Nellie Andreeva

EXCLUSIVE: Dollhouse star Eliza Dushku is returning to series television as the female lead in Mike Robe’s TNT drama pilot Bird Dog, while  D.B. Sweeney has landed the lead in Dean Devlin’s hourlong TBS pilot Brain Trust.

Bird Dog is a mystery fashioned around an unlikely partnership of two cops who happen to be father and daughter. It centers on Gail McGrath (Dushku), who followed in her father’s footsteps in becoming a police officer but had little else in common with him. She left the big city she had grown up in to move to a small Pacific Northwestern town where she was patrolling the streets until her dad, a NYC cop, showed up on her front doorstep to join her as her new partner. Now this father-daughter team, call sign “Bird Dog,” is being put to the test — not only in solving crimes, but with each other. Robe wrote the script and is directing the pilot. Warner Horizon is producing. Buffy the Vampire Slayer alumna Dushku, repped by UTA and the Collective, recently guest starred in a highly-rated episode of The Big Bang Theory.

Brain Trust, written by Marco Schnabel, centers on Detective Billy Doyle (Sweeney), whose career and life have hit rock bottom after he accidentally ends his partner’s career. Doyle’s life gets turned around, however, when a recent murder case gets unexpected and unconventional help from three hyper-smart geniuses from a private think tank.  If Doyle can survive the chaos and keep these new partners in line, they just may be the antidote to resurrect his career and, ultimately, his life. Devlin’s Electric Entertainment is producing. Don Buchwald-repped Sweeney has been recurring on NBC’s The Event this season.

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