NEW YORK - CBS President Les Moonves said his network is developing a weekly series taking a behind-the-scenes look at the high pressure world of big-time, competitive high school chess. Moonves said the show will feature copious amounts of angst, brooding, voice-over narratives delivered on top of adult-alternative music, sex, and violence. "And, of course," said Moonves. "lots of chess."
The two principal characters have already been cast. "We've got John Michael Paul for the role of John," said Moonves. "And we have Paul John Michael playing the part of Paul." Both Paul and Michael are long-time veterans of aspirational teen-oriented series. "They've got the smoldering gaze that sets pre-pubescent hearts aflame," said Moonves.
The show will be set in Lonesome Pine, Texas. "Chess is the one thing that brings this town together," said Moonves. "And for most of the kids on this team, chess is their only way out."
Moonves said the show, whose working title is Keep Your Hand on Your Own Piece, was "inspired" by the success of NBC's Friday Night Lights. Friday Night Lights, the television series based on the film adapted from the book of the same name, is a "thoroughly original" work, said Moonves. "We would never in a million years think of appropriating an idea that appears to be working on another network, refine it to suit our own tastes, and the tastes of the network's legal department, and make it our own," said Moonves. "Those things just aren't done in television."
