2011-2012 Pilots

[Toups]

ABC: Revenge

Revenge, written by Swingtown creator Mike Kelley, is a contemporary re-imagening of Alexandre Dumas, pere's The Count of Monte Cristo, which explores the classic tale from a female perspective and chronicles the story of a mysterious young woman who comes to the Hamptons to exact revenge on the people who destroyed her family. Kelley and Temple Hill's Wyck Godfrey and Marty Bowen are exec producing. This is the first production order for Temple Hill under the overall deal the company inked with ABC Studios in December.

[Toups]

ABC: Good Christian Belles

Good Christian Bitches, which has received a presentation order, was written by Steel Magnolias scribe Robert Harling based on the book by Kim Gatlin. Described as "Desperate Housewives in Dallas," it centers on Amanda Vaughn, a recently divorced mother of two who, to get a fresh start, moves back to the affluent Dallas neighborhood where she grew to find herself in the whirling midst of salacious gossip, Botox, and fraud. The project was one of Lee's first buys this season and landed at ABC in September with a put pilot commitment after a bidding war. Harling, [Darren] Star and Aaron Kaplan of Kapital Entertainment are executive producing.

[Toups]

NBC: Bent

Bent, which Tad Quill wrote and is executive producing, is a single-camera romantic comedy about a recently divorced “type A” single mother who tries hard not to fall for the sexy “surfer-dude” contractor she hires to re-do her kitchen.

[Toups]

NBC: Up All Night

The untitled Emily Spivey project, which has received a cast-contingent order, is a co-production with Lorne Michaels’ Broadway Video. It is described as an irreverent look at parenthood through the POV of an acerbic working mother, who never thought she’d be a mom, along with her stay-at-home husband and opinionated parents. Spivey wrote the script and is exec producing with Michaels.

[Toups]

ABC: Georgetown

Add Josh Schwartz to the list of drama heavy hitters whose projects were picked up to pilot by ABC today. The network has picked up the Schwartz-produced Georgetown (formerly Inner Circle). The project, written by Remember Me scribe Will Fetters, is described as a sexy soap centered around the young people behind the power brokers of Washington, DC. It hails from Fake Empire, Schwartz's company with Stephanie Savage, and Warner Bros. TV where the company is based. Schwartz, Myers, Savage and Fake Empire's Leonard Goldstein are executive producing, with Fetters co-executive producing. Journalist Ashley Parker serves as consultant.

[Toups]

CW: Awakening

Awakening, written on spec by William Laurin & Glenn Davis, centers on two sisters who come of age and face off against one another amidst the beginning of a zombie uprising. Reveille is co-producing the pilot with Warner Bros. TV, where the script has been laid off. Laurin, Davis, Howard T. Owens, Carolyn Bernstein and Todd Cohen are exec producing.

[Toups]

CW: Hart of Dixie

Hart of Dixie, from WBTV and Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage's Fake Empire, is a comedic drama centered on a young New York City doctor who inherits a medical practice in a small Southern town inhabited by an eclectic and eccentric group of characters. Leila Gerstein penned the script and is exec producing with Josh Schwartz, Stephanie Savage and Len Goldstein. This is Fake Empire's second pilot this afternoon, along with Georgetown at ABC.

[Toups]

CW: Heavenly

Heavenly, written by Richard Hatem, is from CBS Studios and Fineman Entertainment. It centers on a dedicated young female attorney and a former angel, Dashiel Coffee, only recently turned human, who tackle cases together at the attorney's legal aid clinic – she saves clients’ butts while he saves their souls. As an angel, Dash never experienced feelings or emotions, and his “awakening” is a big part of the series, sometimes to hilarious effect. Hatem and Ross Fineman are exec producing.

[Toups]

CW: Cooper and Stone

Cooper and Stone, from writer-exec producer Laurie Arent and CBS TV Studios, is about two smart young female detectives on Chicago’s North Side who are best friends, equally adept at discussing fashion, music, pop culture as they are solving homicides.

[SFK]

Remember D.C. starring Mark-Paul Gosselaar and that girl from the Real World? Crashed and burned. Sally Quinn was behind a pilot called Georgetown about ten years ago starring Helen Mirren as a Katharine Graham-type. Speaking of D.C. pilots, after the failed Washingtonienne about two years back, HBO is gearing up for yet another D.C.-themed pilot shot in Baltimore called Veep starring Julia Louis Dreyfus as a female vice president.

[Toups]

CBS: Unforgettable

CBS' Ed Redlich/John Bellucci drama pilot [unforgettable], which was rolled over from last season, has been given a formal green light, with Niels Arden Oplev, director of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, on board to direct. The project, co-produced by Sony Pictures TV and CBS TV Studios, centers on a female NYPD detective who possesses the special ability to remember everything and, although a gift in her job, it’s also a curse in her personal life. Redlich and Bellucci wrote the script, which is inspired by J. Robert Lennon's short story The Rememberer, and are exec producing with CBS TV Studios-based Sarah Timberman and Carl Beverly who originally developed the project while at Sony.

[Toups]

CBS: The Assistants

CBS is back in business with Tucker Cawley, former executive producer of the network's hit Everybody Loves Raymond. CBS has greenlighted to pilot Cawley's multicamera comedy The Assistants, a young ensemble about four assistants who work for a celebrity couple. CBS TV Studios and studio-based Tannenbaum Co. are producing, with Cawley, Eric and Kim Tannenbaum exec producing. Cawley win 3 Emmys for Raymond, two best comedy series statuettes, which he shared with the rest of the show's producing team, and one for writing one of Raymond's most memorable episodes, Baggage. Post-Raymond, Cawley created the short-lived ABC sitcom Hank and recently joined his Raymond buddies Ray Romano and Mike Royce on their TNT dramedy Men of a Certain Age.

[Toups]

NBC: Awake

NBC has picked up to pilot [Awake], the spec by Lone Star creator Kyle Killen which was taken out by 20th TV a couple of weeks ago. Killen's [Awake], from 20th TV, is described as an Inception-style thriller about a cop who wakes up after an accident to find he is living in two different realities. The project has been given a cast-contingent order. As expected, new NBC chief Bob Greenblatt has been very opportunistic with spec scripts, handing out a significant chunk of his pilot orders to project brought to the network as specs.

[Toups]

NBC: Free Agents

Free Agents, from UMS and Party Down co-creator John Enbom, is a single-camera romantic comedy based on the U.K. format that explores the attraction between two quirky co-workers who are both on the rebound, one from a divorce and the other from the loss of a fiancé. While in the original series, which ran on Channel 4 in 2009, the lovebirds were agents, in the NBC version they will be PR executives. Enbom is executive producing with Kenton Allen from Big Talk Prods., producer of the British series. Todd Holland and Karey Burke are also exec producing through their UMS-based company, with Holland directing. The comedy has been given a cast-contingent order.

[Toups]

NBC: LoveLives

LoveLives, from 20th TV and Chernin Entertainment, is a multicamera comedy about a couple who explore cheating on their spouse and the friends/family members around them who encourage it. Family Guy executive producer Chris Sheridan wrote the script and is exec producing with Peter Chernin and Katherine Pope.