New ABC TV show based in ArcadiaResurrection to be 2013-14 mid-season replacementARCADIA VALLEY – The announcement of a new ABC TV series
produced by native Missourian Brad Pitt is causing quite a stir in the Arcadia Valley. The paranormal show, “Resurrection,” is set in one of the valley’s tri-cities — the small town of Arcadia, population 608.
City Clerk Lisa Light said she first learned about the show around six months ago when she received a phone call from Pitt’s production company, Plan B Entertainment.
“When they were shooting the pilot they ran some character names by me to make sure they weren’t the same or similar to the names of real Arcadia residents,” said Light. “They called a couple of other times and went over different names with me. I recognized one or two of them in the sneak peek of the show.”
It was the May 14 debut of the Resurrection clip on the
abc.go.com website that grabbed the attention of Arcadia Valley residents who began uploading the sneak peek to their Facebook pages in droves last week.
The website’s description of the show’s premise is both creepy and enticing:
“The people of Arcadia, Mo., are forever changed when their deceased loved ones suddenly start to return. An 8-year-old American boy wakes up alone in a rice paddy in a rural Chinese province with no idea how he got there. Details start to emerge when the boy, who calls himself Jacob, recalls that his hometown is Arcadia and an immigration agent, Martin Bellamy, takes him there. The home he claims as his own is occupied by an elderly couple, Harold and Lucille Garland, who lost their son Jacob more than 30 years ago. While they look different, young Jacob recognizes them as his parents.
“Those closest to the family try to unravel this impossible mystery, including Sheriff Fred Garland whose wife Barbara drowned 30 years ago trying to save Jacob. But this boy who claims to be the deceased Jacob knows secrets about his own death that no one else knows — secrets that Fred’s daughter Gail will begin to investigate and discover to be true.”
The stars of Resurrection are first-rate, almost all having appeared in well-known TV shows and feature films of years past. They include Omar Epps (House) as Martin Bellamy; Matt Craven (Crimson Tide, A Few Good Men) as Fred; Devin Kelley (Chernobyl Diaries, The Chicago Code) as Gail; Frances Fisher (Titanic) as Lucille; Kurtwood Smith (That 70s Show) as Harold; Sam Hazeldine (The Raven) as Abel; Samaire Armstrong (Entourage, The O.C.) as Elaine; Nicholas Gonzalez (Off the Map) as Connor; Mark Hildreth (Dragon Ball Z) as Tom; and newcomer Landon Gimenez as Jacob.
Now, here’s the bad news for those already making plans to head over to Arcadia for a chance to meet one of the show’s A-list Hollywood stars — the show isn’t being filmed anywhere close to southeast Missouri.
“When I first started getting calls at city hall about the show, I thought they were going to be filming it here,” said Light. “But I guess they aren’t.”
It’s true. Word has it that the show’s exteriors are being filmed somewhere in Georgia. The interiors will undoubtedly be shot on a Hollywood soundstage. The few glimpses one has of Arcadia in the sneak peek have few if any similarities to the real place. While the show apparently intends to depict Arcadia as an attractive all-American small town with a charming town square, attractive buildings and a barber shop straight out of a Norman Rockwell painting, the reality is starkly different.
Arcadia — and all of Iron County, for that matter — has seen tough times since its heyday as a worldwide mining mecca. Once the weekend destination of choice for well-to-do St. Louisians who took the train down from the big city to enjoy the area’s unparalleled natural beauty and recreational opportunities, those days are long gone. The nation’s economic downturn of recent years has only made things worse.
While the town of Arcadia has many beautiful homes, a scattering of successful businesses and truly historic places such as the former Ursuline Academy, the town’s main street itself is largely made up of empty storefronts and decaying buildings. The town’s downtown post office shut it’s doors not long ago and the last Main Street restaurant, Aunt Mary’s, gave up the ghost just a couple of weeks ago. Nowadays, except for the bank, a thrift store, city hall and the Signer Senior Center, there aren’t many reasons to visit downtown Arcadia anymore.
So, that begs the question of how a new and highly anticipated ABC TV series came to be set in Arcadia, Mo., of all places. To find that out, you have to speak to Jason Mott, the author of a soon-to-be-published novel titled “The Returned,” on which the show Resurrection is based.
He explained that, while the novel is based on the town of East Arcadia, N.C., the show’s screenwriter changed the location to Arcadia, Mo.
The southeastern North Carolina writer has a distinguished resume. His poetry and fiction has appeared in various journals such as Prick of the Spindle, The Thomas Wolfe Review, The Kakalak Anthology of Carolina Poets, Measure and Chautauqua. Mott was nominated for a 2009 Pushcart Prize award and is the author of two poetry collections: We Call This Thing Between Us Love, and “…hide behind me…”
The Returned, Mott’s first novel, is being released in August.
Surprisingly, the distinguished author revealed that he hails from a town the same size as Arcadia — and to this day continues to have nothing but positive feelings and a strong connection to such communities.
“Growing up in a small town has definitely influenced my writing,” he said. “I love small towns. There's an intimacy and familiarity there that cannot be found in any other place. Roots run deep in small towns and it makes me feel like part of something far-reaching. I'm able to see firsthand how people interact with one another and how good things can happen. In large cities that gets lost in the flood of humanity. You lose sight of the small things, I feel, and life is all about the small things. I honestly think I'll always write about small towns. It's what I know and it's what I love.”
Mott believes the city of Arcadia is going to reap some positive benefits from the show that is slated to be a 2013-14 mid-season replacement for the network.
"I honestly think that your Arcadia will get more attention from all this than the ‘real’ Arcadia,” he said. “Books are books, but television is television. Know what I mean? So maybe that will help with tourism for you guys. At the very least, I'm sure it'll help grab a little more attention.”
Mott said that in recent days he’s been contacted by several Arcadia Valley residents, one of whom is local author Melissa Miles McCarter. In her conversations with Mott, she mentioned the idea of having ABC screen a preview of the show in the Arcadia Valley.
“While Jason thought it was a great idea, the people I contacted with ABC said that because it’s a mid-season replacement, they weren’t interested in doing a preview heresaid Miles McCarter.
Undaunted, Miles McCarter said she is looking for a way that Mott can visit the Arcadia Valley in the near future, and that’s not all.
“My husband Matt (McCarter), who is president of the River Valley Region Association, told me his organization has already snagged the Internet domain ‘resurrectionarcadia.com’ to direct people who might be searching for information about the show to a site where they can find out more about the real Arcadia,” she said.
The RVRA is not alone in thinking about how a major TV show could help the town’s economic prospects. Arcadia Mayor Roy Carr also sees a potential benefit.
“Well, I think it will be a good thing to get people acquainted with the town,” he said. “Maybe it will get the tourists in.”
It appears that this unassuming southeast Missouri town may be about to experience a resurrection of its very own.
Kevin Jenkins is a reporter for the Daily Journal and can be reached at (573) 518-3614 or
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