Eva Longoria Drama & Comedy ‘Three Rivers’ Get ABC Pilot Orders

ABC has picked up two more pilots, soapy drama Grand Hotel based on the Spanish format, from former Desperate Housewives star Eva Longoria and the hit ABC/ABC Studios dramedy’s writer Brian Tanen, and single-camera comedy Three Rivers from I Hate My Teenage Daughter creators Sherry Bilsing-Graham and Ellen Kreamer. Both hail from ABC’s sister studio ABC Studios.

Written by Tanen, Grand Hotel is a soapy drama set against the backdrop of a Miami Beach hotel, centering around the family who owns the business, the staff who run it, and the explosive secrets they hide under the perfect exterior.

Longoria and Ben Spector executive produced via UnbeliEVAble Entertainment alongside Tanen as well as Oliver Bachert and Christian Gockel of Beta Film, which distributed the original series.

UnveliEVAble, ABC and ABC Studios also developed a Grand Hotel adaptation last season with a different writer. Televisa USA previously took a stab at an English-language adaptation of the series set in pre-Castro Havana.

Gran Hotel (aka Grand Hotel) was created and produced by Bambu Producciones and ran on Spain’s Antena 3 for three seasons, with its first season reaching a 18.5% share. Dubbed “a Spanish Downton Abbey,” the original series, set in 1905 Spain, has been a top international seller for Beta Films. (you can watch a trailer below).

ABC

Written and executive produced by Bilsing-Graham and Kreamer, Three Rivers centers on Rebecca who left her family’s Texas ranch years ago to work at an upscale hotel in New York, but after being promised ownership of the ranch by her smooth-talking cowboy dad Beau, she’s back and ready to utilize her big city tactics to turn their rustic ranch into a destination spot oozing Southern hospitality. Getting her siblings to fall in line with her vision will be the real thorn in Rebecca’s side. And that’s going to be even harder once Beau reveals a life-changing family secret.

This is the fifth ABC comedy pilot this season from female creators vs. only one, untitled Tim Doyle, from a male creator. (The network also has straight-to-series Kenya Barris/Alec Baldwin sitcom).

Bilsing-Graham and Kreamer co-created, wrote and executive produced I Hate My Teenage Daughter, which aired on Fox from 2011-2013. The duo most recently served as consulting producers on NBC’s Trial & Error.