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After picking up 3 comedy pilots this afternoon, ABC just gave the green light to 2 drama pilots, Americana and Nashville, both primetime soaps. The latter pickup is contingent on the project becoming a co-production between Lionsgate TV, which developed it, and ABC Studios.
Americana, from ABC Studios and studio-based Mark Gordon Co., is a soap set around a legendary fashion designer and his family and business. It was written by Michael Seitzman (North Country) who will executive produce with Mark Gordon and Mark Gordon Co.’s Nicholas Pepper. This is the third pilot order so far this season for Gordon’s company, along with the untitled Roland Emmerich drama and comedy White Van Man, both at ABC.
Nashville hails from Oscar-winning writer Callie Khouri and TV producer/documentary filmmaker RJ Cutler. Thelma & Louise scribe Khouri wrote the project, a family soap set against the backdrop of the Nashville music scene that follows one star at her peak and one on the rise. Cutler (The September Issue) is set to direct. The two will executive produce with Nashville-based Gaylord Entertainment, which is being represented by SVP of Media and Entertainment Steve Buchanan. This marks Khouri’s return to ABC where she wrote, directed and executive produced the 2006 pilot Hollis & Rae. It is the second broadcast pilot order this season for leading cable producer Lionsgate TV, which had most active broadcast development season ever under new head of development Chris Selak. The company is also behind NBC’s comedy Next Caller Please. This is the third drama pilot in the past 2 years to be set in Nashville, following Epix’s Tough Trade and FX’s Outlaw Country, neither of which went to series.
The pickups bring the number of drama pilots at ABC to 7, including supernatural dramas 666 Park Ave., fairytale Beauty and the Beast, the Shonda Rhimes-produced Gilded Lillys, Shawn Ryan’s Last Resort and the untitled Roland Emmerich project. The network is expected to greenlight more drama pilots on Monday.
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What happened to Ron Moore’s, HANGTOWN?
Ron Moore as in BSG, as in Caprica, as in any other series? Its probably still on the white board. His greatest accomplishment was BSG. It was his Opus Dei. Anything after that like Lucas trying to get out of Star Wars and guess what? Lucas has said No Mas also. Sometimes you’ve got to give others a chance. That’s all. I’ll be forever grateful for RM and BSG. Don’t try to do anything else.Unless you’re in your 60s and you do romantic comedy.
Umm….Ron Moore was also heavily involved in Star Trek The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space 9 and wrote many of the best episodes for those series.
Yes. Great advice.
Hey kids. When you make something good, stop there and do nothing else.
Make sure you give up right after doing something really well. In fact, to all actors: If you do a movie and it is successful keep going. However, as soon as one of them isn’t as successful as the past ones…just quit.
Great lesson.
Hope you don’t have kids.
What’s happening with ‘The Cult of Mac’?
Read it and you’ll know…
In a way, NASHVILLE sounds similar to SMASH. Neither of these particularly sound interesting, but I like the family business idea. My thoughts are with fashion involved, however, it will be particularly cheesy.
Smash is a phenomenal pilot that is getting rave reviews from critics and viewers who have seen it. I saw it and loved it.
I completely agree with you. Great pilot.
I never said SMASH wasn’t good? All I was stating was that you could draw a comparison with the “one star on the rise and one at the peak of her career” theme.
Sorry I misunderstood.
I thought Nashville sounded more like the movie Country Strong.
This sounds dreadful . Callie Khouri wrote Thelma & Louise over 20 years ago. hear she is a nightmare.
Americana is the best pilot I’ve read all season. Can’t wait!
Didn’t Lionsgate also do the Nashville-based soap pilot for Epix? The one with Sam Shepard? Did they just recycle the same idea?
Also, maybe they shouldn’t use a title that conjures up a classic film the likes of which this show will never come close to achieving?
Chris Selak has been on fire since she started at Lionsgate. Good for her and everyone involved!
If ABC is going to bring us a night time soap why not give us back All My Children and One Life to Live. Both soaps are already proven popular with fans. There would be a ton of very happy fans out there who would be happy to tune in to them at night!
Uh, people want quality prime time television shows. Daytime soaps have no place in prime time.
I respect that you like those soaps, as do a lot of people…i guess.
But, let’s get real here.
What we need are shows of the level of quality you get with a Breaking Bad or Homeland.
Noting the ignominious demise of both Playboy Club and Pan Am, two of the most quickly canxelled shows of last fall, as well as the early deaths of DirtySexyMoney and Swingtown, I wouyld sday the real delusionaries are those who think Dallas and Dynasty can be spewed out again with the continuing network petulance towards anything but PG-13 nudity and sex. Watch for these soaps to last as long as, well, soap bubbles in a raw Midwestern November wind.
I was going to write the same thing but you beat me to it,makes no sense, didnt brain frons say no one is watching soaps anymore ?so now abc gets these ,and they canceled all my children and one life to live . one life to live could fit very well in prime time ,it was better then most of the shows that are on now,one life to live was not your regular soap and that made it the best soap Ive ever watched.shame on you abc you could have saved the the daytime soaps ,put them on in prime time ,and we (the FANS)would have followed them where ever they go ,who knows ,maybe for another 40 some years.big mistake abc ,Ill watch general hospital,thats all I will watch on abc /disney,the programs you put in there place ,bad,cheep,nothing I will ever watch,and Im not the only one changing the channel.
If soap fans would put things into perspective than would see the money is in primetime, not daytime, expensive soaps in primetime might work. Daytime soaps are expensive in a cheap daytime world. The shows that replaced the soaps are doing ok BUT, they are 1/4 the cost to produce.
Soap fans need to do the numbers and let it rest, daytime soaps were born in a difference century, when soap companies like P&G wanted to sell soap. Those times have come and gone, like the DuMont television, and the Motorola -EZ vision television of 1950.
Soap fans really do need to move on.
I would rather see OLTL and AMC on primetime.Why would Abc do this.This is more of a reason for me not watching Abc.They cut 2 legends off to give 2 new ones a chance on primetime.I am not happy.I will never watch Abc again.
Already proven popular with fans? Where were these fans when the ratings have been going down the toilet for years? Be realistic.
we were watching ,but alot of people taped the show or they watched it on soapnet,so by doing that they werent counted ,but I like this one most of all anyone 49 years and older ,there not counted at all.the only counting that was done is when the show is on at 1 and 2 oclock.so forget about the ratings ,the fans were watching any way they can,abc wanted cheep and now thats what they have, the show that replaced one life to live ,had one of the worse openings ever ,and it continues to go downhill,while I will watch general hospital thats all the abc thats in my home.
So excited about Nashville!! It’s going to be amazing!!!
You obviously dont know her and that couldn’t be further from the truth. She’s lovely.
Yeah, the jury is definitely out on Khouri. For a number of personal and professional reasons…
Jury out? She did one good movie thirty years ago and zip since. I think the jury’s back. Carping over, it’s a nice idea for a show.
I agree bring back OLTL if you haven’t watched don’t say it’s not good. It stayed on for 43 years and has huge fan base it had to do something right. Idiots at ABC just wanted to put all talk shows on daytime that nobody cares about. We care about our soaps and are loyal to them. They are better than anything on at night.
I just hope they greenlight Hangtown or Hulk on monday. Perfectible Hangtown, because it Ron Moore, and the show would go perfectly with Castle.
People get over the fact that soaps are dying. If any of them did air in prime time they’d get cw level numbers.
not one life to live ,it would fit very well in prime time ,I would like to see the shows you watch now go on for 43 plus years,not going to happen .also the crap they replaced one life to live with,not doing very well.and if you never watched the soap ,How can you have a opinion ?
I’m sorry you feel attacked.
Don’t assume that we haven’t watched these shows. I used to watch them in College because I had downtime between classes and didn’t have cable.
It was horrible dreck. I mainly watched because there were some really hot women on the show. I would laugh at the quality of the show, but didn’t mind seeing the hotties. Sharon Case on Y&R back in the early 90′s…Yum.
The reason those soaps lasted that long is because there were always stay at home Mom’s who needed something to watch while the babies napped. Life was less exciting after the kids were born. Husband always at work. No passion left in the marriage. So, they would watch for the romantic fantasy that they felt was lacking in their own life. Also, it was something to talk about with other Mothers/friends. It’s like gossiping only it was about fictitious characters.
It wasn’t because it was Shakespeare or Martin Scorcese.
As someone above pointed out. If they were so awesome, why did their ratings plummet so low? You think they would do better during Prime Time?
Never gonna happen.
so what are the reasons that women are watching the night time soaps?because there husbands are asleep snoring there brains out ,or because they are bored with there wife,or maybe there not even home ,and I dont feel attacked in any way by you ,and the ratings didnt drop mr.college man ,they werent counted ,on soapnet,or the woman who works and tapes them ,and the 49 and older, there not counted AT ALL.so next time you have a comment ,get the facts first,do some homework on how the ratings work,and how the ratings arent counted, and how the 49 and older group arent counted at all, because there are millions of fans that watched all my children and one life to live,just at different times of the day and you can also count the fans in canada ,yes they watched the abc soaps to.
Due to your lack of grammar, I could not decipher what you were trying to say in your retort.
Thanks for representing your group so well.
I bet even lower.
You have got to be kidding!! ABC has the insane stupid guts to take off our beloved soaps of 40 plus years mind you, and then they think that putting two soaps in prime time is going to make us die-heart AMC, OLTL aned GH fans switch over!!!! ABC is NUTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTSSSSSSS. I have given up ABC and I for one will NOT go back. Check out our FACEBOOK page, DayTIME FANS UNITE. You will see just how mad we are
Hangtown is the best script I’ve read this year. ABC has to pick it up!
Why hasn’t ABC picked up BOOM? Talk about an amazing soap! I read this pilot and it might be the very best pilot script this year, and that’s out of all the broadcast nets in my opinion. This show has breakout potential like no other. It’s a modern day western meets DALLAS set on the prairie of North Dakota… I haven’t seen anything like it since ABC aired TWIN PEAKS in the early 90s. Cable quality with network commerciality. Exactly the kind of shot in the arm the network TV game needs.
Hasn’t the story about a fashion designer and his family and business been done before? Hmmm…. That’s right – Bold and the Beautiful. LOL. How original
On a bigger budget of course, but been done to death for the last 25 years or so. They could do worse than to recruit Susan Flannery as the dowager of the family. She plays tough as nails pretty well & is all class. Forget the rest.
Soap fans need to move on? Then how stupid is it to propose soaps for primetime? Who do you think is going to watch?
did you read the heading ? there are 2 soaps going to abc prime time ,SOAPS,I dont want them in prime time I want them back on in the afternoon abc canceled 2 perfectly good soaps that did have the ratings ,they told us ,people dont watch soaps .ok then why does abc have a few soaps on in the evening,doesnt make any sense,and you ask who is going to watch ,the millions of fans who watched all my children and one life to live ,and I dont know what your talking about what do you mean ,how stupid is it to propose soaps for the prime time ,soaps are all over the place at night,there taking over ,there not dead ,just the ones that abc killed,we just want them back where they belong in the daytime.
Wow I am not married nor do i have any kids and I am twenty years old and watched OLTL and AMC so it’s not just house wives and I agree with rosebud
Do you guy release that ABC Daytime and ABC Primetime are managed by 2 different people? By not watching ABC Primetime isn’t going to bring your soaps back.
and I hope they green light Shonda Rhimes’ “The Circle” next. That one sounds really good.
yes us GUYS do know that ,theres nothing that is worth watching on abc.the network has gone downhill.so we are not missing out on anything special.and I will say this for the last time here we dont want the soaps in primetime ,we want abc to give the rights of all my children and one life to live back to the writer agnes nixon so she can take them to another network,yes ,there are people interested in saving our soaps.and abc is afraid that another network will make even more people watch ,so they are keeping agnes nixons stories hostage,give them back to her ABC,as far as your concerned the soaps are over,what can you loose by handing agnes nixon the rights back ?could it be money ,your saving a whole lot of money with the cheap garbage you replaced the soaps with ,so either way how can you loose .
All My Children and One Life to Live are gone forever and are never coming in any form or shape. And ABC is not keeping Nixon hostage. Nixon, from her own will, sold her soaps to ABC.
Grow up you OLTL morons.
I’m 31 and have been watching OLTL for over 15 years. To say soaps fans need to “move on” is soooo off base. There ARE MILLIONS of us!! Almost 4 million ppl tuned in to see the last episode of OLTL!! That’s not even including all the ppl who recorded and watched it later, including me!! OLTL was a great and iconic show and what ABC has done by taking it off is shameful and a slap in the face to all their ONCE loyal fans. And now to had insult to injury they bring 2 NEW Soaps to primetime? Wow!!! I will continue to BOYCOTT ABC except for GH (General Hospital) until they BRING OUR SOAPS BACK, SELL THEM TO ANOTHER NETWORK OR GIVE THE RIGHTS BACK TO AGNES NIXON!!! WE ARE NOT GOING ANYWHERE AND WILL NOT WATCH TILL U DO!! NO ONE IS GETTING OVER ANYTHING!!
Are you people in the industry? I’m guessing a big NO.
Fans do not matter. Ratings and advertising matters. If you are not a Nielsen family, then switching off the channel makes no difference.
Do you all really believe ABC can tell you have switched the channel for good in boycott if you are not a Nielsen household?
P.S. I loved the bit where you said, “…except for GH…” Nice boycott.
I’m on a diet. I will not eat anything bad anymore…except for this box of Twinkies.
ABC made the worst decision by CANCELING OUR SOAPS. They believe that people want to watch shows about cooking and losing weight. Those shows are failing. If people wouldn’t be home t watch soaps, how will they be able to be home and watch these so called shows? If ABC had listened/still would listen top their viewers, they would understand that we want our shows back all of them.
WhaT happened to the Nicholas Sparks pilot at ABC ? Haven’t heard a word about it after they bought it.
Wow. This goes right up against Bold and Beautiful and I hope it takes it down in flames. Just my opinion but if anyone has read anything on social media outlets regarding B&B? We are aching for a new show. Come on ABC! Win! And for the person that wants Susan Flannery? No thank you. Take the golden stars of the show – Jacqueline McInnes Woods and Don Diamont who starred in Anger Management.
There’s something to be said about this. B&B took ABC’s writer and actress hoping that the fans would follow over to CBS, giving them a boost in ratings. If anyone has watched B&B they are sooo 20th century in their main actors. Jacqueline McInnes Wood has movies grossing millions under her belt and Don Diamont worked with Jack Nickelson. Aaron Spears just was given an NAACP award for positive role models. These 3 carry B&B because they were hired in 2008-2010 and are a new breed but aren’t the main players. I don’t understand it especially with the recent write up of Don Diamont’s character in highlighthollywood for 1/28. If ABC were to swipe these 3 from CBS as CBS swiped the writers and actors to gain viewers? CBS’s B&B is at a 2.4-2.6 rating mainly when these JMW/DD are on with Spears playing a good foil for Diamont’s character. If ABC were to get these 3? Its a lock in for a built in base of support. Disney would be laughing to the bank. CBS would have a black eye for not managing their product better and keeping it in the 20th century.
Nobody knows any of the names you mentioned.