Pilots ordered for 2010 - 2011 season

[JaneAusten]

Futon Critic Pilot List

I was perusing this list again of Pilots ordered for next season and ugh. There's really not much appealing on this list. Either a crime show, lawyer show, or some lame comedy romcom. With LOST being gone after this season, not much left. I've even tired of the USA shows. Like the networks, each show on USA seems like a carbon copy of the other. Crime or detective show with some quirky odd character. It was endearing with Monk for a time but several shows later, the appeal has worn off.

[DaytimeFan]

Cutthroat, the pilot about a Beverly Hills single mom who runs drugs, has the makings of a fun prime time soap.

[Sylph]

That's Weeds, 2.0.

We talked about it in another thread.

[JaneAusten]

Yep but I liked Weeds primary because I love Mary Louise Parker.

I keep wondering if they can inject some life into some of the existing shows by bringing on some new characters. I still like L&O: SVU but that's really only because of Mariska Hargitay, but I do think they need a refresh of some kind. CSI I have no idea I like Lawrence Fishborne but he hasn't done much. I think CSI NY is awful.

I still miss seeing Friday Night Lights even though it's allegedly still around.

[miajere]

Wasn't there a show exactly like Generation Y- where the characters in present day are trying to figure out who recently murdered a beloved classmate? I'll stick to FX and HBO for my primetime programming. It's obvious these people don't care to add something different and need to see it done before they can call it a success.

[Sylph]

I loved Weeds. That's why I'm saying a copy would just kill itself.

[JaneAusten]

Very few of these shows can hold a candle to the original. CSI was a rip off in a way of ORIGINAL L&O (and not what exists today) with it's own spin, and all the spinoffs of other shows. It's why I laugh when I read about shows like FlashForward being another LOST. No fricking way.

[All My Shadows]

It is. NBC's airing Season 4 starting April 13 (or somewhere around there; it's in April). It's also guaranteed at least one more season of 13 episodes, so who knows. I'll be fine with the show ending after the fifth season, but it's always possible it could continue.

And yes, that list sucks. I don't even bother looking at the comedy pilots. I don't think I've been interested in any live action sitcom on network TV since...idk...the season 8 Simple Rules and Less Than Perfect premiered. These newer sitcoms, like CBS's lame Monday block and ABC's lame Wednesday block and NBC's lame Thursday block, just don't do squat for me. I only vaguely like Gary Unmarried and The New Adventures of Old Christine, but I don't make it a point to watch them at all. Only when I'm in the mood.

I want to see The CW's Hellcats. Bring It On: The Series it might be, but all I can say is bring. it. on!!! Bitchy cheerleaders is never not entertaining to me.

Seriously, though, just reading what the Big 4 have in store...I just want to strangle everyone who is involved with the creation of these shows. Just...ugh. It wasn't very long ago when there were different types of dramatic shows in primetime.

[JaneAusten]

You know what is sickening about that pilot list is that networks like HBO, Showtime, and maybe even FX to an extent can still do something original. I know many claim they do things the networks can't, but I think that's a BS excuse. I think the networks are afraid of taking risks. Fox did it at one point their first so many years but that was when they were in the "building" stage. NBC IMO has no excuse. They are at the absolute bottom and should be taking some risks. They did back in the early 80's and out of that rose Cheers, HSB, and St. Elsewhere. And if TNT's numbers are any indication, none of their recent new shows have done squat.

And the comedies? I understand the appeal of CBS's comedies and while I don't like really any of them, I can understand why many do. NBC just boggles my mind. I watched 30 Rock for a couple of seasons and tired of it, The Office the same, and I really don't get the appeal of COmmunity and Parks and Recreation at all. ABC has LOST and that's it for me. I don't care for their sitcoms. Used to like Ugly Betty but tired of that too.

[All My Shadows]

Cheers really wan't all that daring. Taxi in a bar. And then Wings was Cheers in an airport.

I just...damn. Is it really that hard? I want to believe that the networks get different types of scripts and only pick the same-old, but a part of me is afraid that all of the writers sending in their stuff really are just taking what they like on TV and trying to spin it a little bit.

My favorite (least favorite) is the lame ass Shonda Rhimes-inspired crap. You know, the ones where when you read the script, you just know that after the writer wrote the whole thing, she then went and used a "Replace text" feature to erase her name and put in a new trendy name for the main character.

[JaneAusten]

Both Cheers and Taxi were on the bubble(NBC finally did cancel Taxi before ABC picked it up) before The Cosby show. And then sitcom after sitcom seemed to be a family sitcom. Personally I tolerated shows like Cheers, Taxi, even Wings because I felt the writers were more invested. I can't explain why. It's why I tired of The Office and 30 Rock and the CBS comedies because they tell the same story each week. I know there's a limit to what's doable, but today it's like they don't even try.

And don't get me started on that overrated Shonda Rhimes. I mean really. And she has another "medical" show in the works. Her stuff is really no better than the CSI's or NCIS's and L&O's and their retreads. Greys was a ripoff of ER and PP is a ripoff of PP.

[EricMontreal22]

In Ent Weekly a month or so back, the woman who is in charge of programming at USA basically admitted as much lol.

[SFK]

I read for an HBO pilot called Washingtonienne that to my surprise did not get picked up. It was EP'd by Sarah Jessica Parker and was based on Jessica Cutler's chick lit fictionalized novel (which was based on her very real dishy blog which cost her her job) about her affairs with men in high political places while she worked as an intern on Capitol Hill.

[Paul Raven]

I saw ABC's Matadors described as a soap...

[Sylph]

Yes. That was announced in 2008. I knew it would get dumped.