CW Pickups

Melrose 2.0, Vampire Diaires, and Beautiful Life are a go for fall.

Had heard a week or so ago that Body Politic was not going to be for fall, but still could be in for midseason. Gossip Girl spin-off has been varying between yay or nay depending on what time of the day it is and, THANK GAWD, is now officially dead. No word on Light Years (or whatever the title of it became, since it's no longer Light Years). Priviledged is also officially dead.

Seriously, though, CW. You *must* order something for midseason. You will be utterly, completely screwed otherwise, even with giving up Sundays.

ABC Pickups

Wow, ABC sure is picking up a lot of comedies this season (Modern Family, Cougar Town, The Middle, Awesome Hank, and of course renewals for Scrubs and Better Off Ted... they just couldn't let Scrubs die a slightly dignified death...) Here's hoping any of them are actually funny! Hm, and I totally recommended launching a couple new comedy blocks, didn't I (Next Season - ABC)?

On the drama side, the only mild shocker is that ABC picked up The Forgotten (which I panned). I've now seen the pilot and a review is forthcoming this weekend. ABC really wants a procedural hit, so, yes, I understand taking a chance on a Bruckheimer pilot (because it's not like CSI revitalized an entire genre or anything). No news yet on V, or on Empire State (sob!), but I'm hoping that ABC and WBTV can work something out for V that (a) lets Elizabeth Mitchell come back to Lost at least for some cameo-ing, and (b) gets the thing on the air. Make like NBC with Day One and do a limited series of it (because, y'know, the original V was a miniseries so we know it can work!)

The Screeners Are Coming, The Screeners Are Coming!

In short, squee. I love pickup season.

Two Fox pickups

Hearing Fox has picked up Human Target (my favorite of its drama pilot scripts... but that wasn't saying much!) as well as the comedy Sons of Tuscon.

NBC pickups... first round!

Alright! All four of my Thumbs Up / Jury's Out drama scripts from NBC were announced as pickups today (Parenthood, Trauma, Mercy, and Day One).

The news that Day One will be a "limited" (aka mini-) series actually turns my head on the project. You can pour money into something like that and have a good, entertaining product for however long they're going to do it AND THEN BE DONE WITH IT. But it just wasn't continuing series material.

Very excited to see screeners of all these pickups... my question now is "where's Legally Mad?" Was it so bad that they decided to incur the series penalty? Or just wait to announce it until May 19th when NBC announces its schedule (and say "it's midseason")?

Also no official word on Chuck... until May 19th?

NBC pickups almost here!

Glad the info I was sitting on about the (rumor of the) Chuck 13-episode pickup seems like it's come to pass, as the rumor was it was part of an NBC/WBTV deal that included Southland (picked up for 13). Now that other places are reporting it, I'm sure my source won't mind me chiming in with the info!

Also potentially part of the the deal: Legally Mad (gah!), but we all knew it was getting picked up because of the series penalty...

As we ramp up towards infronts/upfronts, the news usually breaks about 2 days in advance for each network (on pickups, not on scheduling), so with NBC's infront on May 5th... today could be a big news day.

THR Feed re pilot season

James Hibbard has a truly amusing take on the pilots that have been ordered by the major networks thus far here.

I've read many of these pilot scripts (or drafts of them) and, naturally, have my opinions.  As tomorrow is my last day of work for a little while, I should have plenty of time to, y'know, espouse said opinions.

Just a warning.

In reading (especially loglines) please remember that just because something is unique does not mean it is good.  Or that it will be unique/good for long.  Also, there have been some very entertaining cop-lawyer-doctor shows!  Just because they're part of a mold doesn't mean they're going to suck.

Now, off to writing Paging Doctor Detective McCoy, Esquire...

Nikki Finke

Damn, Nikki Finke has got some fine sources this year, because she's hearing about things and posting them right before I get my info blurbs... so I'll just direct your to DHD for pilot pick-ups instead of trying to scoop her. After all, it's her job, not mine.

Egad, Egan

Christopher Egan has been cast as the lead in NBC/UMS pilot "Kings". This happens to be one of my favorite pilot scripts in the last several seasons (at least the pre-strike version I read kicked ass... very much one of those "how the heck are they going to keep this shit going and produce this show on a sub-feature budget?" shows). I really don't know how I feel about Egan as David. I haven't seen him in much... but he wasn't at all what I pictured of the "David" character. At all. Well, I'll wait to pass judgment until I see a screener of it...