I had the good fortune to work as a film editor on "Lonestar." It was one of the more disappointing cancellations of my career. Kyle, along with a writing staff, wrote and produced 7 or 8 terrific episodes of TV, six of which never were broadcast. With network TV being so "procedural" based these days, it was exciting to work on a show that was character based and unorthodox.

Kyle's comment about the first draft being too literal is a problem with many narrative projects. There is nothing more inspiring than working with material that emphasizes sub-text.

I'm a big fan of Kyle Killen. Ever since "The Beaver" hit the black list I've dug around his blogs and scoured the rest of the web reading his work. I think he is being a little too modest by claiming he has "limited" talent. He has tremendous wit and a keen insight into the way people think, all of which contribute to the greatness of his work.

Any chance Fox will consider releasing all of the produced "Lone Star" episodes on DVD?

@Tom: Thanks for sharing that personal anecdote.

@CRANKY: One would think they'd do something to try to amortize the costs of the series.

I have zero doubt Kyle will go on to great things in Hollywood. He's too talented not to succeed. And I believe "REM" could be a special TV show, assuming it gets picked up.

A little sad that "The Beaver" is struggling. $110K box office draw?

One must wonder if Mel Gibson's off screen antics really affected the audience's choice of whether to watch it or not. I think this would be a first for me to see TALENT drive away the audience.

I also think the luke warm reviews didn't help.

Maybe years from now, the movie will be a cult classic.

http://insidemovies.ew.com/2011/05/10/beaver-mel-gibson-box-office/

@Ferdinand: Clearly Mel Gibson's antics the last few years have hurt him as a lead actor draw. That might have been mitigated somewhat if the movie he had come back with was an action or action comedy, more to his strengths.

But the story is a challenge to sell. To their credit, Summit didn't do what other studios might have done: A marketing campaign pitching it as a wild comedic romp. "Look! It's wacky Mel Gibson with a talking hand puppet!" No bait and switch. They tried to convey it as what it is: a drama with humor. Clearly audiences weren't interested in seeing Gibson in that role.

The main problem is - IMHO - apart from casting (Steve Carrel would have been brilliant) is this should have been shot on an indie low-budget: $5M tops. Then go at the specialty / indie crowd, very specific niche audience. With a reported $21M budget, there's just no way this type of movie can do that kind of business. A small budget, which they totally could have done given the script Kyle wrote, would have lifted a ton of pressure / weight of expectations off the project.

Also why release the movie on Mother's Day weekend?

I haven't seen the movie so it's hard to judge, but it feels like a missed opportunity to do something special with a special script.