‘100’ is a 180 from usual fare on CW
The teen-oriented sci-fi show aims to push boundaries
Attractive young people being sent to a post-apocalyptic Earth might be something one would expect from a CW sci-fi drama. What’s more of a surprise is the constant danger of one of them getting a spear through the chest or a knife in the throat.
The 100, which premieres tonight (9 ET/PT), owes much more to the short-season storytelling and “anyone can die at any time” mantra of cable shows such as Game of Thrones and The Walking Dead than Gossip Girl or 90210. And creator Jason Rothenberg has already made fast friends with the network’s censors.
“Our memos from them are hilarious sometimes. You can cut someone’s throat, but you cannot show side-boob,” he says. “I continue to find that, I must say, slightly ridiculous.”
Based on the Kass Morgan novel of the same name, The 100 imagines life 97 years after a nuclear apocalypse. A space station called the Ark holds the last bastion of humanity — all 4,000 of them — but things are getting pretty dire in terms of oxygen and other resources.
The ruling council, including Chancellor Jaha (Isaiah Washington) and his ambitious No. 2, Kane (Henry Ian Cusick), secretly decides to send 100 juvenile delinquents down to Earth to see how habitable the place is.
When the teenagers crash-land on the planet, walk off their ship and don’t die, they go buck wild. Clarke (Australian newcomer Eliza Taylor) is one of the few who has the sense to stay on mission and keep in contact with her mom (Paige Turco) and the adults in space, but cocky stowaway Bellamy (Bob Morley) would rather rule his fellow youngsters with an iron fist and brutal henchmen.
“There’s a real Lord of the Flies sort of tone, so for teenagers, that will be easy to understand,” Taylor says. “For the people in space, just trying to do the best thing for humanity is something that’s easily relatable: We’re all trying to do our bit to save our planet and make sure we don’t destroy it.”
Mother Nature has rebooted Earth almost a century after nations destroyed it, and irradiated butterflies and a glow-in-thedark forest give a certain beauty to the dystopia. However, the apocalypse didn’t wipe out everybody, as the kids find themselves hunted
“There’s a real ‘Lord of the Flies’ sort of tone, so for teenagers, that will be easy to understand.” Actress Eliza Taylor
by the mysterious “Grounders.”
Things aren’t all peachy on the Ark, either, which is filled with political machinations, attempted assassinations and turmoil.
“I wanted to play in both of those worlds and juxtapose the claustrophobic, draconian, strict-discipline world of the Ark with this wild, mysterious, untamed life on the ground,” says Rothenberg, who is working on his first TV series after 15 years in Hollywood as a production assistant and screenwriter.
While younger viewers tend to binge-watch, CW has found loyal audiences with shows such as The
Vampire Diaries and Supernatural. Washington says The 100 can definitely be the same sort of “appointment television” as Grey’s
Anatomy, which he left in 2007. “Netflix makes it very easy for an audience to get 13 (episodes) and be out, but it’s more challenging to see if we, in this day and age and level of competition, can actually get the attention of the masses, and actually have them wait seven days to watch and see what we’re doing.”
Rothenberg acknowledges that
The 100 is emulating a cable show, especially when it comes to never knowing when an audience member’s favorite character might meet the grim reaper. There also are some serious themes with the series: One episode questions the usefulness of torture, while another delves into biological warfare. “It’s not an easy show,” Washington says. “It’s
not Leave It to
Beaver, man.” Adds Taylor: “I love that element of shock and surprise. I just made sure that I behaved very well on set.” Amid soapy drama and romantic geometry more complicated than the everyday love triangle,
The 100 has pulled off disturbing twists and pushed Rothenberg ’s boundaries, yet he’s been surprised to find the network pushing him to go even darker.
“Yeah, OK, so people will have sex,” Rothenberg says, “but at the end of the day, who cares if there are savages out there who want your head?”