The beginning of the year is usually the time when big networks order their pilots for the projects which might or might not turn into regular shows later on. So, here's a spotlight on some of the more interesting
pilots which have been greenlit this year.
ABC BRINGS AVE, BEAUTY AND SOME MAID HELP
The channel which never disappoints and always brings the best of shows,
ABC has a few aces in their sleeve for the next season: those who love horror will love
666 PARK AVE, following a young couple which accepts an offer to manage one of the most historic apartment buildings in New York City, and then they unwittingly begin to experience supernatural occurrences, which complicate and endanger the lives of everyone in the building. The cast will be lead by brilliant
Dave Annable from BROTHERS AND SISTERS.They will also have two stunning blond
Malin Akerman and
Portia de Rossi in
THE SMART ONE, a comedy about a smart girl
who is forced to work for her less intelligent sister.
I've already mentioned ABC's take on
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST a fantasy reimagining of the classic fairy tale set in a mythical, dangerous world where a beautiful and tough princess discovers an unlikely connection with a mysterious beast. The update is that young
Chris Egan (who lead the cast in ABC's last year pilot for POE, which was never turned into a regular show) will play princess' fiancé. ABC is trying to use the huge success of their ONCE UPON A TIME show this year to bring more fantasy projects to the small screens. There's also
DEVIOUS MAIDS, coming from the creator of DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES,
Marc Cherry and following four maids with ambition and dreams of their own while they work
for the rich and famous in Beverly Hills.
Fantasy will be seen in
GOTHAM as well, a show about a female cop who, after pursuing a seemingly unsolvable case, discovers a magical world that exists within New York City. A world that goes unseen by normal humans takes all of the familiar N.Y. landmarks and reinvents them in a magical, otherworldly manner. I've already mentioned earlier
THE LAST RESORT which will center on the crew of a U.S. nuclear submarine who, after ignoring an order to fire nuclear missiles, wind up being hunted and escape to a NATO outpost where they declare themselves to be the world's smallest nuclear nation.
Scott Speedman leads the cast.
CBS GOES GAY & SHERLOCK
Over at CBS they've announced the pilot for
PARTNERS, a personal story of two lifelong friends and their business partners. Architects Charlie and Louis' friendship has lasted longer than either of their romantic relationships and almost seems like a weird marriage. But the catch of this show is that Charlie is straight while Louis is gay. The cast already includes some nice names: Superman
Brandon Routh will be Charlie, joined by
Michael Urie as Louis and gorgeous
Sophia Bush. CBS also has
ELEMENTARY pilot in which
Jonny Lee Miller plays Sherlock Holmes but solving crimes in modern day New York.
NBC GOES SF AND MOBILE
Meanwhile, NBC will go
DOWN WARDLY MOBILE with
Roseanne Barr and
John Goodman in the show about the proprietor of a mobile home park who serves as a surrogate mother
to all the unique people who live there in a challenging economy. They will also have Oscar winner
Marcia Gay Harden in
ISABEL, a comedy about a normal angry middle-class family which wrestles with the challenges of everyday life while raising a daughter with magical qualities. Young
Justin Bartha will also do some comedy in
THE NEW NORMAL which revolves around a blended family of a gay couple and the woman who becomes a surrogate for them as they grow their family.
NBC will also go sf in
BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE(an imaginative and thematically rich
ensemble "what-if" drama set in the future where families of mechanical human beings exist to service the human population - until some of the mechanicals begin to "awaken") and in
REVOLUTION (about a group of characters struggling to survive and reunite with loved ones in a world where all forms of energy have mysteriously ceased to exist). The cast includes
James Murray, Patrick Heusinger, Frances Conroy...
THE FRONTIER will be a historical show following a group who follows their dreams and heads West from Missouri across the uncharted country in the 1840s. The cast includes
Ethan Embry, Megan Ferguson, Jake McLaughlin, Bridget Regan (Kahlan from LEGEND OF THE SEEKER)...
FOX SIGNS ZACHARY LEVI
Fox will try to
LET IT GO with popular and beloved
Zachary Levi in ensemble comedy about a married couple, his best friend and her sister as they try to navigate, negotiate and sometimes manipulate society's unspoken rules. On the other hand legendary
Donald Sutherland and young blond hunk
Mike Vogel will be
LIVING LOADED, in the story about a partying blogger who is forced to change career plans when he becomes a radio host.
CW'S GALACTIC QUEENS
Over at CW they are ready to release the
ARROW, with
Stephen Amell, based on the DC Comics title, a modern retelling of the legendary DC Comics superhero Green Arrow which is being directed
by GAME OF THRONES helmer
David Nutter. Gorgeous
Katie Cassidy will play Green Arrow's love interest Dinah Lance who is also a super heroine called Black Canary. They will also have their version of
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST. Loosely based on the series from the 1980s, this is a modern-day romantic love story with a procedural twist and with
Kristin Kreuk in the lead role.
THE CARRIE DIARIES, based on the novel by
Candace Bushnell, will see a young Carrie Bradshaw in the 1980s, asking her first questions about love, sex, friendship and family while exploring the worlds of high school and Manhattan.
But, probably the most interesting pilot at CW is
THE SELECTION, an epic romance set 300 years in the future which centres on a poor young woman who is chosen by lottery to participate in a competition to become the next queen of a war-torn nation at a crossroads. The cast is lead by gorgeous blond
Aimee Teegarden (from FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS)
and by equally gorgeous
Ethan Peck (the grandson of Gregory) as prince.
When it comes to other channels, SyFy is developing a pilot based on Paul Bettany's LEGION film on fallen angels, and they will also have THE DOVER AGENDA, about a young man who is recruited by his future self to work for a secret military unit using futuristic technology.
Whew! That's a big write-up, Dezz. Lots of good stuff coming to the small screen.
ReplyDeleteAnd I can really see the resemblance to Gregory Peck in that photo of Ethan. Handsome young guy. :)
it was a long, but joyful work writing the post :) Which one do you like best? You know I won't be missing the sf ones :)
DeleteEthan does look a bit like Gregory :) and you've seen him shirtless last week in one of the posts too :)
Lots of cool new shows can't wait to see which ones are a hit and which are not. Sometimes the ones think are not too good, surprise me.
ReplyDeletethese are all pilots, so only a few of them will actually get the whole season and become shows :)
DeleteWow - lots of interesting concepts! It will be interesting to see what makes it through the season!
ReplyDeleteit will, they've been quite imaginative :)
DeleteAll the shows sound pretty interesting.
ReplyDeleteglad you think so :)
DeleteI like the sounds of Gotham - reminds me or a US Neil Gaiman/China Mieveille kind of story.
ReplyDeleteI've heard a fair amount of controversy surrounding elementary. It'll be interesting to say the least
it will, I've reported last week that Lucy Liu will play Dr. Watson in it :)
DeleteLots of interesting shows in the future. I'm looking forward to seeing Ethan Peck as a Gregory Peck fan. Did he inherit his grandfather's voice?
ReplyDeleteI've no idea, Fabo, never seen him or heard him in anything before :) but he sure is dashing :)
DeleteHi Fabo, yes indeed Ethan inherits his grandpa's deep, sexy voice! If you watch any of the clips of the 10 Things I Hate About You on YouTube, you'll see he also inherits his screen presence. I just hope this kid can act at least half as well as his 5-time Oscar-nominated Gregory!
Deletethere's Ruth, our Peck expert :)
DeleteWith Kristin Kreuk playing the lead role I'm sure beauty in the best will be good!
ReplyDeleteshe is very pretty :)
DeleteEthan Peck is good looking but not as good looking as his grandfather in his prime!
ReplyDeletemust admit I haven't seen a lot of Gregory's films, so I can't decide :)
DeleteI like ABC's Beauty and the Beast rendition better so far. Plus not sure I want to see Lana Lang pine over another guy for 6 seasons..lol....cbs can just bite me. Gotham also sounds interesting. But it reminds me of years back when each network tried to cash in on the alien stuff with Threshold(still ticked over that one), Surface and Invasion, all trying to cash in and all cancelled. So not sure I hold out much hope over the rise in fantasy. We'll be back to reality shows and cop/doctor shows in no time.
ReplyDeleteI love me everything ABC :)
DeleteIt's true that such sf shows don't live long, but usually the ones which aren't really space sf but the ones with just a sf element.
Wait, they're going to be two shows based on Beauty and the Beast, with that fable already being a plot element of Once Upon a Time?
ReplyDeleteOverkill much?
and that's not all :) The French are also making a live action film on the tale with Vincent Cassell as the Beast :)
DeleteSeries are not really my thing, Dez. But why is Ethan Embry's shirt open I wonder? ;)
ReplyDeletebecause there's an officially declared law in Dezzlandia for all hunks and babes to go shirtless :) You should probably comb your love carpet before visiting :)
Deleteand how is it that you've noticed Ethan's abs but not Kristen's and Sophia's lovely boobs? :)
DeleteI guess Bush needs a show after One Tree Hill ends
ReplyDeleteshe does, she will be great, she was great in ONE TREE HILL too
DeleteDamn. Ethan Embry is so hot in that picture with just his hand covering his navel. It's like he knows how beautiful he is and is almost shy about it. I'm going to stare at it for a while now.
ReplyDeletetrust me, brother, I almost fell of my chair the first time I've found that pic of his :)
DeleteA whole lot of interesting shows coming down the pipe. Not sure about Kristen Kruek. She's not that great and completely annoyed as Lana Lang in Smallville. No wonder they killed her off. LOL
ReplyDeleteImpressive post, my dear. Can't wait for new Walking Dead. ;)
yep, her character was irritating in BOREVILLE :) but she is pretty pretty, that she is :)
DeleteTHE WALKING DEAD is tomorrow night for moi :)
Scott Speedman is sooo good looking but I haven't seen a single good movie from him, hope that'd change eventually.
ReplyDeletehe was nice in UNDERWORLD but just the first film. I will definitely skip the show, since I don't watch anything with American marines of NATO evil
DeleteA few good things in the mix there. ARROW and SELECTION sound particularly interesting.
ReplyDeleteyep, lots of candy for us sf lovers :)
Deletewhile I don't mind looking at kristen kruek, the girl lacks any acting talent.
ReplyDeletecan't argue with that, Budd, it's true.
DeleteDezz - on this post I'm going to have to say "thanks" for introducing me, yet again, to some very hot and exciting, young talent. While I sort of recognize their names (possibly from here) I'm not up on all the shows they're in! (less time blogging might help) :)
ReplyDeleteGreat photos too!
Jenny @ Pearson Report
Co-Host of the Blogging from A to Z Challenge.
these are all upcoming brand new shows, Jennie, that's why you haven't heard about them before :)
DeleteNone of the series intrigue me...thanks for sharing them Dezz.
ReplyDeleteWhy is TVSeries called pilot now? and why pilot?
pilot is the name for the opening episode, which is aired before the official season. If the pilot proves successful, then they shoot the rest of the season, if not, the show never gets ordered and you see only that opening episode :) Got it? :)
DeleteThank you Dezz :)
Delete