Jonah Lotan (Generation Kill) has landed the male lead in ABC’s drama pilot Pan Am. The project, from Sony Pictures TV, writer Jack Orman and director Thomas Schlamme, is a sexy soap set against the Jet Age that revolves around pilots and flight attendants working at the iconic Pan Am airlines in the 1960s. Lotan…

Part of a series that takes an analytical look at the current broadcast pilot season and some of its trends and heroes. Once upon a time, there was a pilot season ruled by classic fairy tales and characters, real-life stories and books, with a dash of iconic brands and foreign formats. Projects based on source…

Ray Richmond, who is contributing to Deadline TV coverage, is taking an analytical and irreverent look at the recurring themes in these year’s crop of broadcast pilots. In assessing the 79 series pilots that are competing for primetime slots at the five broadcast networks during the 2011-2012 season, a few trends…

In her first major TV gig, Christina Ricci has closed a deal to star in ABC’s drama pilot Pan Am. The project, from Sony Pictures TV, writer Jack Orman and director Thomas Schlamme, is a sexy soap set against the Jet-Age about pilots and flight attendants working at the iconic Pan Am airline in the 1960s. Ricci…

Megan Dodds has landed the female lead opposite Ethan Hawke in Fox’s drama pilot Exit Strategy, a high-octane procedural about a team of 5 experts associated with the CIA led by Eric Shaw (Hawke) who are deployed when a CIA operation goes bad to extract the ones involved before it’s too late. Dodds will play Dr…

EXCLUSIVE: Veteran character actor Jay O. Sanders has been tapped for a major new role on the final season of Law & Order: Criminal Intent on USA. He will play the new captain of the Major Case Squad and boss to Robert Goren (Vincent D’Onofrio) and Alexandra Eames (Kathryn Erbe). Sanders will appear in all eight…