By Lynn Elber, Television Writer
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) --The future of "Big Little Lies" is as uncertain as the legal fate of the Monterey Five.
HBO programming chief Casey Bloys says he's taking a cautious approach to pursuing another season.
"You have to approach these things skeptically, to make sure that something doesn't get done just to get done. You should have a high bar for it, and I think everybody involved does," he said in an interview Wednesday.
Earlier, he told a TV critics' meeting that he doesn't see an obvious story to pursue for a third season.
But he called the show's cast and creators "extraordinary," and said if they're enthusiastic about an approach to a new story line he'd be open to considering it.
When the series ended last Sunday, the five women who harbored a dark secret were seen heading into their California seaside town's police station. Based on their skyrocketing stress levels, it looked like a confession was ahead — and maybe another season for the hit drama starring and produced by Nicole Kidman and Reese Witherspoon.
Bloys said the ending didn't reflect a decision to leave the door ajar for the possibility of more "Big Little Lies," based on the novel of the same name by Liane Moriarty.
"There were no story decisions based on keeping it open or not," he said.
During a Q&A with critics, Bloys was peppered with queries about a report that season two director Andrea Arnold lost control of the final product to executive producer and season one director Jean-Marc Vallee and showrunner and creator David E. Kelley. The men reportedly sought to match the show's tone and visual style more closely to the first season.
Bloys, who praised Arnold's work on the show, said there has been "a lot of misinformation" about what occurred. Directors working in television typically don't get final creative control, Bloys said, calling the idea that it can be taken from a director a "false premise."
"Andrea was never promised that she would have free rein … we were clear, and she understood that we were not looking to reinvent the show," he said.
There was no immediate reply Wednesday to a message left for an attorney representing British filmmaker Arnold, whose credits include "American Honey."
Local school staple “Lost on a Mountain in Maine” from 1939 hits the big screen nationwide
Most Maine schoolchildren know about the boy lost for more than a week in 1939 after climbing the state's tallest mountain. Now the rest of the U.S. is getting in on the story.
Opening in 650 movie theaters on Friday, "Lost on a Mountain in Maine" tells the harrowing tale of 12-year-old Donn Fendler, who spent nine days on Mount Katahdin and the surrounding wilderness before being rescued. The gripping story of survival commanded the nation's attention in the days before World War II and the boy's grit earned an award from the president.
For decades, Fendler and Joseph B. Egan's book, published the same year as the rescue, has been required reading in many Maine classrooms, like third-grade teacher Kimberly Nielsen's.
"I love that the overarching theme is that Donn never gave up. He just never quits. He goes and goes," said Nielsen, a teacher at Crooked River Elementary School in Casco, who also read the book multiple times with her own kids.
Separated from his hiking group in bad weather atop Mount Katahdin, Fendler used techniques learned as a Boy Scout to survive. He made his way through the woods to the east branch of the Penobscot River, where he was found more than 30 miles (48 kilometers) from where he started. Bruised and cut, starved and without pants or shoes, he survived nine days by eating berries and lost 15 pounds (7 kilograms).
The boy's peril sparked a massive search and was the focus of newspaper headlines and nightly radio broadcasts. Hundreds of volunteers streamed into the region to help.
The movie builds on the children's book, as told by Fendler to Egan, by drawing upon additional interviews and archival footage to reinforce the importance of family, faith and community during difficult times,... Read More