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For the 3rd year in a row, here's very early info to update you on 2009-2010 primetime pilots. I hear the following pilots have heat heading into these final weeks before the network upfronts. In most cases, this good buzz is based on scripts considered above average and even exceptional, word from the set or editing room by those who've seen some of the pilots, and/or the successful showrunners, producers, directors involved. The lucky ones include Bill Lawrence, Marc Guggenheim, Claudia Lonow, Josh Schwartz, Ian Biederman, Peter Berg, David E Kelley, and Mitch Hurwitch (3 times over). I'll be updating...
UNTITLED NCIS SPIN-OFF (Paramount): "Will go."
THREE RIVERS (Paramount/Deuce Three): "It's early but I hear they like what they're seeing." Stars Alex O'Loughlin who might bring his rabid Moonlight fanbase.
FISH TANK (Sony TV)
WAITING TO DIE (Sony TV/Tantamount)
ACCIDENTALLY ON PURPOSE (Paramount/BermanBraun): "Jenna Elfman..." "Hot."
HAPPINESS ISN'T EVERYTHING (Sony TV/Paramount/Tantamount): "Jason Biggs... Network is happy with the way it came in." Five scripts already.
BACK (Paramount/Storyline) "Still shooting..."
THE GOOD WIFE (Paramount/Scott Free): Cast contingent."
THE BRIDGET SHOW (Sony TV/Tantamount/Hagada Hey) "Lauren Graham..." "Heating up." "Looks good."
CANNED (ABC TV STUDIO/BGTV)
COUGAR TOWN (ABC TV StudioDoozer/Coquette) "Courtney Cox..."
UNTITLED RICKY BLITT PROJECT (Warner Bros) "Network liked it." "Jim Burrows directing."
HAPPY TOWN (ABC TV Studio)
SOLVING CHARLIE (ABC TV Studio)
FLASH FORWARD (ABC-TV Studio/Created By) "Was shot a while ago." "It's a go." "Ordered."
MELROSE PLACE (Paramount): "A lock..."
UNTITLED GOSSIP GIRL SPIN-OFF (Warner Bros/Paramount/Alloy): "Looks great..."
ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS (BBC Worldwide/Sony TV/Tantamount): "A lock."
SONS OF TUCSON (Twentieth TV/J2 Pictures): "Going."
COP HOUSE (Twentieth TV/Adelstein)
MAGGIE HILL (Twentieth TV/Imagine): "May be a go."
HUMAN TARGET (Warner Bros/DC Comics/Wonderland): "Going."
GLEE (Twentieth TV) : "Going." Gets preview after American Idol on May 19.
PARENTHOOD (Universal Media Studios/Imagine): "Almost a lock." "Great cast." "Tommy Schlamme directing."
OFF DUTY (Universal Media Studios/American Work)
COMMUNITY (Sony TV/Krasnoff)
DAY ONE (Universal Media Studios)
TRAUMA (Universal Media Studio/Film 44) "Pete Berg..."
LEGALLY MAD (Warner Bros/David E Kelley): Series penalty.
MERCY (Universal Media Studios/BermanBraun)
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UNTITLED NCIS SPIN-OFF (Paramount): “Will go.”
Now the spin offs are getting spin-offs!
ACCIDENTALLY ON PURPOSE (Paramount/BermanBraun): “Jenna Elfman…” “Hot.”
Those quotes haven’t been heard in a long long time.
HUMAN TARGET (Warner Bros/DC Comics/Wonderland): “Going.”
Been done, by ABC, with Rick Springfield! They’re not only remaking old ideas, they’re remaking old canceled ideas.
LEGALLY MAD (Warner Bros/David E Kelley): Series penalty.
NBC is interested because that term’s been used to describe how they run the network.
Here we go again! A year ago you were the first one to break the news about Moonlight being cancelled. THIS year I’m praying you will be the first one to tell us that Three Rivers has been picked up. Not only does it have the delicious Alex O’Loughlin but it also boasts a quality cast in Julia Ormond (”CSI”), Joaquin de Almeida (”24″), Katherine Moennig (”The L Word”), a great writer (Carol Barbee “Jericho”), and exec producers Curtis Hanson (”LA Confidential) and Carol Fenelon (”8 mile”). Plus this show has something a lot of pilots don’t have, the huge Alex O’Loughlin fan base, something you can’t buy, borrow, or steal. Not even in Hollywood.
wow is that a small number of shows… from the same people with checkered histories of success.
What about ‘V’. Warner Bros is making for ABC. Do you have an opinion or have you heard anything?
I am hoping to see the delicious Alex O back on tv on 3R this fall and yes I am a rabid fan
Word on the street:
They got an extremely good looking, charismatic, total newcomer as the lead of MERCY and from what I hear the performance by this young woman is exceeding all expectations and NBC feels like they have a new star on their hands (heard it was their least expensive drama pilot BY FAR).
LOST & FOUND at NBC on the other hand is said to really squander its “name” leads and completely misuses Brian Cox in particular. Very long development for that show.
Surprised not to see HOUSE RULES or EMPIRE STATE on here, both shows are being discussed as serious contenders.
TRAUMA and PARANTHOOD are not going to be done by the time the network has to pull the trigger. They will have to decided on those shows based on short presentations at best.
i bet you eastwick will go. everything david nutter does goes!!!!
Nikki– Absolutely adore you, but as someone in one of those rooms where these are discussed, you are simply printing idle, wishful chatter. In some cases (ie, Flash Forward)you are more or less correct, but even more often way off (Solving Charlie). What’s the point of the totally arbitrary guessing game? More hits on the site???
It’s impossible to know what’s going to be picked up at this point, other than the obvious like Melrose Place and Glee. I know that at least two shows on this list are considered disasters by the network and have no serious chance of getting picked up.
And so now we have traveled back to the 1950’s where black people are not represented in primetime.
CBS has the only two black leads on network TV (CSI, The Unit, thanks Les)
Without comedies, no one will put a show on with a black lead.
This is reprehensible. Execs complain privately that it is a terrible situation but they fear speaking out and so they support by their silence.
Does it matter to anyone that TV has become a fantasy land where the biggest idea is to find shows like Mad Men that can legitimately be done without any minority?
We should all be ashamed. The establishment should be condemed for their arrogant abuse of the system and we minorities for our passive acceptance of second-class citizenship.
This is how we die, people, slowly and without complaint.
No wonder Tyler Perry’s garbage has support. There’s nowhere else for black people to see themselves on TV.
THREE RIVERS: I’m really hoping this gets picked up! It looks great and it’s a role I know Alex can get into. He’s a major talent and can easily make this role believable.
If Alex O’Loughlin’s fan base is so huge, shouldn’t his old show still be on the air?
Did it even have 10 million viewers (that’s out of more than 300 million in the entire U.S.)?
I have to agree with Amyvil that Alex O’Loughlin is delicious – and I’m a heterosexual guy!
Are you seriously telling me that the drama pilot LOST & FOUND by DICK WOLF (the most prolific producer at NBC in the last decade) and starring KATEE SACKHOFF (of fan favorite BATTLESTAR GALACTICA) is not on the NBC hot list?
I find that EXTREMELY hard to believe…and I’m sure I’m not the only one.
i’m really intrigued by fish tank, does this mean it’s getting good buzz?
And what percentage of this batch is just the same junk about cops, doctors and lawyers?
All this confirms most of what I’m hearing, but you’re behind on THE GOOD WIFE… it WAS cast contingent before Julianna Margulies took the lead. W/ Christine Baranski, Josh Charles, Chris Noth, Matt Czurchy… it wrapped shooting last week. Is there any buzz on how it turned out?
Can’t David Kelley do anything that isn’t about lawyers? Who wants to watch lawyers? Agreed with the comment that said same old about doctors, lawyers, cops. Moreover, it’s all fantasy that has nothing to do with how doctors, lawyers and cops REALLY are in life – scoundrels not heroes. People think these “procedurals” have a basis in reality, and should understand they are pure fantasy.
“Parenthood” has an amazing cast. “Legally Mad” is David E. Kelley, so that’s a no-brainer, but where is “Lost & Found” on the NBC list? You can’t tell me NBC isn’t going to pick up a Dick Wolf show? (Especially one that’s not cut from the same “Law & Order” cloth.)
Alex O’Loughlin AND Katherine Moennig? That’s a total no-brainer, whatever it is! At least some people know how to cast…
Now let’s hope that Moennig’s character is something like SHANE. Please GOD or whoever, I’m so tired of those boring chick-lets on TV, I want to see a real chick that kicks ass for a change. Can’t wait to see the promo.
GOSSIP GIRL Spin-Off’s also a no-brainer. Cast for MELROSE PLACE sounds really interesting, far better than lame 90210.
GLEE? That promo doesn’t look all that promising despite Jane Lynch who seems to play a char similar to the nutty counselor in ROLE MODELS.
Curious re: COUGAR TOWN. Hope it’s as interesting and as much fun as DIRT was.
Troubled exec — What do you think Nikki Finke, the NSA? Unless she does actually have listening devices planted in some conference rooms, all she can do is tell us what people have told here. If you’re in some of the rooms and know what she’s wrong about, and you have your own information about what’s hot, why not go to a pay phone somewhere and tell her what’s really going on?
INterested Observer – from what I’ve heard @ NBC
The studio & network LOVED Katee Sackhoff in LOST & FOUND. (Didn’t hear anything about Brian Cox though.)
The only thing TRAUMA has going for it is a big splashy opening…after that, the characters & the writing come off flaaaaaat.
PARENTHOOD has (allegedly) begun staffing.
Wow. Has anyone actually seen GLEE? It’s atrocious.
So excited for ABFAB tho.
I too am surprised about “Lost and Found” not being there. Also, I’ve heard a ton about Empire State in the past 2 days… and House Rules for the past week or so.
God, will the Moonlight people ever shut up?? You’re worse than the Veronica Mars fans!
And nothing Dick Wolf has attempted that didn’t have the words Law & Order in the title has EVER been successful. So I’m not surprised his show isn’t on the list.
Dear NoCountryforBlackMen,
Perhaps you didn’t know about Cedric’s pilot at ABC or the new leading man in Tad Quill’s pilot. I’ll forgive you for that. But your attack at the establishment is pathetic, especially at a time when the keyword in the industry is “diversity”. New writer needs a meeting? They get it if they’re not straight, white or male. Spare me you’re whining. TV IS a fantasy land, and the big idea of MAD MEN was written on spec without any network seven years before it was made. You also can’t blame the establishment or claim second-class citizenship when a cable network is entitled “Black Entertainment Television”. Just imagine the backlash for a WET and tell me whose country this is.
Sincerely,
The White Man
“Melrose” and its mothership “90210″ are what people mean when they say “there’s nothing good on t.v. anymore.”
considering that NBC lopped off 5 hours of programming with Leno being moved down, I think it’s the height of stupidity to think they’re going to pick up that money hour long dramas. I mean, where the hell are they going to put all of them?
I hope THREE RIVERS fails to get picked up or is canceled quickly, becuase the histrionics of the MOONLIGHT wackos can be hilarious when not incredibily annoying.
MOONLIGHT FANS: So loud and obnoxious on the Internet. So few and irrelevant elsewhere.
I want a show with a gay lead! Other than Nip/Tuck, of course.
I’m going out on a limb here. Almost all of these will fail and relatively few will be picked up. Especially with the low ratings achievements of Moonlight and Jericho packaged into one certain to-fail stinkbomb. When will networks learn?
Three Rivers is terrible! Do you people actually read the scripts or are you just network hacks posting on a site hoping to generate buzz?
That show will get picked up and cancelled after 4 episodes maybe 5 episodes due to Alex O’Loughlin “fans” and his great “acting talent”.
What’s the status on V? Great cast, really good pilot script, built-in following… have you heard anything?
What about the show with Kelsey Grammar?
SOUTHLAND needs to be executed. The show is ridiculous and I’m sorry, but Ben Shanken errr McKenzie playing a cop? He’s horrible. Too emo and since he is gay in real life, I feel his talents would be better served on Brothers & Sisters. He’s a good actor when he’s not playing the straight alien. Like a deer caught in headlights. He should be playing what’s natural & comfortable to him.
B.E.T. (Black Entertainmnet Television) is not a BLACK ONLY channel. There are many white people on there. The channel broadcasts shows that will be entertaining to the black audience.
More than 95% of the other channels out there are W.E.T. (White Entertainmnet Television). They don’t call it that but they produce show that will be entertaing to the white audience.
I think Cougar Town is super great and probably like the best pilot ever produced.
anything about adam carolla’s cbs pilot ‘ace in the hole?’ he’s a funny dude and i hope they pick that show up eventually.
I get the frustration with Moonlight fans and their incessant assaults on comment sections, but Three Rivers deserves a shot and is generating good buzzzzzzz! Alex O’Loughlin is a very good and versatile actor and he’s a hot property in the biz now, so that makes him hot in every way! ‘Cause he’s just plain hot too!
Two questions from way out of the loop:
(1) I note the CW’s Vampire Diaries isn’t on the hotlist; any buzz in any other direction on that one? (You’d think the Moonlight brigade would be following that show pretty closely….)
(2) If ABC’s interested in that many pilots, what are the current odds on Castle’s chances for a 2nd-season pickup?
Although Happy Town has a sheriff or two, at least it’s void of the CSI/lawyer/ and Doctors crap. I heard it’s suppose to be Twin Peakish. That would be nice….but I do think intelligent audiences have left TV.
Obnoxious white guy you need to shut the EFF up because YOU don’t know what YOU’RE talking about. There are multiple “white entertainment networks” idiot. They go by the names ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC, and every other damn network.
BET was created because there was a dearth of opportunities to showcase Black talent. And in 2009 with a Black president and Black artists influencing EVERYTHING in your life like what you say, wear and even DRINK, there STILL is a dearth of opportunities. So, please, take your idiotic, white boy privileged asshole crap some place else. Oh wait I know where… How about you go back to your office at the studio/network/production company that you work at where there are FEW if any faces of color NOT just Blacks and continue to justify why it’s okay when it’s not. Nincompoops like you need to smacked in the face. Meet me on the corner of Crenshaw and Rodeo and I’ll gladly oblige. Privileged ass mofo.
Any word on ABC’s “My American Family” and the Cedric the Entertainer sitcom “The Law”?
Who exactly knows who Alex O’ Loughlin and Katherine Moening are and how will that attract a major audience?
I agree, Upfronts Watch. Alex. or his future projects, shouldn’t be automatically penalized due to a few crazy fans.
Why does anyone think there’s an audience for AB FAB minus the boozing and drugging and slutting? That’s like eliminating the crimes from CSI.
“Wow. Has anyone actually seen GLEE? It’s atrocious.
So excited for ABFAB tho.”
GLEE was superb, at least the cut I saw – which I believe was the first.
I’ve seen cuts of ABFAB and it’s an atrocious mess.
I have heard that This Little Piggy for ABC was one of McPherson’s favorite scripts – pilot shoots tonight. From Marco Pennette and two Mad Tv writers…the point being it is still early for “informed buzz” when pilots are still shooting…
Blacks according to the US Census Bureau are 12.5% of the population. They make up about 66% of actors in commercials. I’m shocked that White actors have not filed a class action suit alleging discrimination by race.
Blacks are also over-represented in supporting roles in dramas and comedies. I am shocked there has not been reverse discrimination suits there as well. Eventually someone will sue. And win.
White audiences are the dominant group by overwhelming margins for English-language media. [Nielsen's site has breakdowns for Hispanic/Black/"All" and check it out, Hispanics don't watch much besides Spanish Language TV. Check it out yourself.] With few exceptions (Cosby, Haysbert, Denzel Washington, Will Smith) White audiences where the money is don’t care about Black actors who fail to connect with them. Black-led casts don’t do very well, unless the actors and the concept is White middle class oriented: kick-ass drill sergeant leads Spec Ops, Middle Class Father, Cary Grant type movie stars.
Pushing PC buttons and Multiculti myths that people know are not true (Black doctors show up all the time on TV, according to the AMA’s site they make up less than 4% of all Doctors) strains credibility and loses viewers to the internet or something else. The easiest thing in the world is to stop watching.
Reality: Blacks are 12.5% of the population, and Whites make up close to 80% of the English Language audience. All dancing around this Demographic fact won’t change the business reality. Whites unsurprisingly with a few noted Middle Class exceptions above want to see stories and actors about “them” and not other groups. Regardless of what diversity mongers or PC/status-driven Yuppies desire.
[The good thing about cable and various low-cost film-making is that folks like Chappelle and Perry and others can serve a niche market and be heard in the marketplace. Mass and niche audiences can exist in the same marketplace.]
John, the broadcast networks are as white only as BET is black only and much less overtly so.
Pissed Off, I’d rather meet you around the corner on MLK Jr Blvd to have a civil discussion without the violence.
I respect the opinions though apparently the respect is not reciprocal. As far as the dearth of opportunities goes, welcome to Hollywood. Guess we’re all equal after all.
Thanks for playing.
Alrighty, for Kate Moennig, I hope 3R is decent. For Glee, I can only wish a championship medal because I’m still laughing at Jane Lynch in the extended trailer and for all TV fans, I hope there’s at least a little quality in there, somewhere.
God bless us everyone!
I have heard good things about the ABC pilot “Pulling.” Possible break out talent.
I disagree, Melrose Place and 90210 are viable properties that could work in any decade. Melrose is going to be hot and I want to work on it badness. The cast is diverse and banging. I think they will learn what they did wrong on 90210’s launch and both will be a powerhouse when that show gets in step with the reworkings.
Les should just give Dawn’s team more money so they can fill the gaping hole that is Sunday nights left by the now-gone MRC shows. They cannot just greenlight two shows. They should just go bold or go home. These shows have US Weekly fixtures that will get them more buzz. Girls, gays and some straight hitters like me will watch this trash.
Why not go a little crazy and take Chuck from NBC if they pass? It could fill the bleed on Sundays at 8pm and rotate companions with Smallville and Supernatural.
Monday’s should be Josh and Steph’s domain with Gossip Girl and Britney Snow spin-off. And while you’re at it bring back the OC with a new cast for Fall ‘10 cause hot sun bleeched Republicans never get old.
Tuesdays should go to One Tree Hill and VAMPIRE DIARIES.
Wednesday should get retro fitted with 90210/MELROSE PLACE.
Do something risky and put Top Model to anchor Thursday nights then rotate the 9 pm hour with Operation Make Over or whatever its called and Beautiful Life.
Just throw a bunch of trashy reality shows on Friday.
Jenna Elfman!?!! “WHAT ARE YOUR CRIMES?” “AIDS IS A STATE OF MIND!” Somebody needs to get their head out of L. Ron’s books….
I have heard that ‘V’ has tested and people are extremely pleased. I agree – it’s a fantastic cast…
Morena Baccarin
Elizabeth Mitchell
Joel Gretsch
Morris Chestnut
Alan Tudyk
Scott Wolf
David Richmond-Peck
Laura Vandervoort
BUT….I’m just not sure I trust the source.
I can tell you this – a smart thriller would draw a lot more viewers (myself included) than another show about lawyers or doctors.
Anyone have some news?
MERCY’s script rocked. Liz Heldens is amazing.
Glee, from the maker of Pretty Handsome and the atrociously shark jumped Nip/Tuck may have buzz but can anyone tell me who the audience is for the show? If you read the script, you know it’s precious beyond words. But then again, I’m sure there will be a carver at some point. I hate this posting, Nikki, it’s really general and has no insight. To see 40+ people weighing in tells me that nothing you wrote has any bearing on the truth. And yes, i’m in love with Alex o’loughlin too. You wonder why it got cancelled, two words, Joel Silver.
Whiskey,
You say Hispanics don’t watch much except for Spanish-language TV. And yet they are over 13% of the country and growing quickly. And the majority are now American born and English-dominant. Wouldn’t it be smart to have them in the networks’ shows, represented in some way (both behind and in front of the camera) so that the networks could tap into that audience?
While people will watch a good show regardless of the color of the star, they do enjoy seeing themselves represented. Not to mention, if your producer or writer or director or lead actor can go and talk about your show on the super popular Latino radio in Spanish, it only helps.
The network audience is shrinking. Why not have Latinos on your shows and get some of that population to watch your network? To not go after that audience is to leave money on the table (look at the recent success of “Fast and Furious” due in large part to the Latino audience.) “Beverly Hills Chihuahua” had popular Latino-DJ “Piolin” do one of the voices and he promoted the hell out of it. Were he not cast, his audience would not have come out in such huge numbers. It’s simple math. Include Latinos = make more money.
Do you think a show as poorly executed and overly familiar as George Lopez would’ve survived at all, let alone several seasons if not for the support of the Latino audience? Do you think “Desperate Housewives” hasn’t been boosted by having Eva Langoria, a big booster on Latino issues, on the show?
Yes, the majority of the shows will continue to represent the majority of the nation, but to not include the growing minorities of your nation, a growing economic force in a time of recession, is idiotic.
Dear Whiskey,
You’re fooling yourself, dude.
seedub… CW still no longer owns Sunday nights. Despite Dawn Ostroff’s brilliance (sic), and although MRC’s implosion presented them with a reset, they still didn’t have the audience flow, let alone the prospect of a hit show to warrant a further investment by the mothership, so they allowed MGM to pick up the night and program it from their library. Give Dawn more money to do what? She drafted on someone else’s success with Melrose and 90210 and besides Gossip Girl, which has traction the way The OC had traction and will like that predecessor cave in under the weight of its vapidness, has been responsible for cancelling Veronica Mars with an audience craving for more and developed the inspired Aquaman, let alone the slew of wasted development that hasn’t even seen the light of day. Seriously, give Dawn what? Isn’t it time for her to be replaced? Isn’t it time for network executives to be term limited out? Year after year the same faces giving the same uninspired spiel and now this year, we see an even more absurd thing occur; swapping network jobs, Laura Lancaster from Fox to NBC and Terence Carter, the reverse. Both executives hated by their bosses, get rewarded with a reprogramming of their GPS systems to new addresses and another shot at developing the same mediocre product but with different script covers. And we wonder why the medium of Marshall McLuhan, Paddy Cheyefsky, Larry Gelbart, Norman Lear, Brandon Tartikoff and I won’t even go in to Lucille Ball and Jackie Gleason and Carol Burnett, is so challenged. We strangle our great art with intrusive hands and egos run amok when in fact, it was built on the pioneers who understood the sociological impact of the medium and set forth to reflect for the public what was happening in the world. When was the last time anyone sat in network meeting and the executive said so what do you think about the world these days? What are you observing? What do you want to write about? But we keep at it because when it works the way Curb or the first 6 of Heroes, or The Shield and Rescue Me, or Mad Men and the first 13 of Lost and the last slew of episodes, we are reminded of its power to reach out and change ones life in an instant. To move people to tears and to laughter. But none of that ever happened because some executive told a writer they needed a procedural with a different kind of hook.
The CW spinoff of the original Fox show 90210 was totally botched. They should put it out of its misery or maybe hire a new cast have one of the new characters wakeup finding out in was all a just terrible nightmare.
First mistake that horrible video look. Second bad casting. Third vapid characters.
Contrast that with the original. Kids couldn’t wait for the next episode, because they could relate to the characters. The actors looked like real teens and parents. It was shot on an aesthetically pleasing format, film. CW probably went with digital, so that they could be under AFTRA jurisdiction. Bad AFTRA karma. All the actors in town want AFTRA shows to fail and hate working on AFTRA shows.
The original 90210 and Melrose Place helped build a Network. After Melrose Place bombs, and it will. Those two shows will end up helping to kill a Network.
Since when was an audience “craving for more” Veronica Mars?
The show was barely pulling 2 million viewers. The only stupid decision Dawn made with regards to that show was renewing it beyond Season 1.
I hope 3 rivers gets picked up for Katherine Moennig. I never saw moonlight.
Katee Sackhoff said a few days ago that it looked like Lost & Found was going to be picked up. Either that has all changed in the last couple of days or Nikki needs to work a bit harder.
hey swm…if you can’t see that there is a blackout in hollywood then you are an idiot. there is a brown out and yellow out… if you’re not white you’re out….
and im a white male and i can see that. wake up.
My comments: Caution, may include snark!
CBS: With the network picking up only four or five pilots, I don’t think all of them will be a go. Of those here, I expect that none might be a hit, and including Jenna Elfman in a pilot isn’t that good a deal. Here’s hoping that “Back” is just a working title.
ABC: This isn’t the final list since Stephen McPherson is likely out the door. The one hit that he produced under his watch was actually created by Ben Silverman. I wouldn’t take this list with a grain of salt.
CW Network: Nothing to see here. Get moving.
FOX: First off, I don’t know if this has been mentioned, but Glee is a summer show which accounts for the post Idol preview. Second, FOX better keep both Fringe and Dollhouse because, as another poster said, it is a cancelled project by ABC in another form. I can see a major schedule shakeup coming with this upfront.
NBC: Don’t know if anybody mentioned it but NBC’s upfront is May 5. Regardless, I truly think that NBC could be in trouble. Parenthood had been a movie and a series, and NBC wants a series again (The original series was on ABC)? At least they could have a sleeper in Legally Mad. That will make a good Friday 10 PM series when Jay Leno fails.
This is “an industry site”, right? People produce and sell their products and talk about the biz.
Yet whenever a few CUSTOMERS show up and tell YOU: Hey, we’re really looking forward to buying your new product! Can’t wait! Look, we’re nice folx, we won’t even mention that you discontinued our fave product. Bygones. Or they say “saw your new product, it rocked! Loooooving it! <3″
What do you INSIDERS do, you PRODUCERS and MARKETERS?
You tell your CUSTOMERS to shove it, to stfu, you call them rabid and crazy fans, you tell them to go away.
Coming to think of it, that’s just how the audience perceives networks these days. No respect for the audience. Maybe they will stfu and go away. As you wish…
I for one am counting the days until I can feast my eyes on Alex O’Loughlin in Three Rivers. I would listen to that man read the phone book…you can’t go wrong with tall, dark and handsome topped off with a sexy Aussie accent.
The depressing thing about this list is nearly every pilot has a non-writing producing company attached. These people can help get shows picked up but then they bring very little to the table creatively and take a huge chunk of money out of the above-the-line budget (money that could be used on stuff that actually ends up on the screen). There are too many executives in the development process.
Exasperated – couldn’t agree with you more.
Latinos are on primetime TV in force. CSI Miami stars Adam Rodriguez, Eva La Rue; Law and Order stars Alana de la Garza; Without a Trace stars Enrique Murciano and Roselyn Sanchez; Ugly Betty stars America Ferra, Tony Plano, Mark Indelicato, Ana Ortiz; Edward James Olmos starred in Battlestar Galactica; NCIS stars Cote de Pablo; Two and a Half Men stars Charlie Sheen who was born Carlos Irwin Estévez. His father Martin Sheen is Hispanic. Eva Longoria stars on Desperate Housewives.
The minorities that are under represented on primetime are asians.
I’m hoping for Three Rivers to get picked I really wanna see Kate Moennig back on tv, in what I hope would be a character with a good story line, you know better than Shane
Cougar Town is one of the best pilots to come out in AGES. Very well conceived and also an amazing cast. ABC has a hit with this one.
joe, what’s the number one movie this weekend?
I have worked in the post production process on many many pilots. I have never run a show but I deal directly with the show runners responding to the gauntlet of notes and revisions handed down by the studio and network. From where I sit, it seems to me that the vast majority of these notes are simply these executives trying to:
(A) anticipate the opinion of the one person whose opinion actually matters
and
(B) justify their jobs by creating often pointless flurries of activity and feeling “creative”.
This is not always true, sometimes the notes can be genuinely helpful. Usually, in my experience, the process is stunningly idiotic. So when I hear these reports of pilot buzz I have to wonder. I saw a pilot mentioned as looking really good (on another site) when I know for a fact it’s such a disaster they are seriously considering just leaving it unfinished.
Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe somebody who has run a show would care to comment. Doesn’t it boil down to ultimately one person’s opinion?
ALL intelligent viewers stopped watching television after the second season of ER.
“Lost & Found” is a Dick Wolf production written by Chris Levinson starring Katee Sackhoff (Battlestar Galactica, Nip/Tuck) and Brian Cox (Deadwood, The Bourne Identity).
It’s a quirky, witty drama about a cop (Katee Sackhoff) who is banished to the lost and found department as punishment where she meets her partner (Brian Cox).
Seems to be getting some great buzz from what I hear!
I won’t be watching any new shows anymore until they get renewed for a third season. Then I’ll just rent the 1st 2 seasons and catch up. They are going to cancel all but 2 or 3 of these shows before the 1st year is up based on the antiquated Nielsen ratings system. When they reform the ratings system with a larger sample, then I’ll start giving new shows a chance again. I’m going by the 3 year rule until then.
I sit in the room and listen to what the folks wanna put on and you are right its the same producers/writers recycling the stories that were rejected 3-5 years ago.
TV is a wasteland based on long term relationships.
Frankly the only show on the list that will have staying power is Glee..
it’s audience you ask…the entire US to start. Not a summer show, its just a preview as it connects well with that massive AI audience, but it’s crossing all age groups and could be if handled right a dream show for FOX.
I am mad about that at my network, wish we had the balls
Exasperated. That was interesting. I mean it. I’m still green. I don’t have Dawn Ostroff fetish, I would just love to see The CW as a hot guilty pleasure network filled with hot teens and twentysomethings in peril.
The original Melrose Place was great cause each episode had a SHOCKER. I want to see more “what the F just happened” moments on TV.
“This is not always true, sometimes the notes can be genuinely helpful. Usually, in my experience, the process is stunningly idiotic. So when I hear these reports of pilot buzz I have to wonder. I saw a pilot mentioned as looking really good (on another site) when I know for a fact it’s such a disaster they are seriously considering just leaving it unfinished.”
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Couldn’t agree with you more. I look at that list of shows and what I see are the pilots with the most recognizable names in them and/or producing them or remakes.
Every year big names roll out pilots and along with remakes get “buzz”, while lessor names have no shot.
Then lo and behold come the fall we see just as many new faces as old ones. Probably because the ones with big names arent any better the ones with no names and when it comes down to it–what are you going to put on–a show with a highly paid cast or a show that’s just as good that you can lock in for low money for years?
For the most part all the buzz is bs gossip and in many cases manufactured bs.
Take NBC for instance. Their biggest over the last couple decades were stacked with no-names or maybe 1 name–Friends, Seinfield, Cheers, Night Court, Will and Grace, Scrubs, Wings, Cosby was 1 guy and a bunch of no names. Could Paul Reiser be considered a name before Mad About You?
–and you can bet when these shows–except for Cosby probably–got a less buzz then pilots they were up against with bigger names.
Bottom Line–Don’t believe the hype.
Kind of like we see with high school athletes these days. For years we hear about these can’t miss kids starting in the 8th grade how they’re the next MJ, Kobe or Lebron then they finally get to college and half of them can’t get off the bench freshman year and never sniff the pros.
But heck, I guess that’s just 24 hour news cycle world we live in now where stories have to be manufactured and reporting rumor is somehow seen as just reporting.
Sure a few spi
Oh and since I was looking at NBC in my last post–thought the two comedies mentioned fit perfectly with the “name buzz” and while I like their potential to be funny, not sure if they are what the peacock needs.
Community and Off Duty seem to be in very tiny made up worlds like 30 Rock & The Office (Earl n Parks too but those stink) and provide the same quirky comedy as them.
While I enjoy 30 Rock and the office–they don’t exactly do the best numbers. Earl and Parks do bad numbers.
You know why? Cause they’re in tiny made-up worlds that no one can relate too. You laugh and forget about them. If you miss an ep, you don’t care, you’ll just catch he next one. You get some laughs for half an hour and that’s about it. There is no “I cant wait to see what happens next week”.
The Office numbers were way up during the whole Jim and Pam romance–and are back down.
Being that NBC is last place–why make more of the same?
So that being the case, if I were at NBC, I’d be looking hard at the two romantic comedies they have on the plate. I’d think about Ross and Rachel, Sam & Diane the years they had people wondering what was going to happen next week?
Both deal about dating and relationships in the real world in the streets of NYC and Chicago–not a quirky fishbowl of a police station or a community college.
Romantic comedy sells. It’s sold for NBC. Quirky comedy isnt.
So if I were them, I’d look to the past to find a nice balance for today. You have your quirky Seinfield n Fraiser n you pair with romcom Friends, Mad About You, will and Grace.
Seems like a no brainer–more of the same that has landed you in last–or the formula that had you at #1 for a 20 years.
What about The Eastmans?
Read script several months ago and thought it charming and savvy. With hotshot cast including some Broadway talent, it’s a sure bet…
No Heroics on ABC – Hilarious. High concept mixed with low but really pays off and the cast are all excellent. May surprise everyone. So I hear.
Yes, I too read The Eastmans, you’d think it would be a done deal at CBS. Nagle’s Warm Springs was smart as hell, and this clever pilot follows suit. Not sure if the dumbing down of America is complete, but this is a smart person’s show and it would up the audience’s IQ level a few notches.
Just lost internet. Not sure if last post was sent.
Still interested if anyone has heard anything on ‘V’ over at ABC. I know it was testing this week. Any news good or bad?
I guess it take all opinions to make the world go round…I found “Eastmans” trite and unreadable.
Don’t know about “V” but “The Eastmans” is very strong — Donald Sutherland as good as he’s been in a long while, plays the father of a family of doctors. smart family drama, very well written. Also, Safron Burrows is not only hot, but has a great storyline with an autistic child which is a huge issue these days. Lots to like in this show.
I liked The Eastmans script. I am waiting to hear what becomes of it. Hopefully it will be a go.
David Wilson Barnes is going to be ‘the next big thing’…Hugh Jackman meets Michael C Hall…if talent alone makes The Eastmans go, then the show will last as long as ER
Seriously, enough with “The Eastmans” plugging. It’s so obvious who is behind it…sad.
Mental premiers Tuesday May 26th at 9pm on Fox…all the racial diversity anyone will ever need!
Why would anyone watch Jay Leno over scripted shows – what is NBC thinking???? 3 straight hours of late night talk shows is not smart. Who would watch that over scripted shows – I would much prefer to watch a scripted show like Parenthood over another talk show or variety show. Please NBC rethink this…
I’ve read the scripts for The Eastmans, Three Rivers, and Miami Trauma.. and I liked Eastmans best. The characters are charming and funny; the storyline is smart and most engaging.
If CBS wants to attract a female audience, they should go with The Eastmans.