Beats co-founder Dr. Dre will produce and star in Apple’s first crack at a scripted television series. According to sources close to the matter, the show will be called Vital Signs, drop all six episodes at once, and be totally backed and paid for by Apple.
The specifics of a rollout plan or where the series would be found were left hazy, but it seems “likely” that Vital Signs will be distributed at the least via Apple Music. With the company’s forward-thinking campaign for its fourth-generation Apple TV still going strong, it’s also expected for the show to end up on the living room-set device in some form.
Regarding the plot of the series, it’s said to be presented as a “semi-autobiographical” story, wherein each episode will focus on a different emotion and how Dre’s character faces it. It’s also predicted to be a half-hour show, but will be billed as “a dark drama with no shortage of violence and sex,” and not comedy-bent.
Vital Signs is an original idea from Dre himself, who was said to have pitched the show directly to Jimmy Iovine, his co-partner at Beats before the company was purchased by Apple. Although scenes of the series were said to be shot as recent as this week (including an extended orgy scene in Los Angeles), the only other casting news includes hints that Sam Rockwell and Mo McCrae could be joining the show.
Tell us, what do you think of Apple entering the crowded market of original television programming? Let us know in the comments.