UPDATES Primetime Pilot Panic: The Hot List
DRAMAS (2009/2010 Primetime Season)
NEW – My sources say because of the hold off on Legally Mad, there may only be two drama pilot pickups right away…
TRAUMA (Universal Media Studio/Film 44) NEW – “ALL BUT PICKED UP”… “BIGGEST PILOT OF THE YEAR BUDGET-WISE.” … “HUGE ACTION WITH HELICOPTERS CRASHING.” … “BUT DOES JEFF ZUCKER WANT TO DO A $4 MILLION [AN EPISODE] SHOW?” (Previous: “Pete Berg…”) (Text continues below video)
PARENTHOOD (Universal Media Studios/Imagine): NEW – “ALL BUT PICKED UP”… “THEY LOVE JASON KATIMS WHO WROTE IT” … (Previous: “Almost a lock.” “Great cast.” “Tommy Schlamme directing.”)
LEGALLY MAD (Warner Bros/David E Kelley): NEW – “I HEAR IT DIDN’T COME IN SO WELL” … “HOLD OFF” … “HARD TO GET A STRAIGHT ANSWER BUT DAVID KELLEY GETS THE BENEFIT OF THE DOUBT.” – (Previous: Series penalty.)
LOST & FOUND (Universal Media Studios/Wolf Films): NEW – “DICK WOLF … BUT IT REALLY HAS TO PLAY. THEY DON’T HAVE AS MANY TIME SLOTS.”
MERCY (Universal Media Studios/BermanBraun): NEW – “A LITTLE SOFT … REACTION WASN’T GREAT.”
DAY ONE (Universal Media Studios) NEW – “MORE OF AN EVENT SHOW”
COMEDIES
NEW – My sources say NBC will pick up 3 or possibly 4 comedy pilots.
COMMUNITY (Sony TV/Krasnoff); NEW – “PICKED UP”… “HOT COMEDY WITH JOEL MCHALE, STAR OF THE SOUP” … “VERY MUCH FITS INTO THEIR 30 ROCK/THE OFFICE LINEUP.”
OFF DUTY (Universal Media Studios/American Work): NEW – My sources say it’s in competition with CHARLOTTE PAYNE. One or both may get picked up.
100 QUESTIONS FOR CHARLOTTE PAYNE (Universal Media Studios/Tagline Pictures): NEW – Jim Burrows directing… My sources say it’s in competition with OFF DUTY. One or both may get picked up.
Do you sleep Nikki?
Happy about Community. Joel McHale is poised to become a huge star.
Actually, “Day One” IS shooting. I stumbled onto the set over a week ago, and they were doing 4 days of filming in one location in LA.
Day One will probably be 13 eps starting in Jan-Feb 2010. It’s good counter programming for things like American Idol and DWTS, but it’s not something you’d do 22-24 hours a year of. Also it has big international potential.
Mercy was the cheapest drama pilot they shot this year and directed by the guy who did the pilots for 30 Rock and Rescue Me. It has a real shot because it’s very low cost.
Parenthood is a month away from having a real cut of episode one. Ordering it, no matter how good the selected scenes and dailies are, is a leap of faith.
Trauma will go, for sure, but when and where do you schedule it? Also: how come nobody’s talking about that show’s writer, who is a real out-of-nowhere success story?
The very pretty and funny Sophie Winkleman is the star of Charlotte Payne (and a vet of the brilliant UK sitcom Peep Show) and in real life she’s supposedly about to marry into the British royal family. That’s some great PR juice for a series like this.
Off Duty seems like something that could get a LOT better in subsequent episodes.
‘B’ Day One was filming the pilot episode. It will most likely become a mini series for NBC rather that an official pick-up.
Why does David E. Kelley get the benefit of the doubt? He’s a complete hack. Another wacky lawyer show? How original. Same with Dick Wolf. The ONLY successful shows he’s creatd are the Law & Order shows. Everything else he’s done has been a complete flop. I think it’s really pathetic that NBC is picking up these two shows when they’re pretty much guaranteed to be duds.
Since they picked up the Wells’ crap now they have to pick up all the old guard’s crap. Kelly, Wolf…. Why don’t we just all go back to the future.
I still say that having Jay Leno occupy it’s 10pm slot five days a week is a huge mistake. That’s why NBC would never hire me – I’m too intelligent. Apparently, they only want dumbasses working for the network.
The Trauma trailer looks like a Third Watch teaser. Is it? Did they just cut and paste.
We’re supposed to get excited about helicopters crashing? They were doing that every freakin’ week on ER for the last three seasons.
Can they really sustain Trauma?
What about the other networks?
Jay Leno WILL be just fine! He WILL have his loyal solid core base who WILL follow him to his new show. There is his babyboomer solid base who has kept him Number One for years and years and that will not change at all!
I am glad that some shows got picked up like Southland. I will take a wait and see attitude on Parks and Rec. I hope that improvements in writing and creativity will help this sitcom to thrive in the coming episodes.
The new shows will have to prove themselves and to the viewership.