The CW’s “Cult” is a show about a show also named “Cult” which gets people to do bad things. Because it has such a cult following.
It’s the kind of mixed-up set-up that had reporters spinning when it was presented at the TV Critics winter press tour last month.
“How meta is too meta with this show?” somebody asked.
“From our perspective, there is nothing too meta,” says executive producer Rockne S. O’Bannon, who came to the show after doing “Farscape,” which is where he might have gotten the idea.
In “Farscape,” an Australian sci-fi series that ran from 1999-2003, “I witnessed the kind of incredible fan passion for a show and the ability of fans to kind of find each other through social media and connect up,” O’Bannon says.
“It started me thinking what if the show were something with a little bit darker edge and what kind of fans would that then draw?”
Hence “Cult,” which stars Matthew Davis, Jessica Lucas, Alona Tal and Robert Knepper and debuted Tuesday.
“Part of the fun for me in creating this show was I kind of liken it to a roller coaster ride in that you’re on the ride and there’s twists and turns and all sorts of surprises,” O’Bannon says. “But the other thing about when you get on a roller coaster, and one of the pleasures, I think, is that for that minute and a half, or whatever it is, you kind of lose control of the experience.
“And for me in creating “Cult,” one of the things that I really got excited about was how to create a show where we kind of hook into an audience and create not just an emotional experience for them and perhaps a kind of intriguing idea, but also create a visceral experience for the audience and to really kind of try to break down, take the glass away from between the television show and the audience and really kind of and so take away that control.”
One problem today for a show about how TV may influence violent behavior in its fans may be what happened in Newtown, which has already affected the show, O’Bannon says.
“Believe me,” he says, “after the current events that have occurred, when we went back into the writers’ room the next day, it was something that played very much on all of our minds. And what’s interesting is our show actually kind of examines that phenomenon. It’s something we’re very cognisant of, but I think that, unlike other shows, we have the advantage of actually kind of putting a magnifying glass on that idea itself.”
“Cult” airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. on The CW.