Girls with guns call the shots

ALL FIRED UP: Tricia Helfer plays Texas Ranger Molly Parker in the new crime drama, Killer Women.

ALL FIRED UP: Tricia Helfer plays Texas Ranger Molly Parker in the new crime drama, Killer Women.

Published Jul 24, 2014

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For an actor to take on the added role of executive producer – or director for that matter – is often regarded as a natural transition in Hollywood. In fact, it is prevalent in the film and TV industries of most countries as being a Jack or Jane of many trades often ensures longevity in their careers.

While the likes of Kevin Spacey (House of Lies), Lena Dunham (Girls), Tina Fey (30 Rock), Mindy Kalling (The Mindy Project) and Eva Longoria (Devious Maids) have crossed over successfully, the same cannot be said for Colombian beauty Sofia Vergara, renowned for her role as Gloria Delgado-Pritchett in the award-winning TV comedy, Modern Family.

This sizzling hot property on TV and the big screen has decided to explore her talents as a co-executive producer on Killer Women, which is based on an Argentine crime drama, Mujeres Asesinas.

While it smacks of having similar entertainment value to Chuck Norris’s Walker, Texas Ranger, albeit with a female running the show, ABC pulled the plug on the series.

I’m sure Vergara is disappointed after her venture bombed, fortunately she has enough projects in the kitty to lessen the blow of failure.

But Battlestar Galactica actress, Tricia Helfer, was hit harder by the news that her plum role had been axed. Maybe the series Ascension, which is in production, will offer some consolation for her, too.

Just to quickly give viewers an overview of the series, Killer Women centres on Molly Parker (Helfer), a beauty queen turned Texas Ranger. The daughter of a sheriff, she has suffered personal setbacks, too. But, as with her job among the most elite male-dominated team, she proved her nerves of steel by taking control of the situation and severing ties with her abusive state senator husband. In the crime drama, she is tasked with finding the perpetrators (principally women) of a series of crimes.

Oh, and she has a vice, too – she plays the trumpet.

In an interview with Inside TV, Helfer commented on Vergara’s role as executive producer.

“I think (having her on board) was hugely important in the initial process of getting the show green-lit to a pilot stage. I have never met Sofia, so I can’t speak with authority. She’s very busy with Modern Family,” she offered.

On the storyline shifting from the initial thread, she commented: “There are a couple of scenes changing. We get a better feel of Molly and her family now. And there is a great scene between Molly and her brother Billy (played by Michael Trucco). But we couldn’t use it because he was never introduced before. So we reshot it. So they establish the ranch, the brother, the sister and the kids right off the bat and then Molly gets taken away to a murder. I think it’s a much stronger opening with her family.”

While the show adopted a sort of Crime & Investigation Network’s Snapped: Women Who Kill approach by focusing solely on female killers, whose motives vary from passion and jealousy to abuse, it could also be the reason why Killer Women was canned.

Perhaps Vergara might venture into more familiar territory with her next outing – she definitely has the moxie to pull it off.

• Killer Women airs on M-Net Series Showcase (DStv Channel 113) tonight at 10pm.

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