Making the (Crime) Scene

Here’s some interesting news from author Marcus Sakey:

For the last two years, I’ve been working with an acclaimed production company called Crazy Legs to develop a television show. We shot the pilot in March, but we’ve had to keep quiet about it until things were official. Last week we got happy news.

The show’s been greenlit. We’re going into production in two weeks.

Tentatively titled Hidden City, the show will air on Travel Channel later this year. In it I visit different places and explore the crimes that helped define them. Basically, my feeling is that if you only see the tourist districts, Seattle is the same as Shanghai. The real stories are in the shadows--and shadowy stories are my business.

It’s sort of Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations meets Castle. I’m not only writing the episodes, I’m hosting them. And not your typical one-day-on-a-poorly-lit-set kinda hosting--I’m out investigating these stories, meeting the people who made them and undergoing all sorts of adventures, from hanging out with legendary homicide detectives to getting pepper-sprayed on camera.

(Hat tip to Jen Forbes via Facebook.)