Battle Creek Q&A 

ESPN\'s Stuart Scott Dies Of Cancer by by David Bloom

Deadline\'s 2014 In Review, 2015 Look Ahead by by

\'Hobbit\' Still Box Office No. 1 With $21.9M Weekend by by Brian Brooks

Remembering Those Hollywood Lost In 2014 by by The Deadline Team

TCA: CBS’s ‘Battle Creek’ Q&A Creates Its Own Drama

Vince Gilligan wrote the pilot for CBS’s new cop drama

so long ago – 12 years – that he can’t remember why he decided to call it

Star Josh Duhamel reminded Gilligan he’d told him that when he was a kid he was eating breakfast cereal and saw the name on the side of the box.

Gilligan let it stand, adding, “I’m fascinated by the name — it’s got ‘Battle’ and yet it’s cereal.”

Duhamel plays FBI agent Milton Chamberlain, who teams up in the series with Detective Russ Agnew (Dean Winters) to clean up the semi-mean streets of Battle Creek, Mich.

“Now I feel like an asshole,” said Shore. Finally, something we can agree on. Listen future fans...

really good pilot. but if they push the braking bad connection people will be disappointed. it\'s shore\'s...

This show has all the makings of a hit. Shore/Gilligan ... Powerhouse Duo even if Gilligan isn\'t...

Gilligan is selling it as the pilot he wrote 12 years ago and does not have time to bring to series at CBS because of his commitment on his AMC

. He said as much last week when he appeared at the tour to plug the spinoff.  Today’s version went like this: “I’m sorry I’m not a bigger part of [

” adding, “I’m lucky to be up here on this stage” with the cast and exec producers, “who do a great job.”

Critics seemed disappointed too, which, in turn, seemed to gnaw at David Shore during the show’s Q&A. Shore, creator of Fox hit

When one TV critic attempted to draw Shore into a discussion of his process, writer to writer, complimenting him for creating characters whose work relation seemed “not forced” though “mutually complicated,” and asked Shore to elaborate,  Shore responded, “I hear that question and go, ‘Are you going to write it well or write it poorly?’” adding, “I will do my best to make it natural.”

Someone finally asked Gilligan how it came about that he got hooked up with Shore on this project. “I was visiting a castle in Scotland last year,” he began.

“It happened to be my castle,” Shore interrupted. Critics laughed.

Anyway, as Gilligan tells it, someone told him, “You remember

you wrote 12 year ago? CBS is interested in revisiting and David Shore is interested in working on it. And I said ‘Oh, my God’ because

But Shore said it went like this: “Sony called up and said, ‘Vince Gilligan desperately wants to work with you…I read it. Loved the character and was flattered Vince was interesting in having me.”

When one critic said he liked that “no one”  decided to “change the

reference” in the pilot which, the critic said,  makes it a “show that feels somewhat out of time,” Shore responded the original pilot script felt like it was 30 years old, and added, “There’s a nostalgia in Vince that comes through.”

Another TV critic asked how he intended to “keep that Vince Gilligan vibe” of the pilot on the series.

“I think that’s a fool’s errand,  to try to replicate

but I think we have a similar sensibility. But I think for me to replicate his voice would be foolish.”

Later, when Winters was asked how he came to be part of the show, despite being a diehard New Yorker, he responded that when he heard it was a Gilligan and Shore project, and included other exec producers and cast whose work he admired, he signed on.

“It’s just not true,” Shore said. According to Shore, Winters told him he really liked the script and was excited about working with the cast and exec producers “but you were hesitant.”

“I was hesitant about leaving New York,” Winters said.

“You were hesitant about doing a network show,” Shore corrected. Critics sat up and paid attention, being unused to a showrunner contradicting his star — twice.

“I had a terrible experience” in the past, Winters admitted.

Later, the other actors on stage were asked to elaborate how thrilled they were at being on a Gilligan and Shore show, and did it not seem like they’d won the lottery.

“I want to hear the answer,” Shore said, before talking about the casting process.

“Now I feel like an asshole,” said Shore.

Subscribe to Deadline Breaking News Alerts and keep your inbox happy

I heard Shore speak about House, well after it went off the air. He was still pissed about being paired with Paul Attanasio and the Q&A had something about how was Attanasio the 800 lb gorilla when Shore’s credits were more extensive. This Gilligan thing is gonna gnaw on his entrails.

This show has all the makings of a hit. Shore/Gilligan … Powerhouse Duo even if Gilligan isn’t all hands on deck.

really good pilot. but if they push the braking bad connection people will be disappointed. it’s shore’s show now and much closer to the tone of house than anything else.

“Now I feel like an asshole,” said Shore.

Finally, something we can agree on. Listen future fans of “Battle Creek” don’t say we didn’t warn you. You saw what happened to “House” a once-great show that faltered in the end because Shore had tunnel vision and insisted on boxing the characters into a hell from which they could not escape. A few brilliant characters played by brilliant actors destroyed in the end because of one man’s inability to allow his characters to grow and evolve.

Nothing against the hardworking cast and crew of “Battle Creek”, I’m sure they’re a fine lot but David Shore’s name on this is surely going to sink this ship.

'PK' Overtakes 'Dhoom 3' As #1 Bollywood Movie Ever In India, North America

Emma Stone Extends Broadway Stay; 'Disgraced' Sets Closing

'Hobbit' Passes $500M; 'American Sniper', 'Taken 3' Skillful: Intl Box Office Update

Bart & Fleming: Sony Hack Sea Change; 'Selma's LBJ Problem; 'Unbroken's Early Ending; 'Foxcatcher' Furor

'Peaky Blinders' Returning To Netflix For Season 3 As Shelby Empire Expands

Disney-ABC Writing Program Names Eight For 2015

Oscar Contenders Start 2015 Campaign Trail At Palm Springs Festival

'Hobbit' Holds No. 1 With $21.9M, 'Woman in Black 2' Beats Estimates With $15.1M - Sunday B.O. 2nd Update

Cable TV Networks Wrap 2014 Putting Best Spin On Ominous Year - Update

Fox News Channel Most Watched Cable News Net For 13th Straight Year

John Oliver Explains Similarities Between New Year\'s Eve And Pet\'s Death - Video

Cable News Networks Close Out 2014 With Another Missing Airplane-Palooza - Updated