Nashville Web Series
Aron Eugine
Nashville is an American musical drama television series. It was created by Callie Khouri and produced by R. J. Cutler, Khouri, Dee Johnson, and Steve Buchanan through season four, Connie Britton through season five, and Marshall Herskovitz and Ed Zwick from season five on.
The series chronicles the lives of various fictitious country music singers in Nashville, Tennessee, starring Connie Britton as Rayna Jaymes, a legendary country music superstar, whose stardom begins fading, and Hayden Panettiere as rising younger star Juliette Barnes. Britton left the show in season five.[2]
The series first aired on ABC on October 10, 2012. It was cancelled by ABC in May 2016 after 4 seasons. It was renewed by CMT that June and a fifth season (with new producers, writers and showrunners) first aired on January 5, 2017.[3] A sixth and final season began airing on January 4, 2018,[4] and the series ended on July 26, 2018.[5]
In the first episode, the series focuses on the rivalry of Rayna Jaymes and Juliette Barnes. Rayna Jaymes is the established "Queen of Country Music". However, her latest album is not selling well and her tour is playing to half empty venues. Her record label suggests that she open for Juliette Barnes, the young and beautiful best-selling singer of bubble gum country pop. Juliette sees Rayna as privileged and purposefully alienates her. Rayna, who dislikes Juliette's style of music, rejects a joint tour out of hand. The two women come into conflict as each tries to get guitarist Deacon Claybourne, Rayna's bandmate and former lover, to sign on to their tour. Rayna's life is further complicated when her estranged father, millionaire businessman Lamar Wyatt, convinces her husband, Teddy Conrad, to run for Mayor of Nashville.
For later episodes through season four, the series follows the lives of country musicians, focusing on three female leads: country superstar Rayna Jaymes, rising problematic star Juliette Barnes, and newcomer singer-songwriter Scarlett O'Connor.
From mid-season five, the series follows the lives of country musicians, focusing on two female leads: rising star Maddie Conrad, Rayna Jaymes' daughter, and fading star Juliette Barnes, as well as focusing on recurring characters.
The premise beginning with season six followed country stars Juliette Barnes, Deacon Claybourne, and the Highway 65 record label family as they strive to keep Rayna Jaymes' dream alive and pursue their music while juggling relationships, family, and the ever-changing industry.[6]
The show features an ensemble cast. For the first season, nine actors received star billing: Connie Britton as Rayna Jaymes, a 40-year-old country music superstar singer whose stardom is beginning to fade; Hayden Panettiere as Juliette Barnes, a bubblegum country pop singer and former teen star sensation who is determined to replace Rayna as the top superstar of country music; Clare Bowen as Scarlett O'Connor, a poet and songwriter Deacon's niece, and musician partner with Gunnar who works at the Bluebird Cafe which is where she is first noticed and performs; Eric Close as Theodore "Teddy" Conrad, Rayna's husband who, after a business failure, is now living on his wife's income. He runs for mayor with help from his father-in-law and wins election, later divorcing Rayna; Charles Esten as Deacon Claybourne, songwriter, lead guitar player, Rayna's former lover and biological father of her oldest child.;[7] Jonathan Jackson as Avery Barkley, an aspiring musician with a bad-boy streak. He and Scarlett are in a relationship when the series begins, but soon separate; Sam Palladio as Gunnar Scott, a kind-hearted aspiring musician who dates Scarlett in season one, and dates Zoey in season two; Robert Wisdom as Coleman Carlisle, a one-time mayoral candidate, and later Deputy Mayor, close friend of Rayna, and serves as Deacon's sobriety sponsor; and Powers Boothe as Lamar Wyatt, Rayna's father and a wealthy, powerful and controlling patriarch and local politician who disapproves of his daughter's career as a country singer.
Powers Boothe and Robert Wisdom were reduced to recurring status, in the second season for creative reasons.[8] After recurring in the first season, three actors were promoted to the regular cast in the second season: Chris Carmack as Will Lexington, a rising country star struggling with the realization that he might be gay, as well as Scarlett and Gunnar's new neighbor;[9] Lennon Stella as Maddie Conrad, Rayna's older daughter, legal daughter to Teddy, and biological daughter to Deacon; and Maisy Stella as Daphne Conrad, Rayna and Teddy's younger daughter. For the third season, two actors were upped to regulars: Will Chase as Luke Wheeler, the biggest male country artist and a love interest for Rayna; and Oliver Hudson as Jeff Fordham, a record company executive who clashes with Rayna and Juliette. For season four, Hudson was downgraded to recurring status and then his character was killed off while Aubrey Peeples, introduced in season two as reality competition second-place winner (and later Will's wife) Layla Grant, was promoted to regular.[10][11]
For the fifth season, folk-Americana singer Rhiannon Giddens and indie-pop singer Bridgit Mendler joined the cast as Hallie Jordan and Ashley Wilkenson. Giddens held a major recurring role and appeared in the sixth season as well. She played Hallie Jordan, a religious church-goer who saves Juliette's life and later helps her find her religion. Later on, Juliette gets her signed to Highway 65. Mendler played a bratty pop star who Maddie clashed with in one episode. Joseph David-Jones as Clay, Maddie's boyfriend and musician, Christian Coulson as a music video director, and the father of Scarlett's baby, all joined the cast in major recurring roles. Cameron Scoggins, a wealthy tech-entrepreneur who helps Rayna out with struggling Highway 65, was originally cast in a recurring role, but was upgraded to a series regular and made guest appearances in season six. He left Nashville to run for office, but came back to help take down Brad. He and Will dated and it was later shown that they end up together. Other recurring roles include Linds Edwards as Carl Hockeny, Rayna's stalker, Ben Taylor as Flynn Burnett, a love interest for Daphne, and Katrina Norman joined the second half of the season as Polly, a stunning road manager.
Five major recurring characters were announced for season six; part one, in addition to the returning recurring characters from the series' fifth season. Josh Stamberg played Darius, an extremely charismatic founder of a self-actualization movement that has transformed many lives that Juliette joins upon suffering from depression. Jake Etheridge played Sean, a recent military veteran suffering from severe PTSD who has yet to embrace his talent and passion for music. Rainee Blake played Alannah, who is a newcomer to the Nashville music scene, and a beautiful singer-songwriter who starts out as a backup singer but will soon be discovered for the star that she actually is meant to be when she joins the boys' band. Nic Luken played Jonah Ford, a famous male pop star who is very handsome, extremely confident, and charming and who catches Maddie's attention. Finally, Dylan Arnold played Twig, a childhood friend to Jonah. He navigates this lifestyle by guarding his anxiety and pain with a caustic, brilliant sense of humor.[15] In addition, it was revealed that Dutch singer Ilse DeLange would have a recurring role as Ilse de Witt, a female coach on a talent show, Nashville Next.[16] For the second half of the season, Mia Maestro and Ronny Cox joined the cast as Rosa and Gideon, respectively. Maestro played Rosa, a dedicated follower of Darius' cult who now is having doubts about her role in it. Cox played Gideon, a crusty, frustrated, would-be musician and recently reformed lifelong alcoholic who resented his son Deacon's success.[17]
The series was created by Callie Khouri, who won an Academy Award for Thelma & Louise. Khouri lived in Nashville from 1978 to 1982.[18] In an interview for The New York Times she said "This is a place that can be mocked and made fun of, and sometimes it deserves it, like any place. But it also is an incredibly beautiful, cosmopolitan city, and I wanted to show that to the world. I want to represent it in a way that everybody who lives here would find completely realistic."[18] Nashville was the first television series in Khouri's career, after working for two decades as a film writer and director creating strong female characters.[19]
A number of television critics characterized Nashville as "Dallas in Tennessee."[29][30] The original concept was focused on the backdrop of the real country music world.[20] ABC's promotional campaign for the series premiere was primarily focused on the rivalry between a young and ruthless country pop diva (Panettiere) and a past-her-peak superstar (Britton).[18] Nashville was filmed on location and on soundstages in Nashville. The Bluebird Cafe, an important local performance arena, is a frequent setting; the show's art department, headed by production designer Jeff Knipp, precisely replicated its exterior and interior in a Nashville sound stage.[31] After weeks of rumors that production would move elsewhere, it was announced that season two would also be filmed on location in Nashville.[32] Nashville budget hovered in the neighborhood of $4 million per episode in season one.[33] The budget for each season of the series was roughly $39.7 million, $90.2 million, $91.7 million, $85.6 million, $86.6 million, and $62.4 million respectively, with the series' budget as a whole totaling $456 million.[1]
British actor Sam Palladio was the first regular member to be cast, being announced on February 14, 2012.[34] Australian actress and singer Clare Bowen was the next addition to the pilot, as Scarlett O'Connor, on February 17, 2012.[35] On February 22, General Hospital cast member Jonathan Jackson joined the cast in the role of Avery Barkley.[36][37][38] On February 23, Emmy Award winner Powers Boothe joined the cast as Lamar Wyatt, father of lead character.[39] On February 29, it was announced that Hayden Panettiere had landed the role of Juliette Barnes, originally planned as the primary antagonist of the series.[40][41] On March 1, 2012 Robert Wisdom was cast as Coleman Carlisle, one of the supporting regular characters.[42] On March 5 Eric Close joined the ensemble cast as Teddy Conrad, Rayna's husband.[43] On March 6, it was announced that Connie Britton would play leading role of Rayna Jaymes, 40-year-old fading country superstar.[44][45][46] Britton also serves as a co-executive producer of the series. On March 13, 2012, Charles Esten joined the cast in the final regular role of Deacon Claybourne, Rayna's bandmate and former lover.[47]
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