R.I.P. James Gandolfini 
Photos: James Gandolfini, 1961-2013 
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With the networks wrapping up their internal screenings, pilots are entering the final stretch when executives factor in testing and testing results as well as scheduling needs to make their picks for next fall. Here is the latest buzz on which pilots are still in contention:
Besides the Steven Spielberg-produced dinosaur fantasy Terra Nova, which is prepping for a midseason launch, Fox may pick up only one or two more new drama series, especially if it renews one of its bubble drama series Human Target or Lie To Me. (Human Target is looking a little stronger at the moment.) Midland appears a lock for the one slot, with a possible launch behind Fox’s flagship drama House a possibility. Breakout Kings and Shawn Ryan’s Ridealong would duke it out for the potential second slot.
On the comedy side, Greg Garcia’s Keep Hope Alive and Mitch Hurwitz’s Wilde Kingdom have emerged as frontrunners, with Traffic Light and Breaking In (form. Security) also in the running, along with Most Likely To Succeed.
The network already picked up dramas Undercovers, The Event and Chase, hourlong anthology romantic comedy Love Bites and comedy Outsourced. With Law & Order: Los Angeles also on deck, I hear the drama pilots still in the running at the network include The Cape, Rockford Files and Kindreds. Neither is a slam-dunk but has strong chances for a pickup. The Cape was very well received but is a genre piece which always has its risks. The project is looking to lock in John Wirth as showrunner. Rockford Files has had a rocky run with a major reediting but its pedigree and high profile will probably be enough for a series order. Ditto on David E. Kelley’s Kindreds, which, outside of an overwhelming praise of Kathy Bates’ performance, has drawn mixed reactions at the network. Garza has an outside chance.
On the comedy side, there was a somewhat surprising omission in NBC’s Friday pickup UMS-produced series when hot comedy Perfect Couples didn’t make the list. I hear it’s because NBC is considering it alongside another relationship-themed comedy pilot, Friends with Benefits that the network is also high on. Also in contention are Paul Reiser’s Next and the Matthew Broderick starrer Beach Lane, with early frontrunner This Little Piggy still hanging in there but continuing to slide down on the buzzmeter.
Hawaii Five-0 is as good as on-the-air, with legal drama Defenders still very strong, along with Chaos and a rising dark horse, the John Wells-produced untitled medical drama, which is gaining buzz. Meanwhile, there continue to be mixed signals on the Criminal Minds spinoff, which remains in contention, possibly for midseason.
On the comedy side, besides Mike & Molly, whose slot on the schedule is assured, Team Spitz and Bleep My Dad Said are strong, with Mad Love (form. True Love) and Livin’ on a Prayer also still in contention.
It’s still pretty murky on the drama side at ABC with No Ordinary Family, Detroit 187, Generation Y, The Whole Truth, Body of Proof and Off The Map all still in contention.
The untitled couples pilot and Mr. Sunshine appear the strongest contenders on the comedy side, with Happy EndingsWright Vs. Wrong and also in the running and Awkward Situations For Men, Who Gets the Parents and It Takes a Village also a possibility.
Besides Nikita, which is a go, cheerleading drama Hellcats is also considered a frontrunner, with HMS and Betwixt in contention.
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ABC always seems to pick up 6 dramas. Why wouldnt all 6 of those be picked up.
Any info on what happened with Funny In Farsi, Boston’s Finest and Edgar Floats
Where do you plug any of those shows in on the schedule?
* Tuesday at 9 (and 10 if V is cancelled).
* Wednesday at 10.
* Thursday at 8 (though I think they go comedy a la Ugly Betty or 2 sitcoms there).
I don’t see 6 drama pickups for ABC unless they’re planning a pretty aggressive midseason.
Just curious about your sources for info? I had heard that the ‘Untitled Wyoming Project’ had been very well received at the table read and was on track to get picked up.
Wyoming project is dead. It tested horribly.
No mention for Normands ( CW)? Is dead? long shot?
I’m liking most of NBCs choices so far except for the Rockford Files. No one can replace James Garner.
Amen. I thought SJC had more class than to let one of his greatest achievments get shat on.
Weird. My friends at FOX told me that Wilde Kingdom, Traffic Light, and Most Likely to Succeed were the front-runners.
I’m hoping The Cape goes to Syfy if it doesn’t go on NBC.
I know people who have pilots at ABC and it seems chaotic over there. No one knows what they want.
CW has vowed to break out of the teenage girl demo and I keep hearing good things about male skewing Nomads but no mention here?
They like Nomads a lot, it’s about bringing it in for the price. Looks like they will pickup Nikita HMS Hellcats and that. Wyoming had a strong table read is news to everyone
Doesn’t fit their line up.
How can Beach Lane even be in the running when everyone here back in NY is saying it’s dead and that NBC is looking to develop something else w/ M. Broderick. Weird!
Nomads and The Wyoming Project sound dead, but those are the only pilots I had interest in. I definitely won’t be watching Hellcats. It’s sure to be just another crash and burn for The CW.The CW never learns.
And my daughter would never watch anything as boring as Wyoming AKA Damn Thorpes or Nomads. But, she loves Ashely Tisdale and Aly & AJ, so she’ll be watching Hellcats every damn week. You are not Hellcats’ target audience. You are too old. There would be something wrong with you if the plot of Hellcats did sound great to you. And there would be something wrong with the tweener/teen concept of Hellcats if it was appealing to the old adults who read this site.
Last time I checked “Duh!” The CW targets the women 18-34 demo. I’m 21, and a woman. So yes I am Hellcats and The CW’s target audience. And I still wouldn’t watch a show about College cheerleaders. It sounds beyond boring. I have watched 90210 and Gossip Girl, but a show about college cheerleaders does not interest me. I don’t care about Ashley Tisdale, and that other show you mentioned. I could care less about Disney Channel stars. Corbin Blue (High School Musical) was on The CW’s “The Beautiful Life”. And how long did that last? That’s right… two episodes!
Dude, you’ve posted the same comment in all 5 of these updates. You are a teen woman like I’m Alan Horn. You’re posting on Nikki Finke’s industry site to promote the loser Damn Thorpes pilot. Who you fooling, old man?
I’m in the CW demo, as well, and I definitely wouldn’t watch this. Won’t watch anything on that net, to be honest. When I was in high school, the WB had Dawson’s Creek, Gilmore Girls, Everwood. Shows that might have been a little soapy but they had a lot of heart and protagonists I could identify with. Those are shows I’d still watch now, even in my twenties, but I definitely won’t watch any of the cr@p on the CW now. What is Dawn Ostroff’s problem with constantly trying to appeal to the lowest common denominator? I teach teenage girls and, with the exception of America’s Next Top Model, not a single one of them has ever mentioned watching a CW series. What have they mentioned? Monk, Criminal Minds, Glee. Just because they’re teenage girls doesn’t mean that they only want to see the trashy soaps. They want good, quality television as much as the rest of us. Half my girls are cheerleaders and even I don’t see them watching a show like Hellcats. Perhaps they’ll prove me wrong but after last year’s disaster with The Beautiful Life, I’m amazed that the CW is stupid enough to not have learned from that mistake.
Your kids will love HMS. I hear it’s a game changer.
OMG! I’m a teen girl as well! When I’m not on Makeupalley commenting on eyeliner tips, I’m on Nikki Finke’s Deadline Hollywood commenting on network programing.
Les Moonves is sooooo HOT! And did you see my qt Jeff Zucker is going to be doing press rounds? I’m so excited!
I would love to see Ridealong way before Breakout Kings.
I agree. Prison Break had its run guys, time to come up with something else.
Hey now, I liked Prison Break (season 1 only). There is no shame in ripping off other shows once those shows are dead.
With you 100%. PRISON BREAK already overstayed it’s welcome. Plus, Shawn Ryan is a freaking great writer and the BREAKOUT KINGS guys, well, aren’t.
I really hope there are other hopefull at ABC than those. I like Matadors, it was in contention in the last update and now it’s not…ABC usually has a lot of talks on their pilot, but now it seems very few info are coming out
Ugh.. I’m a big adam carolla fan and from the looks of this (and only this) article… it’s not looking good for his sitcom pilot
the adam carolla pilot was horrible even on paper and i am sure in execution. The script was not funny and in m opinion (and those in the know) it was dead out of the gate.
I heard Charlie Finn rules even though he is just working out at the gym these days.
I too am a fan of Charlie Finn. Let’s get his ass on the television.
I’ve lost out on jobs to Finn and I still cheer for him. He was perfect for Beach Lane with Broderick and they completely f***** it up by casting a guitar player. Finn plays squash not the guitar. What were they thinking?
Anyone hear anything about The Odds over at CBS?
I’ll never understand why they saddled “this little piggy” with such an awful title.
You read my mind. What a horrible title. If it were picked up, people might actually that it was about the Muppets.
Most of the strong development at NBC this pilot can be attributed to Jeff Gaspin who has had previous successes at USA and Bravo. In fact, when he was appointed to run NBC last year he told Jeff Zucker that NBC needed to spend more.
From New York Times
http://tinyurl.com/34xxov2
“He said that soon after he took up the job, he gave NBC Universal’s chief executive, Jeff Zucker, a simple message:
“We’re going to have to pay.”
“You can only manage through cost cuts for a short period of time,” Mr. Gaspin said. “And we’ve been doing it for five years.”
I’m so glad Jeff Gaspin has nothing better to do with his time than spamming Nikki Finke’s comments section with the same post over and over again. This practical use of his time makes me feel so much better about what is going on over at NBC.
I’m not jeff Gaspin, nor are the other people who have been saying how good he is. Jeff Zucker is an idiot.
Curious about The Odds on CBS too. It’s not like all the other CBS procedural shows. The script was actually funny and w/ Donald Faison as the lead, it seemed like a winner. Donald was great on Scrubs and has a lot of fans. Would love to see it on the air.
Does John Wirth really deserve to run another show? As a writer from a show he killed, I vote NO! Give the job to someone with ideas not recycled from Nash Bridges.
Dude, I wouldn’t knock Nash Bridges alumni — Carlton Cuse, Shawn Ryan, and Damon Lindelof all seem to have done just fine.
As for Wirth, I’ve never worked with him, but I know his reputation; he’s one of the few professional showrunners who partner well with show creators without stealing the show out from under them, helping them execute their vision, and motivating the staff with a good morale. It’s a short list of people who do the showrunner-for-hire job well while running a happy camp, a list including Wirth, Jim Parriot, Jeff Melvoin, Carol Barbee, and not a crazy long list of others.
Uh, I’m not knocking Nash Bridges, I’m asking a question based on my experience of watching him run a room into the ground. Wirth is a good enough guy but doesn’t bring anything new to the room. I’ve been there and I know it. He spends his time managing up, shows little interest in the actual show, focuses on securing his next job. He takes no risk on behalf of a show’s creator/vision because he is more concerned about protecting his next season’s paycheck possibility. You are right that the list of for-hire-show-guns is short. I just think there are others who deserve to be on it.
What happened to Rex is Not Your Lawyer? It was spoken of so highly earlier this year…and even fairly recently… Is NBC afraid of taking a chance having a lead not too well known in our market here in the US?
I’ve seen elsewhere around the web that NBC *MAY* have passed on it.
That is a real shame! It would have been the only show that could have made me watch NBC.
I hope one of the other networks is savy enough to cast David Tennant in one of their shows.
Well, could be wrong what I’ve seen.
IT TAKES A VILLAGE!!!!
Technical note: Isn’t this the 5th update instead of the 4th?
What about The Station?
What about the Katee Sackhoff pilot? She rocks.
Want to know something strange? Katee Sackhoff was asked to join the cast of True Blood as Debbie Pelt. Do you know why she turned it down? Because she wanted ore than a one year commitment. Ironically she took the role of Dana Walsh on 24 for just one year. And then she joined the cast of Boston Finest. She turned the role on one of cables most popular shows for the lead of a pilot that might never get picked up. She made a bad decision to not join True Blood, one of the best shows on tv.
according to angela bromstad’s THR interview they said that they are gonna have to see if a 3rd comedy hour makes “sense” that leads me to believe that they aren’t certain whether or not they their comedies are gonna make it.
It’s all smoke and mirrors baby….all smoke and mirrors…