A pilot season shrouded in mystery

Pilot season in the US is notoriously frantic. This season- the Darwinian process in which the television industry rushes to write, cast and produce a slate of new scripted fare- is even more frantic thanks to the three-month writers strike. Some six weeks ahead of its competitors, NBC announced earlier this week its 12 new series for this fall and into the next year. But it's still a mystery which pilots ABC, Fox, CBS and the CW will pick for their prime-time schedules.

So far, among them they have 30 dramas and 23 comedies under consideration- about half the number of projects those four networks usually develop this time of year. Those numbers could easily increase, though, as networks scramble for the next big hit. What is certain is that next fall there will be fewer new dramas and comedies premiering across the networks. The most noticeable trend is the reliance on international successes- 11 TV hits in Britain, Israel, Canada and Australia being remade at NBC, CBS, ABC and Fox. There also seems to be a wave of nostalgia sweeping the small screen, with projects that recast TV classics as well as literary masterpieces.

ABC

ABC leads the pack with 20 projects in development. But none is likely to roll out in the fall, because of strike-imposed time constraints. Left with little time to assess the newcomers, the network already took the unusual step of renewing 14 programmes, including four freshman series- some of which in a non-strike year would have been cancelled.

Like ABC, the other networks also have given a high number of low-performing freshman series a second shot on their schedules- thus saving much of the new fare for mid-season. "At the end of the day, we ended up with fewer pilots than we thought we were going to make before the strike," said Suzanne Patmore Gibbs, executive vice president of drama development. "We have to balance the risks with the things that might make safer bets."

In addition to nine drama and 10 comedy pilots, ABC has ordered an untitled series created by Zak Penn (X-Men: The Last Stand) about people with extraordinary neurological abilities. The network has already shot the pilot of Life on Mars, a David E. Kelley adaptation of the BBC series about a modern detective (Jason O'Mara) who is transported to the 1970s.

One project with the potential to be ground-breaking is novelist Tom Wheeler's Captain Cook's Extraordinary Atlas, which executives describe as "Harry Potter meets Pan's Labyrinth meets Indiana Jones." The story of a 12-year-old girl who finds an atlas that reveals a secret world beneath Earth was coveted by several networks. "It's one of the more ambitious things we're talking about, because we haven't seen this on TV," Patmore Gibbs said.

ABC also is venturing into the animated comedy arena with The Goode Family, whose efforts to be politically, socially and environmentally correct do not go as planned. It also has landed Cedric the Entertainer on a multi-camera comedy about an Inglewood family that becomes wealthy overnight and moves to Beverly Hills.

Fox

Except for the reduced number of projects, Fox's pilot roster carries little evidence of a writers strike this season. In addition to the highly anticipated new Joss Whedon series, Dollhouse, Fox has seven drama pilots from some of the industry's most prominent writer-producers: The Oaks (Shawn Ryan of The Shield); Queen B (Ryan Murphy of Nip/Tuck); Courtroom K (Paul Attanasio of House); Virtuality (Ronald D. Moore of Battlestar Galactica); Lie to Me (Brian Grazer of 24 and American Gangster); Night Life (Zach Braff and Adam Braff); and Fringe, the $10-million two-hour J.J. Abrams project that is sure to be picked up. "These are substantial commitments with major players," said Fox President of Entertainment Kevin Reilly. "So there's a tremendous amount of momentum behind them."

Fox, which has seven fewer hours of prime time to fill per week than the other major networks, will probably announce only two new hours of shows for the fall, Reilly said. The network will save some of its high-profile fare for mid-season to launch with the return of American Idol and 24. "The fall for Fox historically is not our high-water mark," said Reilly. "And we think by being very, very stable with our schedule and really focusing on one or two things, we can make those stick."

Of Fox's seven comedy pilots, three are animated, including a Family Guy spin-off based on the Cleveland Brown character. Bernie Mac is starring in a multi-camera comedy created by Bruce Helford of The George Lopez Show.

CBS

CBS President of Entertainment Nina Tassler used the labour stoppage to experiment with production models. As a result, she opted to make only four full drama pilots and rely on shorter presentations to showcase the other five dramatic series CBS has in the works.

The network will make pilots of its high-profile projects- Jerry Bruckheimer's Eleventh Hour, starring Rufus Sewell; and Bruno Heller's The Mentalist, starring Simon Baker.

It also will produce full episodes of NyLon, the British import about a love affair spanning 3,000 miles, between London and New York; and Mythological Ex, based on a successful Israeli show about a woman (Rachel Boston) who tracks down all of her ex boyfriends after a psychic tells her she has already met her future husband.

The network will make 15-to-35-minute presentations of five projects, including The Meant to Be's by Glenn Gordon Caron (Medium and Moonlighting), and Jon Turteltaub's horror adventure, Harper's Island. "It's much better to look at a presentation, see what elements work, make changes you need to make in a very cost-efficient way and add to the presentation the elements that do work," Tassler said.

Tassler also has ordered six comedy pilots, including Single White Millionaire, starring Fred Savage, and Mike Birbiglia's Secret Public Journal.

The CW

The CW is turning 3- and coincidentally, the young network has ordered only three pilots this season. But who is counting when network executives can brag that they have the most buzzed-about pilot of the season- the 90210 spin-off?

The contemporary version of the Fox hit has quickly become the stuff blogosphere dreams are made of, even though only one role has been cast. Dustin Milligan (Runaway) will play one of the central characters. "People who grew up with that show have such an affection toward it," CW President Dawn Ostroff said. "It's actually fascinating."

Ostroff will announce a schedule to advertisers in May, using presentations instead of complete pilots. How to Teach Filthy Rich Girls, created by Rina Mimoun (Everwood), is based on Zoey Dean's book about a Yale grad who takes a job mentoring two insufferable rich girls on how to get into a top college. The CW also is giving the medical genre a shot with Austin Golden Hour, a drama told in real time centering on young (and to be sure: hot) emergency medical technicians and surgeons at a trauma centre.

Ostroff said she might wait until summer to order comedy pilots. "We don't want to do comedies that are just cute or funny," she said. "We are looking to move the needle."