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UPFRONTS 2013: The Overachievers

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Friday May 17, 2013 @ 7:18pm PDTTags: Chuck Lorre, J.J. Abrams, Seth MacFarlane, Upfronts
Nellie Andreeva

First off, congratulations to all writers, producers, actors and agents who landed new series this week. I know it wasn’t easy. Here is Deadline’s annual list of those who excelled at the upfronts. I tried to be inclusive, but if I’ve missed anyone who’s had a banner week, let me know. I’ve also compiled a list of pods and independent producers with multiple broadcast series.

Cougar Town co-creator Bill Lawrence and his Doozer banner had three new series unveiled at the upfronts this week: comedies Undateable on NBC, Surviving Jack on Fox and Ground Floor on TBS. Also, TBS recently renewed Cougar Town for a fifth season.

Related: 2013-14 Schedule Grid & Top Face-Offs

J.J. Abrams‘ Bad Robot claimed one of the top new drama series last season with NBC’s Revolution and one of the hottest sophomore shows with CBS’ Person Of Interest. The company is keeping the momentum with two new series orders for next season: Almost Human at Fox and Believe at NBC.

Independent producer Aaron Kaplan of Kapital Entertainment received two new series orders from the broadcast networks: Back In The Game at ABC and Friends With Better Lives at CBS. Additionally, his freshman ABC comedy The Neighbors was renewed and his ABC pilot Bad Management is in serious contention for a series pickup. Kaplan also received two cable series orders in the past month, for Chasing Life on ABC Family and Instant Mom on NickMom, and also has comedy series Wendell & Vinnie on Nick at Nite and pilot HR at Lifetime.

Writer-producer Julie Plec also landed two new series this week, both at the CW: She wrote/executive produces the planted Vampire Diaries spinoff The Originals and executive produces The Tomorrow People. Additionally, she executive produces TVD, giving her three series on the air next season. (Fellow Tomorrow People executive producer Greg Berlanti has two, including returning CW hit Arrow.)

Another drama writer-producer, former ER showrunner David Zabel, saw both of his pilots picked up. He is the writer/exec producer on ABC’s Betrayal and co-writer/exec producer on ABC’s Lucky 7. Read More »

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Latest On The Future Of ‘Happy Endings’, ‘Paging Dr. Freed’ And ‘Psych’ At USA

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Thursday May 16, 2013 @ 7:10am PDTTags: Happy Endings, Modern Family, Upfronts, USA Network
Nellie Andreeva

Comedy is expected to take center stage at USA Network‘s upfront presentation this afternoon as the cable network touts to advertisers the fall launch of its big off-network acquisition, Modern Family, and unveils its newly picked up original comedy series Sirens and Playing House. The cable network has been getting extra attention from comedy fans in the past week following ABC’s decision last Friday to cancel cult series Happy Endings. Talks between USA and leading Happy Endings producer Sony TV continue. At this point, I hear a pickup appears unlikely but the network is carefully exploring the opportunity to migrate a show with some success on broadcast TV and a dedicated fan base the way ABC’s Cougar Town moved to TBS.

Related: ‘Happy Endings’ Cancelled At ABC, Will USA Step In?

Of its three comedy pilot/presentations it had in consideration, USA picked up two, Sirens and Playing House. The third, Paging Dr. Freed, which was the first one ordered almost two years ago, is still in contention. I hear USA brass liked the pilot for the family medical comedy but thought it felt more like a season finale and didn’t properly introduce the characters. I hear the network approached Paging Dr. Freed creator Michael Feldman and studio Fox 21 about redeveloping the project and writing a new pilot script. If USA likes the new script, I hear it is intent on picking up the project straight to series. The options on the Paging Dr. Freed producers have been extended while those on the cast have lapsed. I hear USA is keen on bringing Annie Potts back if she is available. (Her ABC pilot Murder In Manhattan did not get picked up but is being considered by cable networks.) Read More »

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USA Picks Up Comedy Series ‘Sirens’ And ‘Playing House’, Orders Half-Hour Pilot

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Thursday May 16, 2013 @ 4:00am PDTTags: Playing House, Sirens, Upfronts, USA Network
Nellie Andreeva

Three years after USA Network signaled a move into half-hour comedy with the off-network acquisition of Modern Family and three months before the ABC comedy is to launch on the cable network, USA has greenlighted its first original half-hour comedies in some 15 years: the single-camera Sirens from Denis Leary and Bob Fisher and Playing House, from Jessica St. Clair and Lennon Parham. Additionally, USA, which is holding its upfront today, has picked up single-camera half-hour comedy pilot Love Is Dead, from writer Zev Borow. USA’s other half-hour pilot, Paging Dr. Freed, is still alive. And USA is in conversations about picking up ABC comedy series Happy Endings.

Sirens and Playing House will premiere in the first quarter of 2014 as companions to Modern Family, which is set to bow on USA on September 24. “With Modern Family joining our lineup in the fall, we can leverage television’s most popular comedy to serve as a powerful launch pad for new originals in this genre,” said USA’s co-president Chris McCumber. Added co-president Jeff Wachtel, “Our new series come from some of the best comedic talent in the business, and reflect USA’s style — with great characters, strong execution and compelling storytelling.” USA ran several half-hour comedies under the network’s old regime in the 1990s, including Weird Science, USA High and Campus Cops, before USA rebuilt its brand as a home of light, character-driven hourlong series over the past decade. Read More »

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UPFRONTS 2013: Year Of Second Chances

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Wednesday May 15, 2013 @ 8:30pm PDTTags: ABC, Big Deals TV, CBS, TV Pilots, Upfront
Nellie Andreeva

It’s been another upfront where projects that had been rejected in the past got to shine. Of the four new scripted series showcased at the Turner upfront presentation today, three had been previously developed at other networks. That includes David Baldacci/Shane Brennan’s TNT drama King And Maxwell, which was at CBS; Howard Gordon/Jeffrey Nachmanoff’s TNT drama Legends, which was at NBC; and Bill Lawrence/Greg Malins TBS comedy Ground Floor, which was at CBS.
UPFRONTS 2012: The Year Of Underdogs, Comebacks & Second Chances
Later today at the CBS upfront presentation, the network unveiled We Are Men, a new single-camera comedy series from writer Rob Greenberg, who had written the pilot years ago. A number of times CBS had asked him to convert it to multi-camera. He didn’t. It finally was picked up as Greenberg’s original single-camera vision last summer but almost died when one of the four leads could not be cast. The pilot ended up filming late in the traditional pilot season after landing a cast that includes Tony Shalhoub, Kal Penn and Jerry O’Connell, and today it landed a coveted spot on the CBS fall schedule.

Yesterday, ABC gave its highest-profile slot for a new comedy series, the … Read More »

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Will Ferrell And Conan O’Brien Mock TV Business At Turner Upfront

By DAVID LIEBERMAN, Executive Editor | Wednesday May 15, 2013 @ 3:11pm EDTTags: Conan O'Brien, Pete Holmes, Turner Entertainment Networks, Upfronts, Will Ferrell

Turner Entertainment seems to try hardest to make advertisers laugh at its upfront presentation — and generally succeeded this time with help from Will Ferrell, Conan O’Brien, and TBS newcomer Pete Holmes. In a recorded routine, Ferrell said that he had bought the company and with his background in comedy “I couldn’t care less” about networks including CNN, TNT, and TruTv. Since “I like to mess around with my new toys,” he introduced the new boss: Charles Barkley. The former NBA star said that since “I’m in charge now” viewers would be “seeing a lot more Charles Barkley” — cutting to clips from Turner shows that insert him into the action. “This is the kind of bold thinking I was hoping for,” Ferrell said. “With me as CEO of Turner, and Charles, can you really go wrong?”

Related: TBS Urges Advertisers To Favor Engagement Measures Over Demo Ratings Read More »

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TBS Urges Advertisers To Favor Engagement Measures Over Demo Ratings

By DAVID LIEBERMAN, Executive Editor | Wednesday May 15, 2013 @ 10:53am EDTTags: TBS, TBS Inc., TNT

“The demo didn’t evolve, it’s just endured” since the 1960s when ABC promoted the measurement to sell ads on American Bandstand, Turner Entertainment Networks President Steve Koonin told ad buyers this morning at his company’s upfront presentation. That’s a problem he says because “demos just measure eyeballs. Today it’s about engagement.” For example he noted how Conan O’Brien uses social media to rally fans and how TNT’s Rizzoli & Isles inspires viewers to write stories based on the characters, “There’s so much more we can do with analytics,” Koonin says. He says that his company is working with Facebook “in an unprecedented way” to generate “the type of deep research that hasn’t been done before.…The more we know, the faster we move from delivering demos to delivering engagement.”

Related: Will Ferrell And Conan O’Brien Mock TV Biz At Upfront

Koonin said is a good time to change the measurement paradigm, he says, now that cable networks have reached a “tipping point” in their relationship vs broadcast. “Over the past decade the term ‘basic cable’ has become an oxymoron. There’s nothing basic about it.” Continuing the industry’s embrace of technology, Koonin also touted the streaming initiative his company announced this morning. It will “make our brands even stronger,” he says.

Related: … Read More »

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TBS & TNT To Offer Live Streaming 24/7

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Wednesday May 15, 2013 @ 7:00am PDTTags: TBS, TNT
Nellie Andreeva

Related: TNT & TBS Announce Scripted & Unscripted Development Slates

TBS and TNT are about to become the first national entertainment networks in the industry to stream on-air content live across multiple platforms 24/7, including through the networks’ websites and a pair of newly created Watch TNT and Watch TBS apps. The announcement was made during TNT and TBS’s annual Upfront presentation today in New York. Live streaming is the latest phase in the rollout of TV Everywhere, the industry-wide initiative that gives subscribers to cable, satellite and telco video services access to more of their favorite shows across a wide range of digital platforms.

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TNT & TBS Announce Scripted & Unscripted Development Slates

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Wednesday May 15, 2013 @ 7:00am PDTTags: TBS, TNT, Upfronts
Nellie Andreeva

At its upfront today, TNT and TBS unveiled scripted and unscripted development slates, which include projects from Steven Spielberg, Steve Carell, Diablo Cody, Denis Leary, Sylvester Stallone, Dick Wolf, Nicholas Sparks, Marcia Clark, Dee Johnson, Walt Becker, Jamie Foxx and James Duff. Here is the list with details:
Related: TBS & TNT To Offer Live Streaming 24/7

TNT

SCRIPTED SERIES DEVELOPMENT

Portal House
This project is the story of a group of young scientists who, while investigating what they believe to be a haunted house, stumble upon a portal into the time-space continuum. Things then take a turn for the worse when one of their own vanishes into the portal.
– Executive Producers: Steven Spielberg, Justin Falvey, Darryl Frank, Scott Rosenberg (writer), Jeff Pinkner (writer), Josh Appelbaum (writer) and Andre Nemec (writer)
– Production Company/Studio: Amblin Television

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2013 TV Upfronts Sked & Parties: UPDATE

By NIKKI FINKE AND NELLIE ANDREEVA | Monday May 13, 2013 @ 2:00am PDTTags: Upfronts

UPDATED (Refresh For Latest…)

SUNDAY, MAY 12
8:00 PM: ICM Partners Upfronts Dinner
The Arlington Club, 1032 Lexington Avenue

9:00 PM: 20th Television Private Reception
Upstairs at the Kimberly Hotel, 145 East 50th Street

9:30 PM: UTA Upfronts Party
Marquee, 289 10th Avenue

MONDAY, MAY 13
11:00 AM: NBC Upfront Presentation
Radio City Music Hall, 1260 Avenue Of The Americas

4:00 PM: Fox Upfront Presentation
The Beacon Theatre, 2124 Broadway

5:30 PM: Fox Upfront Post-Party
Wollman Rink, Central Park & 59th Street

7:45 PM: Fox Private Dinner Hosted by Kevin Reilly & Joe Earley
Stone Rose Lounge, 4th Floor of Time Warner Center, 10 Columbus Circle

9:00 PM: NBC After-Party
Del Posto Ristorante, 85 10th Avenue

11:00 PM: WME Late Night Party
No. 8, 357 West 16th Street Read More »

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EXCLUSIVE: Warner Bros TV Shake-Up – Top Exec Bruce Rosenblum Settled Out And Peter Roth Signed To Big Long-Term Deal; All The Behind-The-Scenes Drama & Detail

By NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief | Sunday May 12, 2013 @ 2:06pm PDTTags: Big Deals TV, Bruce Rosenblum, Jeff Bewkes, Kevin Tsujihara, Peter Roth, Time Warner, Warner Bros Television Group, Warner Brother Television

UPDATE SUNDAY 2 PM: Warner Bros Entertainment CEO Kevin Tsujihara is finally confirming internally my news that Warner Bros Television Group Bruce Rosenblum is exiting. This, after Tsujihara for months and even in recent weeks has told almost everyone there that Rosenblum was staying.

BREAKING … SATURDAY 10 PM… EXCLUSIVE: Hollywood always fires people in success, or so the saying goes. I’ve learned that Warner Bros TV Bruce Rosenblum Outthe announcement by Warner Bros Entertainment CEO (and soon-to-be-chairman) Kevin Tsujihara is planned for 7 to 14 days after next week’s TV upfront presentations. Despite Tsujihara’s claims for months that he hadn’t made up his mind what to do about the brilliant but sharp-elbowed Bruce Rosenblum, I can tell you Tsujihara declared from Day Bruce Rosenblum Warner Bros TVOne of his new job that “Bruce is an unnecessary layer of management”. This, even though Rosenblum’s Warner Bros Television Group consistently contributes half of Warner Bros Entertainment’s profits year after year. I’m told that Rosenblum won’t be replaced as President of the Warner Bros Television Group now that he’s quietly settled out his contract which expires in August. (Tsujihara never made a move to negotiate a new one for him.) Some already expect Rosenblum not to turn up at next week’s upfronts. Instead Bruce is sitting on a fat severance package in recognition of his more than two outstanding decades at Warner Bros and for keeping his mouth shut during the humiliation of losing the WB CEO job and then getting kicked to the curb on top of that. Many in Hollywood thought Tsujihara might keep Rosenblum in place rather than bust up what is so obviously a winning formula atop the TV group. Instead Tsujihara proved that, just like his Time Warner boss Jeff Bewkes, he is more obsessed by politics and personality than profit. (“It would have been pretty awkward, quite frankly,” Tsujihara told the TV community about keeping Rosenblum on.)

Warner Bros Television President Peter Roth has just been signed to a new long-term deal and will report to Tsujihara for the first time. Roth reps the increasing power of content and the executives directly responsible for its creation. ”As I look at the key people that exist, Peter comes at the top of the list. He’s at the top of the game right now creatively,” Tsujihara enthused privately on Day One of his new job. But Rosenblum’s roles will be assumed by a new WBTV leadership mix including Warner Bros TV Group EVP Craig Hunegs, Warner Bros International Distribution President Jeffrey Schlesinger, and Warner Bros Television EVP Brett Paul. (“Peter is the big teddy bear but Brent was sent in to beat you up,” notes one exec.) These guys are some of what Bewkes was referring to back on January 28th when he talked about the “very strong benches of people beneath”. All will become the TV group’s new sharp-elbowed negotiators who won’t rub people the wrong way like Rosenblum did.

It’s been a professional and emotional roller-coaster for Rosenblum ever since he expected the top job and didn’t get it. Read More »

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UPDATE: Which Pilots Are Still Alive At CBS?

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Sunday May 12, 2013 @ 9:10am PDTTags: CBS, TV Pilots
Nellie Andreeva

NCAA Men's Basketball Final on TBSUPDATE SUNDAY 9 AM: Happy Mother’s Day! I’ve learned more about what still is in play at CBS. The network is considering possible additional series pickups. The pilots in contention are dramas Backstrom, Reckless and NCIS: Red and comedies Friends With Better Lives and Bad Teacher. So far, CBS has picked up four comedies, two multi-camera (Mom, The Millers) and two single-camera (We Are Men, Crazy Ones). The pilots under consideration are one of each, multi-cam (Friends) and single (Bad Teacher). Additionally, I’ve learned that CBS is in discussion with Sony TV about both Jim Gaffigan and the Irish American family comedy pilot The McCarthys, which could undergo retooling/some reshots for future consideration. Sony TV also produces Bad Teacher, so, like at NBC, where the studio successfully completed a complex negotiations involving three pilots and Community, the indie studio is in another round of multi-project talks. Sony had the Beverly Hills Cop pilot at CBS, which didn’t go. It had a big penalty, which I’d guess would be factoring into the conversations. Of the other pilots, Backstrom and Friends are from 20th, NCIS: Red and Reckless from CBS TV Studios.  Read More »

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Drama Pilot ‘Advocates’ Gets A Pass From CBS, To Be Shopped Elsewhere

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Saturday May 11, 2013 @ 7:20pm PDTTags: CBS, Mandy Moore, The Advocates
Nellie Andreeva

I’ve learned that CBS has passed on high-profile drama pilot The Advocates. The project, written by The Mentalist creator Bruno Heller and directed by David Nutter, starred Mandy Moore and Ben McKenzie as a female lawyer and a male ex-con who team up as “victim advocates,” going to the very edge of the law to right wrongs and fight for the underdog. I hear Warner Bros. TV, which produces the project, will shop it elsewhere. Also being shopped at the moment is another CBS drama pilot that didn’t make the cut, Beverly Hills Cop. So far CBS has picked up two new drama series, Hostages, also from Warner Bros., and Intelligence, from ABC Studios/CBS TV Studios.

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UPFRONTS 2013: NBC’s Scheduling Challenges

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Saturday May 11, 2013 @ 5:51pm PDTTags: Big Deals TV, Community, NBC, Parks & Recreation, TV Pilots
Nellie Andreeva

NBC faces the task of scheduling six new comedies for next season with only two returning half-hour series: Community, which received an eleventh-hour 13-episode renewal, and Parks & Recreation. The network may just have the right man for the job. This is head of scheduling Jeff Bader‘s first turn at bat after moving to NBC last summer. As a long-time scheduling topper at ABC, he was presented with a similar challenge four years ago when the network picked up five new comedy series and returned two. Like Parks & Rec and Community, those two returning comedies, Scrubs and Better Off Ted, were quirky cult shows and not anchors that could launch new series. What Bader and ABC brass did back then was let Scrubs and Ted be, pairing them together for what became both series’ final season. Then they took four new comedies and launched a new two-hour comedy block on Wednesday. It worked – three of the four comedies are still on the air: Modern Family and The Middle on ABC and Cougar Town on TBS. (The fourth, Hank, was quickly cancelled.)

Bader may take a similar approach at NBC. Like at ABC in 2009, the two returning NBC comedies are workplace, while most of the new series are family or family-esque (Michael J. Fox, Welcome To The Family, The Family Guide, Sean Saves The World, About A Boy). Coincidentally, the last new comedy series this year, Undateable, is a multi-camera show about dating, which was also the case at ABC in 2009 with Romantically Challenged, which was scheduled behind Dancing With The Stars. Read More »

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CBS Picks Up ‘Crazy Ones’, Greg Garcia, ‘Mom’, Rob Greenberg, ‘Hostages’, ‘Intelligence’

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Friday May 10, 2013 @ 2:30pm PDTTags: CBS, Crazy Ones, Hostages, Intellegence, Mom
Nellie Andreeva

UPDATE: I hear among the pilots remaining in serious contention are dramas Backstrom and Beverly Hills Cop and comedy Friends With Better Lives. I also gear that the serialized Hostages, which had been rumored for a midseason run, has received a 15-episode order and may air as a limited run.

PREVIOUS, 2:30 PM: CBS is going for star power — both in front and behind the camera — with its series pickups. The network has ordered projects starring Robin Williams, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Anna Faris, Allison Janney, Will Arnett, Kal Penn, Tony Shalhoub, Jerry O’Connell, Toni Collette, Dylan McDermott, Josh Holloway, and Marg Helgenberger from writers/producers Chuck Lorre, Greg Garcia, David E. Kelley and Jerry Bruckheimer.

Living up to the buzz that CBS has been higher on its comedy pilots than dramas this season, the network has picked up four new comedy series vs. two dramas. The comedies are two multi-camera — Lorre’s Mom and Garcia’s multi-camera project, now titled The Millers –  and two single-camera — Kelley’s Crazy Ones starring Robin Williams and We Are Men (formerly untitled Rob Greenberg). This marks the first time in five years that CBS will have a single-camera on the air, since Worst Week in 2008. On the drama side, getting the nod are the Bruckheimer-produced conspiracy thriller Hostages and crime procedural Intelligence, which stars Holloway and Helgenberger. The big question is: where is Beverly Hills Cop? Word is CBS is not completely done yet, with 1-2 more pickups likely. For now, I’ve only heard that the Tad Quill project and Rottenberg/Zuritsky are not going forward; I’ll update with info on others.

Related: Chuck Lorre’s ‘Mom’ To Get Series Order

Read More »

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Bill Lawrence- Greg Malins Comedy ‘Ground Floor’ Gets Series Order At TBS

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Friday May 10, 2013 @ 11:43am PDTTags: Ground Floor, TBS
Nellie Andreeva

EXCLUSIVE: The week keeps getting better for Bill Lawrence. After getting a series pickup at Fox for Surviving Jack on Wednesday and at NBC for Undateable earlier this morning, he also just received a series order for comedy pilot Ground Floor at TBS, which recently renewed his Cougar Town. Ground Floor, which the Scrubs and Cougar Town creator wrote with former Friends and How I Met Your Mother executive producer Greg Malins, is a workplace comedy with a romantic twist that stars Skylar Astin (Pitch Perfect), Briga Heelan (Cougar Town) and John C. McGinley (Scrubs). Ground Floor, which has received a 10-episode order for a 2014 launch, is being produced by Lawrence’s Doozer in association with Warner Horizon TV, with Lawrence and Jeff Ingold serving as executive producers. This marks a second series pickup for Heelan today, who also has a supporting role on Undateable. She is in first position on Ground Floor but, given the fact both series hail from the same studio and producer, it is conceivable that she might do both. TBS’ other comedy pilot, Do It Yourself, remains in contention.

Related: TBS Greenlights CeeLo Green Unscripted Series Read More »

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TBS Greenlights CeeLo Green Unscripted Series

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Friday May 10, 2013 @ 9:50am PDTTags: CeeLo Green, TBS, The CeeLo LIfe

The CeeLo Life will follow the singer and former The Voice coach as he tackles his packed schedule of producing, recording and performing, and also looks at the creative partnership with his longtime best friends — Big Gipp, Khujo and T-Mo — as they prepare to revive their iconic hip-hop group Goodie Mob. TBS has ordered six episodes for a 2014 premiere.

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PRIMETIME PILOT PANIC: Rumor Mill

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Wednesday May 8, 2013 @ 11:28pm PDTTags: ABC, Big Deals TV, CBS, NBC, Primetime Pilot Panic, the CW
Nellie Andreeva

It was a busy day in pre-upfront broadcast network land, with Fox deciding the fate of all of its pilots (nine picked up to series, six dead) and NBC narrowing down the field by passing on 7 pilots. No major surprises, with none of the hot NBC pilots getting the ax. That includes front-runners on the drama side Blacklist and Crisis (Rand Ravich), which are moving on, along with Ironside, Believe, I Am Victor and After Hours as well as strong comedies About A Boy, Welcome To The Family, Family Guide, Assistance, Sean Hayes, and Undateable, plus dark horses Craig Robinson and John Mulaney and even darker horse Robert Padnick, which is dead. And let’s not forget the potential Chicago Fire spinoff, which I hear turned out well.

At ABC, comedy pilot Spy is dead. So is Keep Calm. Trophy Wife seems to be a go, with reshoots already scheduled. Adam Goldberg and Cullen Bros. continue to be hot, and Rebel Wilson’s growing popularity continues to drive Super Fun Night toward a pickup despite some issues with the pilot. Multi-camera Divorce, one of the last ABC pilots to be delivered, came in surprisingly good, so it is in the mix, though fellow multi-cam pilot King John appears a more suitable companion for Last Man Standing. Bad Management, Middle Age Rage and Mixology … Read More »

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Fox Picks Up Andy Samberg & Chris Meloni Comedies, ‘Us & Them’ And ‘Enlisted’, Almost Doubles New Series Volume

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Wednesday May 8, 2013 @ 7:15pm PDTTags: Andy Samberg, Big Deals TV, Chris Meloni, Fox, TV Pilots
Nellie Andreeva

Having just ordered its new drama series for next season, Fox also has made its comedy pickups, ordering four new shows in addition to the previously ordered Dads, executive produced by Seth MacFarlane. They are the Andy Samberg starrer, now titled Brooklyn Nine-Nine; Surviving Jack starring Chris Meloni; Enlisted starring Geoff Stults; and Us And Them starring Jason Ritter and Alexis Bledel. All have received 13-episode pickups. Additionally, the order for the Seth Green-Giovanni Ribisi starrer Dads, originally for 6 episodes, has been upped to 13. The new comedies join newly picked-up dramas Rake, Gang Related, Sleepy Hollow, and Almost Human. That is five new comedy series and four dramas, almost double the number of new scripted series Fox picked up last year (three comedies, two dramas). With American Idol on its last legs, the network clearly is stocking up on the scripted side and expanding its push in live-action comedy. Studio-wise, four of the new shows came from Fox sibling 20th TV, two each from Warner Bros and Sony and one from Universal TV.

Fox’s four new half-hour series choices came out of the five half-hour pilots that had been in contention from the get-go. Over the past week or so, the fifth, To My Future Assistant, began to fade as I hear it came in below exceptions. Meanwhile, Surviving Jack (formerly I Suck At Girls) has been steadily rising, buoyed by what I hear were stellar testing results for Meloni. The former Law & Order: SVU star originally turned down the project, and it took a lot of effort on the part of the producers to get him to do it. It was all worth it as the actor helped secure the pilot a series pickup. Also playing in the pilot’s favor is the fact that Surviving Jack comes from veteran comedy showrunner Bill Lawrence. It is shaping up to be a strong pickup season for Lawrence, whose NBC comedy pilot Undateable also looks very good to get a series order, along with Second Floor on TBS. Fun fact: Fox is reuniting Cougar Town co-creators Lawrence and Kevin Biegel, who is behind another newly picked-up comedy series, Enlisted.

With the pickups, Fox has a total of eight new and returning comedy series on tap for next season. Four of them are guy half-hours — cop show Brooklyn Nine-Nine (formerly Schur/Goor), Army comedy Enlisted, Dads and Surviving Jack — and female/family series New Girl, The Mindy Project, Raising Hope and Us And Them. While Us And Them, about a couple navigating their family and friends, would fit seamlessly into Fox’s existing Tuesday comedy block, it is unclear what the network would do with its guy shows, which could stand on their own as a block or get scheduled around Fox’s male-skewing Sunday animated comedies. Fox’s comedy pilots that didn’t make the cut are Assistant, Two Wrongs and The Gabriels. Overall, Fox didn’t throw curve balls in its series orders this season, largely sticking with pilots that had emerged as frontrunners. Here are descriptions of Fox’s new comedy series along with first-glimpse photos:

Related: PRIMETIME PILOT PANIC: Rumor Mill

Related: Fox Picks Up Dramas ‘Rake’, ‘Gang Related’, ‘Sleepy Hollow’ And ‘Almost Human’
Read More »

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NBC Dominates Sports Emmys With London Olympics; HBO Gets Silver Medal

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Tuesday May 7, 2013 @ 8:12pm PDTTags: Awards, HBO, NBC, Sports Emmys

NBC led the league at the Sports Emmy Awards, handed out tonight in New York. The Peacock scored 10 wins, including five for its coverage of last year’s London Olympics, and its NFL ratings beast Sunday Night Football won the outstanding live sports series trophy for the fifth consecutive year. HBO was next with six nods, including two for Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel, bringing the veteran show’s career haul to 25. The nascent NBC Sports Network — which launched early last year with the rebranding of Versus — was third with four wins, followed by ESPN, MLB Network, TBS and TNT with three apiece. NATAS doled out its 34th Annual Sports Emmy Awards at Lincoln Center’s Frederick P. Rose Hall in Manhattan.

A list of winners appears after the jump:

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