2008 Woodie Awards
Spring TV Pilots Pump Hits for the Fall
Lisa Panzerilla
Issue date: 3/25/04 Section: Opinion
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It's the reality shows that are bunching up at the top of the ratings.
But networks continue to show hope for scripted shows especially at this time of year.
Pilot episodes for more than 100 proposed new series are being completed this month as part of the annual effort that will result in rosters of new fall shows.
Only about a third of them will make it; a few others may be held for midseason replacements. All the others will disappear.
And while some new shows are a lock for the fall, including a fourth version of Law & Order a third CSI, set in New York; and the "Friends" spin-off "Joey," here's a look at some other pilots that may or may not fly into fall schedules: Actors new to series TV: Macaulay Culkin is featured in a proposed NBC comedy about a brother and sister reunited after growing up in different foster homes. Jeff Goldblum is a financial consultant in therapy, also for NBC.
Lewis Black of The Daily Show stars as a high school principal in a proposed ABC sitcom. Chris O'Donnell stars in the CBS comedy The Amazing Westerbergs. Ricki Lake stars as a single mom who runs a bar in a new project from the creators of Cheers, for CBS.
Marissa Jaret Winokur, the Tony-winning star of Hairspray on Broadway, will join French Stewart, Laurie Metcalf and Brenda Vaccaro in The Furst Family for ABC, an adaptation of the British hit The Royale Family.A more visible British adaptation will be the U.S. version of the acclaimed import The Office. Steve Carell of The Daily Show is in the version by NBC, who fumbled the Americanization of Coupling last season.
Nick Lachey and Jessica Simpson, whose variety show drew 11.4 million viewers Sunday, star in separate ABC projects. He's in Hot Mamma, starring Gina Gershon as a wedding planner; she's in an untitled sitcom about a pop star turned TV newsmagazine reporter.
Odd jobs: Besides Hot Mom, wedding planning is the business in the ABC drama DeMarco Affairs starring Selma Blair and Sabrina Lloyd. Another rising business in TV pilots is nannies. Gerald McRaney returns in a comedy called Commando Nanny for the WB. A drama about nannies in upscale New York, Gramercy Park features Samaire Armstrong and Milo Ventimiglia.
But networks continue to show hope for scripted shows especially at this time of year.
Pilot episodes for more than 100 proposed new series are being completed this month as part of the annual effort that will result in rosters of new fall shows.
Only about a third of them will make it; a few others may be held for midseason replacements. All the others will disappear.
And while some new shows are a lock for the fall, including a fourth version of Law & Order a third CSI, set in New York; and the "Friends" spin-off "Joey," here's a look at some other pilots that may or may not fly into fall schedules: Actors new to series TV: Macaulay Culkin is featured in a proposed NBC comedy about a brother and sister reunited after growing up in different foster homes. Jeff Goldblum is a financial consultant in therapy, also for NBC.
Lewis Black of The Daily Show stars as a high school principal in a proposed ABC sitcom. Chris O'Donnell stars in the CBS comedy The Amazing Westerbergs. Ricki Lake stars as a single mom who runs a bar in a new project from the creators of Cheers, for CBS.
Marissa Jaret Winokur, the Tony-winning star of Hairspray on Broadway, will join French Stewart, Laurie Metcalf and Brenda Vaccaro in The Furst Family for ABC, an adaptation of the British hit The Royale Family.A more visible British adaptation will be the U.S. version of the acclaimed import The Office. Steve Carell of The Daily Show is in the version by NBC, who fumbled the Americanization of Coupling last season.
Nick Lachey and Jessica Simpson, whose variety show drew 11.4 million viewers Sunday, star in separate ABC projects. He's in Hot Mamma, starring Gina Gershon as a wedding planner; she's in an untitled sitcom about a pop star turned TV newsmagazine reporter.
Odd jobs: Besides Hot Mom, wedding planning is the business in the ABC drama DeMarco Affairs starring Selma Blair and Sabrina Lloyd. Another rising business in TV pilots is nannies. Gerald McRaney returns in a comedy called Commando Nanny for the WB. A drama about nannies in upscale New York, Gramercy Park features Samaire Armstrong and Milo Ventimiglia.