Over at ABC, 3 new drama pilots have been picked up.
And guess what, out of the three, one of them is brought to you by Jerry Bruckheimer TV and the other by McG.
The Bruckheimer-produced one is currently untitled and is penned by Mark Friedman.
I’m sure you’re on the verge of your seat, waiting for me to reveal the content of this amazing ground-breaking show.
Don’t hold your breath on that last one there.
The show is about a team of amateur detectives resolving cases around unidentified victims.
Sounds mysterious and edgy.
The McG one is called Limelight and is written by Gossip Girl’s K.J. Steinberg.
The show centers around teachers and students of a performing arts college in NYC.
Limelight is supposed to be loosely based on Pharrell Williams’ life.
Fame meets Un Paso Adelante meets hip-hop, right?
As for the third one, by Michael Seitzam, the show is called Empire State and is about a modern-day Romeo and Juliet where two families on each end of the social ladder, one blue collar, the other very wealthy, clash when a romance occurs.
Hasn’t this been tried before?
Speaking of ABC, Bill Lawrence has confirmed that Scrubs will stop after its eight season (that means this one).
We will also learn the Janitor’s name in the finale, and if you want to know what it is right here right now, go google the name of Clone High’s janitor.
It’s the same.
Oh, and if you’re still not on board for Leverage, read TV Squad’s ten reasons why it is the best new show this season.
We continue in our marvelous adventures of pilot picking with ABC, who just greenlit 2 more comedy pilots.
The first, still unnamed, is from Scrubs’ Tad Quill and centers on two friends, one who just had a baby, the other whom’s wife just left him.
The second pilot is Let It Go by Will & Grace’s Alex Herschlag, and stars Gilmore Girls’ Lauren Graham.
Graham plays a self-help guru telling women to move on with their lives as they get dumped, yet when her boyfriend leaves her, she doesn’t follow her own advice. Yet again, Mitch Hurwitz is exec producing this one.
CBS has also ordered 3 pilots, this time dramas, in addition to that NCIS spin-off.
The Unit’s Frank Military brings a show about a team of federal prosecutors in Manhattan’s U.S. Attorney’s office.
Back revolves around a man reported missing for eight years after 9/11 who comes back home to his family. CSI: Miami’s Dean Widenmann wrote the pilot.
And last but not least we have a pilot by Criminal Mind’s Ed Bernero, Jim Clemente & Tim Clemente named Washington Field. As the title indicates, the show centers on the FBI’s Washington Field Office and its elite experts travelling around the globe and dealing with events concerning U.S.A.‘s national interest.
Finally, some good news for our advertising friends. The economy’s “death spiral” is not going to affect Upfront Week. The various network presentations should be roughly the same as last year.
This is interesting seeing as last year’s presentations were already “scaled back from previous years”.
Don’t worry, no one wants to buy ad time, but we’ll keep the show going for you guys.
Simon Beaufoy, who will probably win the Oscar for his Slumdog Millionaire script, is set to write a romcom for Spyglass entitled Leap Year and starring Amy Adams.
Bill Campbell is set to star in NBC’s Lost in the 80s, a show centering on the Mobley family, a family of six.
In Joss Whedon/Dollhouse news, Joel Keller has posted an interview he had with the Man about Dollhouse, Dr. Horrible, and the future of media.
According to Whedon, we might see the return of Dr. Horrible (although not in the way you might think):
We are dancing around that concept. We all want to do it. We all are extremely occupied—we have other jobs. And we’re kind of trying to figure out the philosophy as well. How do we want to present it? We don’t necessarily want to do exactly what we did, part two. We’d like to shift the paradigm a little bit. But we’re sort of keeping everything open. We have a concept, and when these writers have time to really sit down with it, we’re going to see what we’ve got. It’s definitely our intention for Dr. Horrible to rise again.
The interview was put on The Daily Beast.
Remember that Jesse Alexander pilot from the other day?
Turns out NBC just ordered it, and its name is Day One.
The pitch reminded me a lot of Survivors:
A global event ravages the world and a small group of survivors band together to try to rebuild society and break the mysteries surrounding the apocalyptic event.
Amy Poheler’s show meanwhile seems to now have a name: Public Service.
On the ABC front, Shonda Rhimes got another pilot picked up, Inside the Box, this time not around doctors but journalists. The show, set in Washington, revolves around an ambitious female news producer and her colleagues.
Also greenlit was I, Claudia, about Claudia McIntire, a young prosecuting attorney that will one day be a contender for the U.S. presidency.
Sounds like Jack & Bobby meets Commander in Chief.
The pilot was penned by The Days’ John Scott Shepherd.
The cast for Spielberg’s Tintin was announced as well as the title of the movie, The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn.
Tintin will be played by Jamie Bell, Andy Serkis will play Haddock and Daniel Craig will be Red Rackham.
Also starring are Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Mackenzie Crook, Gad Elmaleh and Toby Jones.
The writers of the first movie will be Ant-Man’s Joe Cornish, Dr. Who’s Steven Moffat and Shaun of the Dead’s Edgar Wright.
This movie should be the first of a series based on Hergé’s character and made in 3-D MoCap.
Release is slated for 2011 and principal photography started yesterday.
A couple of pilot picks today.
The 80s miniseries V is about to be rethought as a series for ABC.
The pilot was written on spec by Scott Peters and will focus on a female Homeland Security agent.
Yet again another (kinda) remake with NBC’s Lost in the ‘80s. The comedy is said to be an 80s version of The Wonder Years. Bob Brush wrote the script. Arrested Development’s Mitch Hurwitz will exec.
Some funny news also today: Hilary Duff will play Bonnie in a new adaptation of the Bonnie & Clyde story.
