Creating the Ball of Light

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Creating the Ball of Light was a special feature on the second season DVD set. Commentary by Scott Peters, Mira _____, Peter Simmons, Ira Steven Behr.

Scott Peters said that the 4400 was loosely inspired by the events of 9/11. He wondered how everyone would react if a group of people just came out of a ball of light, and how it would "change and challenge us." He came up with this idea on vacation.

He took the idea to American Zerotrophe and two other companies. Mira ____ of Zorotrope reacted well to the material, which made the creators of the 4400 more interested in working with the company. They then started working with the Fox network, however people at the top-levels of Fox decided that that show wasn't right for their network. They saw it as a miniseries, while others saw it as an actual show with many seasons yet to come. Fox gave them the material back to work with, and Peters and everyone else took the material to USA network and two other networks.

Ira Behr said that Rene ______ called him up one day and asked him if he wanted an "easy job." Behr would have to write one script for the mini-series. Rene ____ soon left the series and Behr found himself with a whole lot more work to do.

Scott Peters said that the fact that future humans were who took the 4400 was supposed to come at the end of a fifth season, not the fifth episode. Since they hadn't premiered while finishing the first season, they didn't know if they would return, and therefore they had to "end" it just in case. It was a constant struggle of deciding how much to reveal to the audience.

Commentary
DVD Commentary
DVD Commentary for As Fate Would Have It | DVD Commentary for The Fifth Page | DVD Commentary for Mommy's Bosses | Podcast for The Ballad of Kevin and Tess | DVD Commentary for Gone (Part 2) | DVD Commentary for Terrible Swift Sword | DVD Commentary for Fifty-Fifty
Special Features
Creating the Ball of Light | Return of the 4400 | A Stitch in Time | Unlocking the Secrets | The Architecture of Series Storytelling | Powers Grid