Marti Noxon

Gail Berman, president of entertainment for the Fox network, told SCI FI Wire that the network has ordered additional scripts for the proposed supernatural series Point Pleasant, from former Buffy the Vampire Slayer executive producer Marti Noxon. "Point Pleasant is a pilot that we have done, and now we’re doing a couple of additional scripts for it," Berman said in an interview at Fox’s fall press preview in Los Angeles. "How do I describe Point Pleasant to you? It’s kind of Peyton Place meets The Omen. ... This is right up your alley."

Earlier news reports suggest that Point Pleasant will center on a small New Jersey beach community that is turned upside down when a mysterious young girl washes ashore and begins to affect the town’s residents in unsettling ways.

Berman, whose history with Noxon dates back to Berman’s own days as an executive producer of Buffy, said that the network is enthusiastic about working with Noxon, despite having killed Noxon’s last proposed show, Still Life. Still Life centered on a family whose youngest son, a police rookie, is killed in the line of duty and who comments on his surviving family from beyond the grave. A pilot was produced, but did not make it to the network’s schedule. "I don’t think we’ll put it on the air," Berman told reporters. "I just don’t think it’s good enough."

Later, Berman added, "It wasn’t terrible at all. I just think in the end it ... didn’t live up to the concept, initially. I think the concept of the tale of a young man telling the story from the grave is probably a more literary device than it is an actual television device. So if I implied that it was terrible in any way, I certainly didn’t mean to. It just wasn’t ... enough for us." As for Noxon, she said: "We adore her. We think she’s one of the most talented people we’ve ever worked with, and personally I adore her from my life with Buffy. So ... she’s a great lady, a great creator, just all around fantastic." Point Pleasant is not on Fox’s upcoming fall schedule.