Series from Israeli producers to premiere in US

Two new US television shows from Israeli producers, one of which is based on an Israeli series, will be premiering in America next week.

By HANNAH BROWN
Lincoln Rhyme: Hunt for the Bone Collector (photo credit: BARBARA NITKE/NBC/COURTESY)
Lincoln Rhyme: Hunt for the Bone Collector
(photo credit: BARBARA NITKE/NBC/COURTESY)
Lincoln Rhyme: Hunt for the Bone Collector, the latest series from Keshet International, the US-based global arm of the Israeli company Keshet Media Group, will be shown on NBC starting on January 10.
The series is the latest adaptation of Jeffery Deaver’s 1997 crime novel The Bone Collector, which was made into the 1999 movie of the same name, starring Angelina Jolie and Denzel Washington. This new series stars Russell Hornsby as paraplegic detective Lincoln Rhyme and Arielle Kebbel as New York City police officer Amelia Sachs, who discover a body in the subway that they believe is the latest victim of the serial killer, the Bone Collector, who injured Rhyme years ago.
The series was created by Mark Bianculli and VJ Boyd. Three producers from Keshet are listed in the credits: Avi Nir, the CEO of Keshet Broadcasting; Alon Shtruzman, CEO of Keshet International; and Peter Traugott, president of scripted television for the West Coast office of Keshet Studios.
The series is a departure for Keshet because in the past it has mainly created Israeli television shows and then has either exported them or remade them abroad. Lincoln Rhyme, said to be Keshet’s most expensive production ever, is a bid for international success with a fully American television series, the only Israeli component of which is its producers.
On January 15, 68 Whiskey, the US version of the Israeli series known in English as Combat Medics (and in Hebrew as Taged), will premiere on Paramount Network. The new series is a sex-drugs-and-rock & roll-infused look at US Army medics in Afghanistan. Like the original Israeli series, it shows the influence of the movie and series MASH, which followed a team of doctors near the frontlines in the Korean War.
68 Whiskey is being executive produced by Ron Howard and Brian Grazer’s Imagine Entertainment. Three of those behind the original series, which was made by the YES cable network – creator Zion Rubin, Efrat Shmaya Dror and Danna Stern – are also executive producing the American version.
Derek Theler, Aaron Glenane, Beth Riesgraf, Cristina Rodlo and Usman Ally are among its stars.
The most famous of all US remakes of Israeli series, Homeland, will begin broadcasting in the US on February 9 with its eighth and final season.