Teen Wolf News 021517
Derek and Stiles Together on Set?[]
By now you’ve probably seen the “Bigfoot” video purported to show Dylan O’Brien and Tyler Hoechlin playing catch in the rain on the Teen Wolf set. As we said in our initial report on the Teen Wolf News standalone site, we can’t confirm the video shows the actors simply because it’s too dark and too far away. We did, however, contact Jeff Davis about it and some intrepid fans dug deeper into the video’s origins in hopes of getting to the truth.
Teen Wolf Season 6 Tyler Hoechlin and Dylan O'Brien Allegedly on Set
Where Did the Video Come From?[]
We know the video shows the location where Teen Wolf filmed Friday night. It’s the same City Market location in Downtown LA that they used when I was there back in October. It’s “Bigfoot” video meaning people will see what they want to see in the body types and movements. However, we have no reason to doubt its authenticity even though there is no way to verify it shows what people claim it shows.
A couple of fans who snuck onto the Teen Wolf set on Friday first posted the six-second clip to back up their claims that Tyler Hoechlin and Dylan O’Brien were both there. Our initial research into one of the women suggests she’s probably telling the truth about what she believes she saw.
Marina Parada knows how to track celebrities. She lives in Los Angeles and has a verifiable record of finding and interacting with the famous. Her Instagram is full of selfies with stars. In the past week alone, she’s posted with actor Grant Gustin (The Flash) and singers Aaron Carpenter, Tinashee, and Madison Beer. She’s also taken pictures with members of One Direction and our own Cody Christian.
There’s no reason to doubt that she was on set. The only question that remains is if she saw what she thinks she saw.
Fans Interview Fans[]
While Teen Wolf News did not speak to Marina Parada directly, Twitter fan @DyIanOBryan AKA “Key” did question her and shared her responses with TWN.
Here’s how Marina described first glimpsing Hoechlin -
- “When we first arrived around 8/9pm, we saw him walking around set in the distance. We were like ‘OMG, that looks like Hoechlin!’ We were confused because, why would he be there but then eventually, throughout the night when we got a better look of him, we realized it was him.”
According to her, Hoechlin was on set all night and seemed to be filming, but she never saw him actually do a scene.
- “Tyler was there for hours, from 8 till 2 or 3 in the morning. Where we were sitting, we could see them filming one of the scenes and he wasn’t in that, but for the other couple of scenes they filmed, they repositioned the set so we couldn’t real see what was happening. I’m assuming he filmed something because he had a trailer on set. I didn’t physically see him film anything though.”
Key also questioned her about Dylan O’Brien and found that he was also on set the whole time and wearing the same clothes for all the scenes filmed Friday night.
- “He (O'Brien) was wearing a red flannel the entire night. I think, at one point, he took it off, but then he put it back on.”
Jeff Is VERY Cryptic[]
Teen Wolf News contacted Executive Producer Jeff Davis immediately after the video surfaced. We sent him the link and he got VERY cryptic in response. “All I can say at the moment is that the resourcefulness of fans never ceases to amaze me :)”
Davis says he is forbidden by the network to speak about those who are coming back. MTV is apparently trying to lock down all the information in an attempt to promote it closer to the debut. Davis says there will be more returning stars than expected. “I will tell you that more people than I expected are showing up to say goodbye to the show,” Davis reveals. “I had a list of people I wanted back, and I’m getting far more than I expected. It’s really nice, kind of a testament to how much everyone enjoyed being on the show that they all want to come back.”
We’ve known for a couple of weeks that Dylan O’Brien planned to return to set and Davis and other sources said a few more former actors would be back. It is certainly within the realm of possibility that Hoechiln and O’Brien were filming Teen Wolf Friday night. However, we probably won’t get official confirmation until the network folks at MTV figure out what they believe is the best way to promote the actors’ return.
Welcome Benjamin Wadsworth to the Teen Wolf Fam![]
Teen Wolf is upping their Teen Hunk Factor in the final season. Teen Wolf News has learned Benjamin Wadsworth (Girl Meets World, Let the Right One In) will feature in an “important” guest role in the show’s finale. News of the casting first came via Wadsworth’s Instagram where he posted a shot of himself on location with Teen Wolf Tyler Posey.
Teen Wolf Executive Producer Jeff Davis tells me he worked with Wadsworth on his Let the Right One In pilot episode for TNT last year and wanted to work with him again. “I cast him in an important guest starring role in the last episode,” says Davis.
The Fresh Faces of Teen Wolf[]
Wadzy joins new faces Andrew Matarazzo and Froy Gutierrez (One Day at a Time) as the MTV show films its final three episodes.
He won’t reveal just what parts they'll be playing on the show, but Davis says the new guys are important to the plot of the final ten episodes. “We have several new kids that we’re really excited about, who are both good guys and bad guys, that step into the story in big ways.” While Wadsworth’s character doesn’t show up until the end, Matarazzo and Gutierrez have larger roles. We’ve seen a lot of them on set in the past few weeks.
Currently, Davis says they’re racing to finish filming. “We’re working like crazy to shoot the last three episodes all at the same time.” Teen Wolf returns to MTV for one last time this summer.
Can More Money Save MTV?[]
New VIACOM CEO Bob Bakish is giving MTV an infusion of cash to help the network produce more “event” programming in an attempt to revive the aging brand. The news came in a wide-ranging discussion with market analysts this week. Bakish was appointed CEO after months of confusion over the future of the entertainment giant. The company, which owns a whole raft of cable networks and Paramount movie studio, is in decline in both ratings and value. The Bakish plan includes refocusing resources and attention on VIACOM’s most recognizable brands including MTV.
Back to Reality (Again)[]
Teen Wolf News reported last year that MTV was turning away from scripted and back toward reality programming. Of course, that was the plan under the former network president and the former head of programming. A new MTV Prez came in back in the autumn and canceled almost all the reality programming his predecessor put in place. Chris McCarthy said this week he still plans to focus the network away from scripted shows like Teen Wolf.
McCarthy still seems dedicated to producing some scripted programming at MTV but admits there will be less of that. He plans to lean into more live programming and reality shows to generate more social buzz for MTV. That’s the kind of programming that established the network’s international brand in the first place and it’s what McCarthy calls its “lifeblood.”
The infusion of cash from VIACOM is slated to reestablish that brand and produce more buzzworthy “event” programming. McCarthy told The Hollywood Reporter that scripted programming like Sweet/Vicious was hurt by MTV’s poor non-scripted efforts. “This past year was a great example where you can have strong scripted, but without having good live and great reality, it doesn’t make enough noise.”
Speaking of Sweet/Vicious[]
In the immediate future, MTV has just four scripted efforts left on its slate. There’s a short, six-episode season three of SCREAM coming at some point. The Shannara Chronicles season two is now in production in New Zealand. Teen Wolf returns this summer and is currently filming the final three episodes of its final season in Los Angeles. They also have the Jeff Davis/Andy Cochran pilot for a series adaptation of War of the Worlds in their development pipeline.
Sweet/Vicious, meanwhile, rests squarely atop what they call in the business “the bubble.” All conventional logic suggests it is dead, but President McCarthy seems dedicated to at least trying to make a second season work. “Sweet/Vicious is a story we think is incredibly important and very timely, and we’re trying to figure out what the right way to relaunch that and figure out what the next iteration of that is,” McCarthy told THR. “No decision has been made yet, but we love the show and are trying to figure that out.”
Does Anybody Even Watch TV Anymore?[]
What the MTV Prez is really trying to figure out is how to get a demographic that’s widely abandoned traditional TV to watch his channel. It’s a seemingly impossible task. Seriously, the Nielsen ratings folks say people aged 18-24 watched 40% less traditional TV last year than they did in 2011. That means in just the last five years, 40% of our traditional TV viewing time moved to other activities or streaming entertainment.
For me, it’s actually a 95% drop in traditional viewing. The only stuff I watch live is Teen Wolf (because it’s kind of my job) and some sports programming. Most shows I just DVR and watch a couple of hours (or days) after it airs. I also have entire seasons of shows I’m saving to binge. It’s anecdotal, and I am a self-diagnosed TV addict, but the wider trends suggest there are now more viewers like me than my mom. She’s constantly phoning up to ask what time “her stories” are on while TV comes to me on my schedule.
That’s bad news for new scripted shows on networks like MTV. So few people are checking out Teen Wolf and Sweet/Vicious on TV that the shows aren’t generating the viewing numbers needed for advertisers to pay to make more of it. MTV also no longer generates the kind of fun celebrity buzz that draws eyeballs to screens. The fact is, if I didn’t have to watch MTV in order to write about it, I might never have seen Sweet/Vicious at all. That would be a shame because it was one of my favorites of the last year and the best show on the network since Teen Wolf.
The mass migration of viewers away from conventional TV broadcasts means MTV's fortunes won’t be easily reversed. McCarthy and the other folks behind the scenes at MTV must give people a reason to watch and talk about their shows again. They’re taking aim at a moving target and just throwing money won’t help them hit it.
Shelly Returns to Her Soapy Roots[]
Soap opera fans got a treat this week as Shelley Hennig returned to her roots in Daytime TV. Hennig was back in the fictional town of Salem on Days of our Lives where she got her start. The actor began her TV career on the daytime soap opera in 2007 playing Stephanie Johnson. She stayed with the show until 2011. She came back in a couple of episodes this week for her fictional parents wedding.
Teen Wolf Shelley Hennig Returns to Days of Our Lives