CSI Producer Seeks To Do For History What 'CSI' Did For Science
By DeborahAugust 31, 2006 - 8:21 AM
36 year old Josh Berman boasts an impressive resume. By 26, he earned a bachelors degree in public policy from Princeton, a masters degree in history as a Fulbright scholar at the University of Sydney in Australia, as well as a JD and MBA from Stanford. He received two Emmy nominations during his six years as a CSI writer-producer.
Berman now has something else to add to his stellar pedigree. He is the creator of a new series, Vanished (Mondays at 9:00 p.m.), an edge-of-your-seat drama centered on the wife (Joanne Kelley) of a Georgia Senator (John Allen Nelson) who goes missing. Her disappearance turns out to be part of a much larger conspiracy, dating back thousands of years.
Berman was still at CSI when he inked a four-year deal to create pilots at 20th Century Fox Television. His goal was to write and produce his own serialized mystery show. The plot point for Vanished came about during a lunch meeting last year with Dana Walden, co-president of 20th Century Fox Television. They were discussing their mutual fascination with the manner in which the media handles cases of missing women.
I thought its a very interesting relationship between the news media, the police and the families, Berman said. Originally when these investigations start out, the women are put on holier-than-thou territory and then through the process of investigation, particularly the long ones, other sides are shown to them. Berman put his history background to good use for Vanished. What if this woman was from a Kennedeyesque family and she goes missing and how can I root that into a historical tapestry, where it makes sense, where its not just a kidnapping? he recalled thinking.
I want to do for history what CSI did for science, Berman said. I know, it sounds wild. But basically we will uncover that this womans disappearance is not an isolated event but part of an ongoing conspiracy that goes back thousands of years thats been building and building to a crucial point now.
Much like fans of Foxs Prison Break and ABCs Lost, Vanished viewers will be able to do their own sleuthing. The clues embedded in Vanished will have historical significance.
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