UPFRONTS 2013: TV Spinoffs’ Almost Perfect Year 
OSCARS: Animated Feature Rule Change 
Cannes: Relativity Sets ‘Hunger Games’ Liam … 
RATINGS RAT RACE: Billboard Awards Surge From 2012, … 
Cannes: Park Chan-wook’s ‘Sympathy For Mr. … 
Cannes: Stanley Weiser To Script ‘Three Graves … 
Yahoo CEO Foresees Big Opportunities To Sell Ads On Tumblr 
Cannes: Keanu Reeves Presents Directorial Debut & … 
Disney, Lucasfilm Animation Prep ‘Star Wars … 
Cannes: Deadline Crashes Palais Forum With Costa Gavras, … 
Yahoo Announces $1.1B Tumblr Deal With Vow “Not To … 
Hammond On Cannes: Sun Comes Out As Parties, Deals And … 
Kelly Rowland, Paulina Rubio In Talks To Join ‘X … 
Cannes: Latest Theft Affects China Film Group VP 
UPDATE: Yahoo Board OKs $1.1B Deal To Acquire Tumblr … 
‘Epic’ Toon Begins $14.5M Overseas Rollout 
Cannes: Sony Classics Wins Stateside Rights To Asghar … 
‘Fast & Furious 6′ Breaks Records In … 
Specialty Box Office: ‘Frances Ha’ Triumphs As … 
‘Saturday Night Live’ Season Finale Posts … 
‘Star Trek Into Darkness’ $164.5M Global: Lower … 
The broadcast networks left an uncharacteristically small number of pilots in midseason contention this year. The strongest among them is the Fox drama Guilty starring Cuba Gooding Jr, who tested very high. The network picked up only two new drama series for next season, making a third order a possibility despite limited shelf space.
Magical procedural Gotham still has a pulse at ABC and also is exploring a potential cable play. There are several pilots that are dead but their concepts are not: ABC comedy Only Fools And Horses, based on a British series and which is a favorite of ABC boss Paul Lee, will likely be redeveloped. Ditto for American Judy as ABC brass love star Judy Greer and the fish-out-of-water premise of her pilot this year and are looking to develop a new vehicle for her in that vein.
Similarly, the CW is expected to take another stab at developing a TV series based on The Selection series of books by Kiera Cass. The network brass are very keen on having a show on the air that is thematically close to the blockbuster The Hunger Games movie franchise the way the network’s hit The Vampire Diaries is to Twilight.
Related: The CW Eyes ‘The Selection’, Two Comedies For Midseason
Beyond that, there are several pilots being shopped elsewhere, including comedies El Jefe, Super Fun Night and Oh Fk, It’s You.
TV Editor Nellie Andreeva - tip her here.
Loading ...
Super Fun Night should go to TBS! with cougar town or ABCfamily
Or TNT.
Both Networks are owned by Time Warner. They should have the sense to pick up 2 good comedies.
Thematically close? how about just develop a new story and let Hunger Games lie. CW should be embarrassed. I know some of the execs are.
If The Hunger Games gets to rip-off Battle Royale and get away with it, why shouldn’t The CW also be able to?
No kidding. Did Hunger Games have a scene where a bunch of Japanese school girls start gunning each other down with hand cannons over a table full of poison porridge? Because that’s what it would need to get me to go see it. And that’s what a Hunger Games (I mean Battle Royal) inspired TV show on the CW would need, too.
Battle Royale sucked folks… Hunger Games did it much better. Get your heads out of your asses.
And CW, try not to be so obvious about it. For once you all actually developed a real slate… don’t deviate from the script.
Maybe it will after they retool it.
“The Hunger Games” didn’t rip-off anything and neither is “The Selection.”
Nobody has a copyright on dystopian futures.
Says the writer of The Selection… they aren’t retooling your pilot because it didn’t work… they are retooling it because they don’t wanna be sued by the producers of Hunger Games. Ouch.
They’re retooling it because its not good. There isnt enough story to go on. There isnt a danger and its mostly just backstabbing and drama. They need a plot point which was lack in the first show. Once they retool it to be more like THG, it might work.
Fox knows Guilty’s got four episodes and done in it. It’s just not worthy of Cuba’s strengths.
Paul Lee loved Work It. Proof that he should not develop comedies based on his own personal preferences.
Is the comedy with Portia de Rossi, Malin Akerman, Jean Smart and David Arquette also still alive or it wasn’t good enough?
“The Smart One” is dead.
Im glad Super Fun Night and ON F&*( its you is being shopped somewhere else.
I’m also looking forward to a better version of the Selection being made.
Gotham excited me. {crossing fingers}
YES YES YES PLEASE I WANNA C D SELECTION!!!
Did that Karen Usher teen spy pilot for Fox die completely? I love that type of show but never got a chance to read the script or hear how the pilot turned out.
Script was great. Actual pilot sucked. You can thank the director for that.
So, Long Live the King Rat—– you saw the pilot, what was wrong with it? I loved the concept and the leads that were lined up for it. Usher’s a really good writer, what happened? I’m in the UK til September btw, so I might have missed the airing anyway………
I cannot imagine that The Smart One produced such a bad pilot that ABC was willing to pay the penalties they agreed to if they didn’t air it.
I agree completely. I loved that script, one of my favorites of this season. Sharp, funny, timely, I could see episodes spilling out of it so easily…
With that cast I cannot imagine how it did not turn out great. Have not seen it yet so I remain,
baffled.
ABC wouldn’t know a good show if it hit them in the face. Did you see what they green lit? That is definitely a different type of audience they’re tailoring their programming to. Malibu Country? The Family Tools?
My man Cuba! Funny talented dude. I’d watch anything with him in it.
Yay, I hope they end up doing The Selection after all! I look forward to it being as superior a version of Hunger Games as The Vampire Diaries is of Twilight (which is to say, I hope it’s much, much better than Hunger Games and barely related at all except for a vaguely similar premise).
Rebounding doesn’t have life?
Great info as always, Nellie. Any chance you can do a post later about where the various shows will be filming next year?
GOTHAM, THE SELECTION and SUPER FUN NIGHT were three of my hopefuls going into the upfronts. It’s good to know that there still might be a chance for them, although I won’t be getting my hopes up.
I’m still hoping that Karyn Usher’s pilot aka Rogue are still alive..lots of fans want it…
me too..:( I want Rogue so bad!!please pick up Rogue!!
Me, three! I wanted both spy pilots to go to series, but I really liked this one.
I’d like to think Americana still has a shot at ABC. If not, ABC studios should shop it to other networks before completely giving up on it. It was great when I surveyed it and I really wanted to know where it was heading!
Please bring Barry Sloane to TV!!!!
Hearing that “Gotham” is not necessarily dead just made my day. For me, it was one of the most anticipated pilots for this season, and the one most mourned for not being picked up. To have a show with magicals among muggles in NY would really be interesting to watch. Whether it would be more like “Harry Potter” or “The Dresden Files” would not matter — it would be absolutely wonderful to see where they would go with this.
Of course ABC loves Judy Greer. Who doesn’t? The woman is about as sincere and funny as you’re likely to find in this town.
The Execs can be embarassed all they want. This is decision is right on the money! The Hunger Games is a huge franchise that still has 3 more films come out in the next 5 years. I like to see the CWs got someone in charge now who understands the demographic his channel is trying to hit!
What about the Mandy Moore pilot?!!! Come on Paul Lee, get it together!! You’re not running ABC Family anymore, put on your big boy pants! Stop picking up cutesy stuff like Dan Fogleman and give us a good pair for Modern Family already!
I am a little concerned about Neighbors. The pilot is much better than the presentation trailer, but the aliens are very cold and distancing IMHO, and I don’t see a natural transition of MF’s audience to that show. Not the Apt 23 was a natural lead out of MF either. If you warm the aliens up too much, then they lose what makes them different and funny, and you soften the human side of the fish out of water equation. Tricky. Also the concept may just be too high following a show that so many people find so relatable.
Tough to lead out of MF because you will almost certainly see a precipitous drop, and the expectation is so high. Although I can’t say I envy any of the Tuesday at 9:30 shows either. I think there will be a LOT of time shifting going on there….
The problem with The Neighbors is that it’s wretched and unfunny. Somebody called it “this year’s Cavemen.” Yup.
No mention of Fox’s Let It Go (Zacahary Levi / Kat Foster)
It had big buzz and was considered a great fit with New Girl, but got squeezed out. It should be considered for another station.
I’d rather see Zach Levi in more interesting material. Not another sitcom. Why should he allow himself to be typecast like that, at this point in his career? My hunch is that he would make one heck of a villain.
Thanks Nellie.
I hope Fox pick up to series Guilty.. sounds very good show.
That would be a good look for Fox…and Cuba Gooding Jr
CBS doesn’t let pilots go unless it’s to a Viacom property. Not happening.