2011-2012 Pilots

[Toups]

NBC: Untitled Dan Goor project

The untitled Dan Goor project, from UMS and BermanBraun, is a multicamera comedy about a young doctor who joins his parents' medical practice and spends as much time tending to his family as to his patients. It was was written by Dan Goor (Parks & Recreation) who is exec producing with Gail Berman and Lloyd Braun.

[Toups]

NBC: Untitled Kari Lizer project

In what could be the last comedy pilot pickup at NBC this season, the network has given a cast-contingent order to a multi-camera comedy from The New Adventures of Old Christine creator Kari Lizer. The project, produced by Warner Bros. TV where Lizer is under an overall deal, is a workplace comedy about a relationship-challenged woman who, with the help of her co-workers, guides people through unexpected career transitions and downsizings. The comedy sparked a bidding war when it hit the marketplace in October, eventually landing at NBC with a production commitment. It brings Lizer back to NBC where she worked on Will & Grace for 4 years before segueing to developing. The pickup at NBC means that all of Lizer's projects so far have gone to pilot. She previously developed during the 2004-05 season when she sold Christine to CBS and True to the WB. Both were ordered to pilot and Christine went on to become a series, which wrapped its 5-year run on CBS in May and earned star Julia Louis-Dreyfus a best comedy actress Emmy in 2005.

[Toups]

NBC: The Crossing

NBC is saddling up for The Crossing, picking up to pilot a period Western from Peter Horton. The Crossing (formerly Reconstruction) was originally developed at FX where it was set up in 2009. The drama, written by St. Elsewhere co-creator Josh Brand, is set in a Missouri town during the post-Civil War Reconstruction era and centers on Jason, a Civil War soldier who crosses the country and settles into a complicated town where he is welcomed as its savior -- whether he likes it or not. Brand and Horton are exec producing, with Horton set to direct. Also expected to executive produce is Aaron Kaplan, who has been attached to the project from the very beginning. Back in 2009, Horton told me he Brand came up with the idea for Reconstruction while discussing today's realities: the economic crisis and the situation in the Middle East, including war-ravaged Iraq. "We thought a good way to tell the story would be through the allegory of the Western," Horton said. "How does one heal after (a war)? How do you find your humanity again?" This is the second period drama pilot ordered by NBC this season, along with the 1960s Playboy.

[Toups]

NBC: Prime Suspect

Additionally, the network has officially greenlit its adaptation of the British classic Prime Suspect, which had been rolled over from last season. Prime Suspect, from UMS and ITV Studio, centers on an iconoclastic female detective who has to make her bones in a tough New York precinct that is dominated by men. The pilot was originally picked up last season but was pushed after difficulties casting the lead. The adaptation was also given a revamp with a new producing team, Peter Berg and Sarah Aubrey of Film 44, and new writer, Alexandra Cunningham, coming on board. The three are executive producing the pilot, with Berg also set to direct.

[Toups]

CBS: Untitled Rob Schneider project

The untitled Rob Schneider project, from CBS TV Studios and the Tannenbaum Co., was written by Schneider and fellow Saturday Night Live alum Lew Morton. It is based on Schneider's life and centers on a solitary guy who marries into a huge Mexican-American family. The project originally landed at CBS in October with a script commitment. Morton, Eric and Kim Tannenbaum (Two and a Half Men) are executive producing, with Schneider and his brother John Schneider producing through their From Out of Nowhere Prods. This marks Schneider's first TV series gig in 13 years. He last did a series in the 1996-97 season, NBC's comedy Men Behaving Badly. Schneider has since been focused on films, most recently co-starring in Grown Ups.

[Toups]

CBS: Home Grown

Jeff and Jackie Filgo's Home Grown is a multicamera comedy about a blue collar man who wrestles with how to parent his unmarried grown daughter and her 12-year-old son while sharing a house with them, his wife and his recently widowed mother. The Filgos wrote the script and are exec producing. Beth Lacke serves as consultant.

[Toups]

CW: Secret Circle

The CW has picked up its sixth and final pilot this season, the witch tale Secret Circle executive produced by Vampire Diaries co-creator/exec producer Kevin Williamson. Williamson recently joined the project, based on a three-book series from The Vampire Diaries author L.J. Smith. He worked on the original script penned by Andrew Miller, with the two sharing writer credit. Produced by Alloy Entertainment, WBTV and CBS TV Studios, the companies behind Diaries, Secret Circle tells the story of a young woman who moves to a new town and discovers that not only is she a witch and part of a secret coven, but she’s also the key that will unlock a centuries-old battle of good versus evil. Miller and Williamson are executive producing Secret Circle with Elizabeth Craft, Sarah Fain and Alloys' Leslie Morgenstein and Gina Girolamo. Vampire Diaries co-creator/exec producer Julie Plec is not currently attached to the project but could come on board in the future.

[Toups]

NBC: BFFs

NBC has given a presentation order to an untitled comedy written by and starring Upright Citizens Brigade alums Lennon Parham and Jessica St. Clair. The single-camera project, from Scot Armstrong and Ravi Nandan's American Work and UMS, is a comedy triangle centered on a woman (Parham) and her new live-in boyfriend. They find themselves taking in her distraught (and pushy) best girlfriend (St. Clair) who ends up on their doorstep after a divorce. Parham, St. Clair, Armstrong and Nandan are all exec producing. The pilot order stems from American Work's first-look deal with NBC. The company previously produced the network's 2009 comedy pilot Off Duty.

[Toups]

FOX: Weekends at Bellevue

Fox has handed a late pilot order to Weekends at Bellevue, a medical drama from former ER writer-producer Lisa Zwerling and BermanBraun. The project, centered on a psychiatrist in charge of the weekend shift of Bellevue Hospital psychiatric unit, was originally set up at NBC and UMS earlier this season. After the network recently passed on the script, it was taken to Fox. UMS, which produces Fox's hit drama House, will stay on as the studio. Weekends at Bellevue is based on Dr. Julie Holland's memoir about her nine-year stint as the weekend physician in charge of the psychiatric emergency room at the oldest public hospital in the United States whose name has become synonymous with insanity. Zwerling, Gail Berman, Lloyd Braun and Gene Stein are executive producing.

[Toups]

CBS: Person of Interest

CBS has handed a pilot order to Jonathan Nolan's CIA drama Person of Interest, which is being executive produced by J.J. Abrams. The project, from Warner Bros. TV and Abrams' Bad Robot, is a crime drama centered on a CIA agent, presumed dead, who is recruited by a reclusive billionaire to wage war against violent criminals in New York City. Nolan, who shared a writing Oscar nomination with his brother Christopher for Memento, is executive producing with Abrams and Burk. This marks the TV debut for Nolan. Person of Interest is the second pilot order for Bad Robot this year, following the early pickup for Alcatraz at Fox.

[Khan]

"Don't Trust the Bitch in Apt. 23," "My Frickin' Family," "Good Christian Bitches".... Way to keep it classy, ABC.

[Southofnowhere]

"Andrew Miller" Eden Riegel's hubby?

[Khan]

I'll give the new Susannah Grant project a look-see since it stars Patrick Wilson. Otherwise, though, forget it.

[OLTL_fan]

PTC at it again.

http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2011/03/09/bored-with-skins-ptc-moves-on-to-abcs-good-christian-bitches-dont-trust-the-bitch-in-apartment-23/85211

Do they really think ABC will stick with those titles if they pick up the shows?

[Khan]

Too bad GCB isn't a reality series on Bravo. Otherwise, if it were to become a hit there, you just know Andy Cohen & Co. would spin off "Good Muslim B***hes" and so forth.