Latest in pilot season

The ongoing coronavirus health crisis is giving broadcast pilot season a jolt that might be felt long after the global pandemic is over. Following the unprecedented Hollywood shutdown over the COVID-19 outbreak, which left all but one broadcast pilot in limbo, I hear the networks have ordered at least one backup…

This story is a followup to Pilot Season 2020 In Turmoil Due To Coronavirus As Pilots Get Pushed published Friday morning.  When the dust settled Friday night after two days of dozens of production shutdowns and postponements coming at a frantic pace amid deepening coronavirus crisis, there were just a couple…

How is this for tragic irony? For decades, network executives have been trying to break out of the traditional development cycle with little success. It may take a cataclysmic event like the current global coronavirus pandemic to finally do that. The fast-spreading outbreak has shut down or postponed production on…

EXCLUSIVE: CBS is adding a twist to the classic TV character of Thomas Magnum in his return to television. I hear CBS’ intention is to pursue a non-white actor for the title character in its Magnum P.I reboot, a role originally played by Tom Selleck. Additionally, I hear Lacey in CBS’ reboot of Cagney and Lacey, also…

With the bulk of broadcast pilots picked up, the networks and studios are drawing up their casting wish lists, crossing their fingers and sending out offers to their top picks. As usual, there are a few names that keep cropping up. Raking in early offers are The Walking Dead star Lauren Cohan, Rosario Dawson as well…

The first batches of offers for the 2018 broadcast pilots are out, and one surprising name has stood out, The Walking Dead star Lauren Cohan. The actress, who plays Maggie on the hit AMC zombie drama, has been very sought after with close to half-dozen offers so far. The development may come as a shock to TWD fans…

As we rang in 2016, along with Happy New Year comes Happy Pilot Season. January marks the ‎beginning of the crucial final stage in the broadcast development season when pilots are ordered, cast, filmed and tested before the networks make their series picks for next season. It also marks the re-launch of Deadline’s…

The Times They Are a-Changin’ in the broadcasting TV business. We’re in the first leg of pilot season but it feels a little bit like May — there are pilot orders, but there are also a ton of series orders, and everything in-between. The signs were already there in the fall — an unusually high volume of series pickups…

Fox chairman Kevin Reilly opened his executive session with a R.I.P. sign “Fox  Pilot Season 1986-2013” and stated that the network will not adhere to the traditional pilot season starting this year. “We are going to be bypassing pilot season,” he said, later referring to the old system as “a welfare state.” “The…

Note: This story was originally posted late last night. It is deja vu all over again. Exactly three years ago, Fox pulled a shocker by canceling an OK-rated, promising freshman workplace comedy with a big star, leaving its producers and just about everyone else shocked. That series was the Kelsey Grammer starrer Back…

From Celebrity Rehab stars to pilot leads — that’s the career trajectory for Eric Roberts and Tom Sizemore, who landed major roles on pilots this season: Roberts is the star of ABC’s dance drama Grace, and Sizemore co-stars opposite Ethan Hawke in Fox’s Exit Strategy. (Sizemore was a cast member of the third season of…