Fresh

In The Pilot’s Seat

Pilot season is in full swing, and the networks have an unexpectedly strong slate in store for us come fall. Get ready for some familiar faces (Matthews Broderick and Perry, Michael Chiklis) and a few new ones (Arianna Huffington?!)

By Scott Howard | Published Friday, February 19th, 2010

Entertainment Weekly‘s Lynette Rice has been compiling a list of the big pilots to look forward to or dread in the 2010-11 TV season. We’re still waiting on Fox, but here are some early standouts.

NBC

After a number of humiliating years at the bottom, NBC has some surprisingly strong dramas and comedies. While the high profile remakes of Prime Suspect and The Rockford Files have gotten the most attention, they’ve also got new shows from heavy-hitters JJ Abrams (with Undercovers, which sounds like Mr. and Mrs. Smith: The Series) and David E. Kelley (back in legal drama mode). Their comedy slate looks extremely promising, with Matthew Broderick in his first ever series (from very capable Letterman/Larry Sanders/Flight of the Conchords vet Paul Simms), a Vegas-themed multi-camera comedy from The State/Reno 911‘s Tom Lennon and Ben Garant, and a sitcom starring the suddenly buzzed-about Adam Carolla co-created by his suddenly buzzed-about ex-partner Jimmy Kimmel.

ABC

In the midst of a drama slate clogged with formulaic murder mysteries and Shonda Rhimes garbage are two promising possibilities: Matadors, about warring families in Chicago starring the brilliant David Strathairn and Friday Night Lights‘ beloved Zach Gilford, and No Ordinary Family, a superhero show starring Michael Chiklis that may deliver where Heroes fails year after year. Coming off of an unexpectedly great year of comedy, they’ve got some interesting options to pair with Modern Family, The Middle and Cougar Town: Brian Dennehy as a high school guidance counselor in a project from longtime Simpsons writer and pioneering stand-up Dana Gould, Matthew Perry’s highly-anticipated Mr. Sunshine, and a congressional comedy from HuffPost founder/TV newbie Arianna Huffington.

CBS

While there isn’t a drama in the bunch that deviates from the cops/lawyers/doctors/teachers/clowns solve murder mysteries formula that brings in loads of viewers without advancing the medium an inch, the Big Eye has a number of comedies that seem promising, including new offerings from Sacha Baron cohen collaborator Ant Hines, Chuck creator Josh Schwartz and How I Met Your Mother creators Carter Bays & Craig Thomas. Very funny SNL/Daily Show alum Rob Riggle finally gets his own show, but sadly it’s from the team behind Cavemen and Hank.

What new shows sound promising to you, dear readers?

Tags:
  • Zoe

    The Bays/Thomas/Kang sitcom would excite me more if it didn't sound exactly like HIMYM…In Pittsburgh!

  • Dennis

    Haven't been as diligent with my TV development-following as I was in previous pilot seasons, I'm sad to say. TheFutonCritic is another great web resource for tracking these. One show I have sort of been following is Mr. Sunshine. Between stars Matthew Perry (West Wing/Studio 60), Allison Janney (West Wing), and Nate Torrence (Studio 60), and producer/director Tommy Schlamme (a frequent Aaron Sorkin collaborator) this show is all sorts of Sorkiny without actually having Aaron Sorkin on board.

    Also, I find it funny how badly everyone wants to recapture the magic of Mr. and Mrs Smith. It was a short-lived series in 1996, then a way successful movie due to its stars' tabloid-worthy hookup while making it, then ABC REALLY wanted to make it happen as a series once or twice since but it never got past the pilot stage, now NBC has a show reminiscent of it, and there's a rumored movie reboot/prequel/sequel (preseboot?) of it in the works. Least the NBC project has consistently entertaining TV presence (Felicity, Alias, Lost, Fringe) JJ Abrams helping with it. I'll always at least check out stuff he lends his vision(or his paycheck, whatever) to. Ditto for Josh Schwartz (The OC, Gossip Girl, Rockville CA, Chuck), who has the Eugene Levy/Kristen Kreuk CBS sitcom Hitched in contention.

    Lastly, I'm not sure Arianna Huffington is entirely a TV newbie, she's been at least contributing vocal work to The Cleveland Show, but it'll be interesting how she does on the producing end of it all. Between Roseanne, Scrubs, How I Met Your Mother, Why I Wore Lipstick to My Masectomy, and Maneater, Chalke has logged some serious TV hours already and again, consistency is always something to look to in this chaotic time.

  • Dennis

    Oh, and does David. E Kelley have to have a pilot on tap every year. Last year his Kristen Chenoweth legal pilot was so not good, rumor has it NBC was willing to shell out serious money to keep it off the air. Still, I guess when Boston Legal got so many inexplicable Emmy nominations and old, wealthy viewers, the networks are willing to keep giving him a shot. And save from the occasional misfire (Girls Club or the Brotherhood of Poland NH, anyone?) his shows (Chicago Hope, Ally McBeal, The Practice, Boston Public, Boston Legal) are reasonably long-lasting, I just wish I could say I still liked any of his shows by the end of their respective runs. Call me when he gets his wife Michelle Pfeiffer to star in one of his shows. Then I'll tune in!

  • Dennis

    Wow, really monopolizing the comments here. I just remembered another hard-working, fairly dependable TV producer/creator who has a pilot on tap: Greg Berlanti (Everwood, Jack & Bobby, Brothers & Sisters, Dirty Sexy Money, Eli Stone). He's responsible for the Chiklis drama No Ordinary Family, which also has The OC's Autumn Reeser on board. Between Brothers & Sisters, Modern Family, the short-lived Sons & Daughters, and now No Ordinary Family, ABC really is cornering the market on shows about related people. Hopefully folks don't start getting family show fatigue anytime soon. I guess as long as people keep having families, they won't tire in watching shows about zany fictional ones.

  • http://sodapopjournal.com Robert Cortez

    Maybe I just haven't been paying attention but none of these sound all that promising right now. I could be hitting TV overload as I'm in the middle of catching up on shows I've been missing out on for so long, like FNL, Mad Men, etc.

    The only one I've heard about that sounds even remotely interesting to me is the new Ridley/Tony Scott-produced “Nomads” for CW. Sounds kinda cool and adventure-y and it might finally give me a reason to tune in to CW.

  • Dennis

    Considering Tony's got a whole string of crappy Denzel movies, and Ridley's not doing so well with his continuous Russell Crowe movies, maybe TV will be a better medium for them. Still, last season The CW had some decent pilots to choose from (the Minka Kelly/Jason Dohring young politico show The Body Politic, and arguably the 80s Gossip Girl spinoff) and chose the Beautiful Life and the Melrose Place retread no one asked for instead. So my faith in their decisions is nigh.

    I'm also wary of another Shonda Rhimes show. She seems like she's spreading herself too thin as it is with Grey's and Private Practice and how many cutesy-sexy doctor shows does one network need? Though the main girl from Wonderfalls just jumped on board, so that's reason enough for me to check it out.

  • Dennis

    Or my faith in their decisions is nil., rather

  • http://sodapopjournal.com Robert Cortez

    Maybe I just haven't been paying attention but none of these sound all that promising right now. I could be hitting TV overload as I'm in the middle of catching up on shows I've been missing out on for so long, like FNL, Mad Men, etc.

    The only one I've heard about that sounds even remotely interesting to me is the new Ridley/Tony Scott-produced “Nomads” for CW. Sounds kinda cool and adventure-y and it might finally give me a reason to tune in to CW.

  • Dennis

    Considering Tony's got a whole string of crappy Denzel movies, and Ridley's not doing so well with his continuous Russell Crowe movies, maybe TV will be a better medium for them. Still, last season The CW had some decent pilots to choose from (the Minka Kelly/Jason Dohring young politico show The Body Politic, and arguably the 80s Gossip Girl spinoff) and chose the Beautiful Life and the Melrose Place retread no one asked for instead. So my faith in their decisions is nigh.

    I'm also wary of another Shonda Rhimes show. She seems like she's spreading herself too thin as it is with Grey's and Private Practice and how many cutesy-sexy doctor shows does one network need? Though the main girl from Wonderfalls just jumped on board, so that's reason enough for me to check it out.

  • Dennis

    Or my faith in their decisions is nil., rather

  • Dennis

    I thought this a nice little roundup of some of the familiar faces who have pilots lined up for fall: http://www.zap2it.com/news/custom/photogallery/...

blog comments powered by Disqus