justice, Hood attempts to reconcile with his former lover, Rabbit's daughter, Anastasia (Ivana Miličević), who has herself adopted an assumed identity, married, and raised a family during Hood's incarceration. Hood struggles to maintain his new identity while still embracing crime alongside his partners Job (Hoon Lee) and Sugar (Frankie Faison), and coming into conflict with local kingpin Kai Proctor (Ulrich Thomsen).

The series was developed as part of Cinemax's drive to develop original content. A 10-episode second season debuted in January 2014. Banshee was renewed for a third season that same month, which debuted in January 2015. In February 2015, the series was renewed for an 8-episode fourth season, which will be its last season.[1][2]

Premise

A man is released from prison after serving 15 years for stealing $15 million in diamonds from his employer, a Ukrainian mob boss named Rabbit. His former lover and accomplice, Rabbit’s daughter Anastasia, took off with the diamonds. Rabbit is after him because he thinks the man will lead him to his daughter and the diamonds. The man flees to the small fictional, Pennsylvanian town of Banshee, where Anastasia has been living under the alias of Carrie Hopewell, the wife of the DA with two children. Lucas Hood, the new sheriff, arrives in town and is immediately killed when he intervenes in a dispute between local criminals and a bar owner. The man takes Hood’s identity and has to impersonate the sheriff and deal ex-Amish crime-lord Kai Proctor, sort things out with Anastasia and get his share of the diamonds while evading Rabbit. [3][4]

Season 1 focuses on Hood's attempts to restore his relationship with Carrie under the looming threat of Rabbit finding them. Hood completely disregards the law while clashing with Proctor and pursuing his often criminal activities, alienating his deputies. Rabbit eventually tracks him down and Hood surrenders to spare Carrie. Carrie leads some criminal accomplices and the deputies in a raid to free Hood and shoots Rabbit.

Season 2 deals with tribal chief Alex Longshadow's attempt to build a casino on the reservation which places Sheriff Hood in the middle of a violent struggle between Longshadow and Proctor. Carrie must face up to her past when she is imprisoned for her part in the raid against her father. With Carrie trying to fix her marriage, Hood enters into a relationship with his deputy Siobhan.[5] He must deal with the real Hood's son when he comes to Banshee looking for his father.[6] Hood and Carrie are forced to track down and confront Rabbit and settle things once and for all when they learn he survived being shot.[7]

Episodes

Season Episodes Originally aired
First aired Last aired
1 10 January 11, 2013 (2013-01-11) March 15, 2013 (2013-03-15)
2 10 January 10, 2014 (2014-01-10) March 14, 2014 (2014-03-14)
3 10 January 9, 2015 (2015-01-09) March 13, 2015 (2015-03-13)
4 8 April 1, 2016 (2016-04-01) May 20, 2016 (2016-05-20)

Cast

The series also features in recurring roles, Christos Vasilopoulos as Rabbit's right-hand-man Olek, Odette Annable as Longshadow's sister Nola, and Gabriel Suttle as Carrie's son Max. Season 2 introduced Harrison Thomas as Jason Hood, the son of the real Lucas Hood.[6] Season 3 introduced Meaghan Rath as Aimee King, the sole officer in the corrupt Kinaho Reservation Police Department, Chaske Spencer as Billy Raven, a former officer of the Kinaho Reservation PD before becoming a Banshee Sheriff´s deputy, who is now considered an outcast by his own people. In season 4 he has returned to the Kinaho PD as their new Chief of Police.

Production

Promotional poster for Banshee

Banshee is part of Cinemax's attempt to expand its original programming content, and it joins Strike Back (co-produced with BSkyB) and Steve Kronish's Sandbox. Banshee premiered on January 11, 2013.[16] The show was first revealed in August 2011, when it was announced that Alan Ball would produce the crime drama. Ball helped develop the project alongside creators Jonathan Tropper and David Schickler. Banshee was originally set up at Cinemax owner HBO, but moved to Cinemax when it was decided to increase original programming on that network. By August, Cinemax was finalizing casting and financial details with the intention of filming in Spring 2012 in North Carolina.[17][18] In January 2012, Cinemax ordered ten episodes for the show's first season, with the first episode being directed by Greg Yaitanes.[18] In March 2012, Servitto, Dunn and Owens were cast as, respectively, Brock Lotus, Siobhan Kelly, and Mayor Dan Kendall.[11] Later that month, Starr was cast as lead character Lucas Hood, alongside Grosse as deputy Emmett Yawners, Thomsen as Kai Proctor, Lee as Job, and Milicevic as Carrie Hopewell.[19][20][21] Simmons was cast in April as Proctor's niece, Rebecca Bowman, an amish girl who lives a rebellious double life,[22] and in August 2012, Odette Annable was cast in the recurring role of Nola Longshadow, a Native American assassin.[23] Tropper, Schickler, Ball, Yaitanes and Peter Macdissi serve as executive producers.[24]

During the first day of shooting on the series, Starr suffered a facial injury when stunt fight choreography went wrong, splitting his lip open. He continued to film for six hours to complete the scene before going to the hospital to receive six stitches. The injury required digital removal for all scenes set before the fight but filmed after the stunt, resulting in lengthy post-production on the first episode. Some of the many fight scenes on the show can take up to 25 hours to film.[25] Yaitanes cited Jason Statham-starring action films, and John Carpenter films Big Trouble in Little China (1986) and They Live (1988) as inspiration for the fights and violence in Banshee. Marcus Young serves as the series' fight choreographer.[26]

On January 29, 2013 Cinemax renewed Banshee for a 10-episode second season which premiered on January 10, 2014.[27][28] The season's opening action set piece featuring Milicevic, Starr, and Lee, performing a high-speed heist, was filmed across five miles of closed highway. Tropper originally wrote the scene for the show's accompanying graphic novel, Banshee Origins which follows the trio sixteen years earlier, but he decided that it would be an interesting live action stunt.[29] The season finale's shoot out was filmed inside a church in Harlem, New York. The scene was shot over three days.[30]

After three episodes of the second season had aired, Banshee was renewed for third season,[31] which premiered on January 9, 2015.[32]

For the first three seasons, filming took place in the Mooresville, North Carolina area. Because North Carolina's legislature chose not to continue tax credits for filming movies and TV series, the show moved to the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area, centering in the suburb of Vandergrift, Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania has continued to offer tax incentives.[33]

Reception

The after the first season of Banshee received a 61% score on Rotten Tomatoes, an average rating of 5.9/10, sampled from 23 reviews,[34] later seasons received much better scores, ranging from 90%–100%.[35] It holds a 61/100 score on Metacritic, indicating "generally favorable reviews."[36] Wall Street Journal critic Dorothy Rabinowitz wrote, "Its smartness comes shining through despite the claptrap (none worse than the parade of sex scenes, soft-porn variety, whose noisiness is exceeded only by their unconvincingness); its story, littered with intriguingly repellent characters, like Kai Proctor (Ulrich Thomsen), local evil tycoon, grows ever more enticing".[37] The San Francisco Chronicle said about Banshee, "It has a solid pedigree. It's also part of Cinemax's effort to expand its original programming. That effort pays off with Banshee".[38]

Banshee has also had less favorable reviews. A Boston Herald critic described the series as: "A slow-pokey drama punctuated by shocking violence and sex".[39]

Ratings

Season one of Banshee drew Cinemax's highest ever ratings for an original series, averaging 433,000 viewers per episode and 727,000 in the 7 days after each episode was released. The season finale drew 455,000 viewers during its initial screening and 655,000 during its repeat, the largest audience ever, at the time, for a Cinemax original series, and the third-highest ratings achieved by Banshee at that point.[40]

The second season exceeded the first's successes. The season's fifth episode, "The Truth about Unicorns", set a series record with 591,000 viewers during its original airing. The season finale also set a new record, with 733,000 viewers, and a total of 968,000 for the evening including repeat showings.[41]

Accolades

Banshee won the award for Outstanding Special Visual Effects at the 65th Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards.[42]

Other media

A soundtrack album, Banshee – Music from the Cinemax Original Series, was released on CD and digital download on February 11, 2014. The album features 17 songs from the show's first two seasons, including the main theme by Methodic Doubt, and tracks by artists including Nico Vega, Ivy Levan, The Growl, Anders Osborne, Fred Eaglesmith, and Martin Harley.[43]

References

  1. ↑ Fowler, Matt (February 12, 2015). "Banshee renewed for season 4". IGN. Retrieved February 12, 2015.
  2. ↑ Goldberg, Lesley (July 28, 2015). "Cinemax Cancels 'Banshee'". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved July 29, 2015.
  3. ↑ Keene, Allison (January 11, 2013). "Series Preview: Why You Should Give BANSHEE a Shot". Collider. Retrieved February 23, 2013.
  4. ↑ Poniewozik, James (January 11, 2013). "TV Tonight: Banshee". Time. Retrieved February 23, 2013.
  5. ↑ Wagner, Curt (January 24, 2012). "Antony Starr enjoys his 'Banshee' beatdowns (page 2)". RedEye. Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on January 31, 2014. Retrieved January 31, 2014.
  6. 1 2 Rothing, Hilary (February 16, 2014). "BANSHEE 2.06 ‘Armies of One’". CraveOnline. Archived from the original on March 1, 2014. Retrieved March 1, 2014.
  7. ↑ Chappell, Les (March 14, 2014). "Banshee: "Bullets And Tears"". The A.V. Club. The Onion, Inc. Archived from the original on March 15, 2014. Retrieved March 15, 2014.
  8. ↑ "HOON LEE: How To Play A Foul-Mouthed, Transvestite Hacking Genius With Aplomb". January 14, 2014. Retrieved April 26, 2014.
  9. ↑ Radish, Christina. "Hoon Lee Talks Banshee, Action Scenes in Heels, and Voicing Splinter in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Animated Series". Collider.com. Retrieved April 26, 2014.
  10. ↑ Wiegand, David (January 10, 2013). "'Banshee' review: Sheriff steals the show". sfgate.com. Retrieved April 26, 2014.
  11. 1 2 3 4 Andreeva, Nellie (March 2, 2012). "Trio Cast In Cinemax Series ‘Banshee’". Deadline.com. Archived from the original on January 30, 2014. Retrieved January 30, 2014.
  12. ↑ Denise Petski. "Matthew Rauch Upped To Regular On ‘Banshee'; Casey LaBow Joins Cast - Deadline". Deadline.
  13. ↑ Ghahremani, Tanya (January 22, 2014). "Here's a First Look at "Banshee's" Newest Character". Complex. Archived from the original on January 25, 2014. Retrieved January 25, 2014.
  14. 1 2 Michael Ausiello. "‘Banshee’ Season 3: Geno Segers, Afton Williamson Made Series Regulars - TVLine". TVLine.
  15. ↑ "Banshee - Season 3 - Langley Kirkwood joins as Regular, 3 others get Recurring Roles". SpoilerTV.
  16. ↑ "Shows A-Z – banshee on cinemax". The Futon Critic. Retrieved October 19, 2012.
  17. ↑ Zeitchik, Steven (August 10, 2011). "'True Blood's' Alan Ball will have a new series -- on Cinemax". Los Angeles Times (Tribune Company). Archived from the original on January 30, 2014. Retrieved January 30, 2014.
  18. 1 2 Andreeva, Nellie (January 25, 2012). "Alan Ball’s Drama ‘Banshee’ Gets Series Order At Cinemax, Greg Yaitanes To Direct". Deadline.com. Archived from the original on January 30, 2014. Retrieved January 30, 2014.
  19. ↑ Andreeva, Nellie (March 12, 2012). "Cinemax’s Alan Ball-Produced New Series ‘Banshee’ Casts Antony Starr As Its Lead". Deadline.com. Archived from the original on January 31, 2014. Retrieved January 31, 2014.
  20. ↑ Goldberg, Lesley (March 14, 2012). "'Bond' Henchman to Co-Star in Alan Ball's Cinemax Drama 'Banshee'". The Hollywood Reporter (Prometheus Global Media). Archived from the original on January 31, 2014. Retrieved January 31, 2014.
  21. ↑ Andreeva, Nellie (March 14, 2012). "Ivana Milicevic To Star In ‘Banshee’, Derek Richardson Joins ‘Anger Management’". Deadline.com. Archived from the original on February 1, 2014. Retrieved February 1, 2014.
  22. ↑ Ausiello, Michael (April 10, 2012). "Exclusive: Disney Channel Starlet Takes Racy Turn in Cinemax Drama Series Banshee". TVLine. Archived from the original on February 1, 2014. Retrieved February 1, 2014.
  23. ↑ Ausiello, Michael (August 6, 2012). "Exclusive: House Reunion on Cinemax's Banshee as Odette Annable Reteams With Greg Yaitanes". TVLine. Archived from the original on February 1, 2014. Retrieved February 1, 2014.
  24. ↑ Andreeva, Nellie (August 11, 2011). "Cinemax Prepping Amish Country Series Executive Produced by Alan Ball". Deadline. Retrieved August 2, 2012.
  25. ↑ Wagner, Curt (January 24, 2012). "Antony Starr enjoys his 'Banshee' beatdowns". RedEye. Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on January 31, 2014. Retrieved January 31, 2014.
  26. ↑ Willmore, Alison (January 2, 2014). "The Boldest Show You Haven't Heard Of (Yet): Showrunner Greg Yaitanes Talks Cinemax's Pulp Saga 'Banshee'". Indiewire. Archived from the original on February 1, 2014. Retrieved February 1, 2014.
  27. ↑ "'Banshee' Gets Season 2 Premiere Date". TheWrap.
  28. ↑ Rose, Lacey (January 29, 2013). "'Banshee' Renewed for Second Season at Cinemax". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved January 30, 2013.
  29. ↑ Wagner, Curt (January 16, 2012). "'Banshee' car chase: 'It's bonkers awesome'". RedEye. Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on February 1, 2014. Retrieved February 1, 2014.
  30. ↑ Raddish, Christina (January 7, 2015). "Antony Starr Talks Banshee Season Three, Why It’s the Most Ambitious Season Yet, the Physical Challenges of the Show, and More". Collider. Archived from the original on January 11, 2015. Retrieved January 11, 2015.
  31. ↑ "‘Banshee’ Renewed for Third Season by Cinemax - Ratings - TVbytheNumbers.Zap2it.com". TVbytheNumbers.
  32. ↑ "'Banshee' Third Season Premiere Set For January on Cinemax". deadline.com. November 4, 2014. Retrieved January 3, 2015.
  33. ↑ "'Banshee' to begin filming in Vandergrift".
  34. ↑ "Banshee: Season 1 (2013)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved August 25, 2015.
  35. ↑ "Banshee".
  36. ↑ "Banshee: Metascore". CBS Interactive.
  37. ↑ "Wall street Journal Review". Wall street journal.
  38. ↑ Owen, Rob (January 10, 2013). "San Francisco Chronicle review". San Francisco Chronicle.
  39. ↑ "Boston herald Review". Boston Herald.
  40. ↑ Andreeva, Nellie (March 18, 2013). "Cinemax’s ‘Banshee’ Wraps Solid First Season". Deadline.com. PMC. Archived from the original on March 9, 2014. Retrieved March 18, 2013.
  41. ↑ "‘Banshee’ Screams Past Cinemax Record". Deadline.com. PMC. March 17, 2014. Archived from the original on March 17, 2014. Retrieved March 17, 2014.
  42. ↑ "2013 Creative Arts Emmys Winners" (PDF). Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. September 15, 2013. Archived from the original on February 1, 2014. Retrieved February 1, 2014.
  43. ↑ Ng, Philiana (February 10, 2014). "Cinemax's 'Banshee' Official Soundtrack Details Revealed (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter (Prometheus Global Media). Archived from the original on March 1, 2014. Retrieved March 1, 2014.
  44. Reiher, Andrea (March 14, 2014). "'Banshee's' Demetrius Grosse discusses the shocking ending to Season 2". Zap2it. Archived from the original on March 15, 2014. Retrieved March 15, 2014.

External links

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