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EXCLUSIVE: While legal drama pilot Garza is on the fence at best, 
its high-testing star Jimmy Smits is red-hot at NBC. I hear the network has approached him to star in the new Law & Order series, L&O:LA, from Brotherhood creator Blake Masters. While considered a long shot, this is a smart move by NBC as Smits is a TV star and was great on the network’s The West Wing. The network is clearly looking for a big name to front LOLA. I also heard ramblings that it approached Dermot Mulroney, who toplines another NBC drama pilot in limbo, Rockford Files, for the new Dick Wolf series. (By the way, renewal for the flagship L&O series is pretty much a done deal. It will return for a record-breaking 21st and final season.)
Meanwhile, a retooled Garza, which is produced by Conan O’Brien’s production company, for midseason is still a possibility, though it is fading. Among the three NBC legal drama pilots, David E. Kelley’s Kindreds, Garza and Rex Is Not Your Lawyer, Kindreds still appears as the most-likely one, with Rex in the mix with solid internal support. Overall, The Cape looks like the strongest bet for a drama series pickup at NBC, possibly for midseason because of the special effects involved. Rockford is not looking good in its current incarnation and may be reshot/redeveloped. On the comedy side, Perfect Couples and Paul Reiser’s Next are going strong, with Friends With Benefits and This Little Piggy also in the mix.
TV Editor Nellie Andreeva - tip her here.
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Nellie,
You have never mentioned “Our Show” (good or bad) in any of your articles. It was touted as one of the “big” pilots this year and was the first to be picked up I think. Am wondering why you haven’t written about it….is it being considered separately because it isn’t scripted??
Thanks!
Sandra
How well did Perfect Couples and Next test? I hear Friends With bEnefits is terrible and Outsourced is great.
i really hope “next” is picked up… it sounds like a great show with awesome actors.
If Rex is picked up, David Tennant could be the next Hugh Laurie.
Great to hear Rex is still in the mix. I think it’d be excellent planning to ship Smits to LOLA and keep Kindreds and Rex for legal shows.
Nellie: Thanks for the update on “REX”. I love the premise and NBC would bolster their lineup by supporting a show with an original viewpoint. We, the viewers, deserve no less.
I hope they pick up the Cape too because it seems like a good show.
Glad to hear that “Rex” is still in the mix!
I really hope Rex makes it!!
Personally, I’m surprised that Rex is still in the mix after what I’d been reading elsewhere. Odd. Things do have a habit of being dismissed and then bouncing back suddenly which has happened before.
no Adam Carolla updates?
I wonder if NBC would consider Rex as a mid-season replacement series if they don’t have a Fall 2010 spot for it…? Even if it doesn’t need any re-vamping…? Or, invite Mr. Tennant for the cast of Law and Order: Los Angeles, if he is interested?
Glad NBC came to their senses re: Rockford…
What about Beach Lane? I read one report that said NBC blundered and inadvertently revealed their intended Fall line-up by creating Twitter accounts for all the shows the picked up shows. Beach Lane was one of them. Seems like you’d want to get Matthew Broderick on TV if you could. I thought the script was good.
I really hope Friends With Benefits gets picked up, I loved 500 Days Of Summer and I love the cast which includes Fran Kranz and Danneel Harris.I also hope The Cape gets a pick-up so Summer Glau can be on my TV again!
I haven’t seen it, but the few (two) people I know who did say ‘Friends w Benefits’ is really good.
THE CAPE!!!!
GET TO THE CHOPPAH!
Do we seriously need more L&O?
from reading yesterday it sounded as though perfect couples was a go.
Smits would be GREAT on LOLA. For some reason I see him as a laywer on the show. Maybe it’s because of his excellent (ruthless) DA run on Dexter.
Any word on Adam Carolla’s NBC Pilot. He is hilarious and so was the script!! Why is it never mentioned?
didn’t test well.
didnt test well? are we sure of this information?
Not a fan of “Law & Order,” but “Brotherhood” was friggin’ great. If anyone can make one of the spin-offs worth watching, it’s Blake Masters.
Brotherhood was fantastic if you like crime shows with no connection to reality. That show was a turd.
David Tennant could make anything work, so if Rex gets picked up, I’ll be there to watch it!
Why will L&O’s 21st season be its final?
In the last couple of years, since the addition of Linus Roache, Anthony Anderson and Jeremy Sisto, the show was really been rejuvenated.
I’m glad to see that “Rex” is still in the running. I would love to see David Tennant on US television.
If Law & Order: LA is happening. I bet it’ll be for the next television (aka not this one coming up). I mean, pilot season is pretty much over, so, if Garza isn’t picked up, I could see Jimmy headlining LAOLA.
I also hope that Chuck gets renewed. Can’t you just imagine a lineup that features Chuck, The Cape, and Undercovers? That could be the best night of television. (On a side note, if NBC did do that, they should schedule those shows for Sunday night, they’d dominate the night, if they did that).