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pilot season

CBS Passes on 'Beverly Hills Cop' Series, Pilot May Be Shopped to Other Networks

by | May 13th, 2013

CBS has said no to a TV version of the 1984 Eddie Murphy action-comedy Beverly Hills Cop. The network commissioned a pilot for an hour-long procedural based on the film last year, but the show didn't make it on CBS's Fall 2013 schedule, which the network is unveiling this week. The pilot was created by The Shield's Shawn Ryan and it centered on Axel Foley's son, Aaron Foley (played by Brandon T. Jackson from Tropic Thunder and Big Momma's House 3), who is following in his father's footsteps by doing fish-out-of-water detective work on the west side of Los Angeles.

Eddie Murphy appeared in the pilot as a [...]

pilot season

Bill Lawrence Sells a Show to NBC and a Show to TBS

by | May 10th, 2013

Scrubs and Cougar Town creator Bill Lawrence sold two shows to different networks today. The first is Ground Floor, a workplace rom-com for TBS that he co-created with Greg Malins (How I Met Your Mother). The show stars Skylar Astin (Pitch Perfect), Briga Heelan (Cougar Town), John C. McGinley (Scrubs), James Earl, Rene Gube (writer for Up All Night), and stand-up Rory Scovel (Zach Stone). Deadline reports that the cable network has picked up the show for a 10-episode first season, set to debut in 2014.

Lawrence's second sitcom sale of the day is Undateable to NBC. Lawrence is only serving as executive producer on Undateable; the show [...]

pilot season

Fox Announces 5 Fall Comedies, Including Andy Samberg and Mike Schur's Cop Show 'Brooklyn Nine-Nine'

by | May 9th, 2013

Fox became the first of the big four networks to announce its fall lineup last night, and they picked up five new comedies, including Brooklyn Nine-Nine from Parks and Recreation co-creator Mike Schur and Andy Samberg. Other comedies ordered by the network are Seth MacFarlane's live-action series Dads (which was given an early six-episode pickup in January), military sitcom Enlisted, Chris Meloni's Surviving Jack, and Us & Them, a US adaptation of the popular UK series Gavin & Stacey. All shows have received orders for 13 episodes, with Dads' six episodes also upped to 13.

Notable pilots that weren't picked up include law firm sitcom To My Assistant, which featured Catherine [...]

pilot season

John Mulaney's Pilot Taping Was Last Night, and It Was Great

by | April 23rd, 2013

A taping for John Mulaney's NBC sitcom pilot Mulaney was held in Los Angeles last night, and it turned out very funny thanks to a talented cast and a tight, joke-packed script. I was in the live studio audience for the taping, and, while I can't share any details or spoilers about the pilot, I can say that the taping went well and NBC would be crazy not to pick it up for the fall.

While most TV pilots get bogged down with backstory, spending the bulk of their time on plot rather than giving the audience an idea of what a typical episode will look like, the Mulaney pilot dives [...]

pilot season

NBC Puts 'Girlfriend in a Coma' on Hold

by | March 29th, 2013

NBC and the creative team behind its comedy pilot Girlfriend in a Coma have decided to put the project on hold, Deadline reports. Based on the book of the same name by Douglas Coupland, the sitcom follows a woman in a coma for nearly two decades who wakes up to find she has a 17-year-old daughter (Miranda Cosgrove). Daniel Stern and Ann Cusack had signed on to play the coma patient's parents. The project ran into trouble earlier this month when Christina Ricci, who had been cast as the title character Karen, left the project after a table read. The network has had trouble recasting the [...]

pilot season

NBC Passes on 'Mulaney'

by | May 10th, 2013

Following a flurry of sitcom cancellations, NBC has opted not to pick up the pilot for SNL writer/stand-up John Mulaney's new sitcom Mulaney. An ensemble multi-camera show staring Mulaney, Martin Short, Elliott Gould, SNL's Nasim Pedrad, and stand-ups Griffin Newman and Seaton Smith and executive produced by Lorne Michaels, Mulaney seems like a slam-dunk on paper. I attended the pilot taping, and it was super funny, so it comes as a huge disappointment that NBC opted not to pick up the show. The pilots they did pick up had better be good.

pilot season

Adult Swim Announces New Projects from Paul Scheer, Tim & Eric, and More

by | May 10th, 2013

Cable network Adult Swim unveiled a roster of new shows, specials and pilots this morning. Most notable are Dan Harmon and Justin Roiland's new animated series Rick and Morty, which was announced previously and is expected to premiere sometime in 2014; Paul Scheer's high school drama parody pilot Filthy Sexy Teen$, which he co-created with NTSF:SD:SUV cohorts Jonathan Stern and Curtis Gwinn; and Tim & Eric's Bedtime Stories, a pilot for an anthology series from duo Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim that features Zach Galifianakis in the pilot.

See below for the full slate of programming announced today, which also includes frat guy ghosts, satanic dogs, and new specials from [...]

pilot season

Chuck Lorre and Anna Faris's Sitcom 'Mom' to Be Picked Up by CBS Today

by | May 8th, 2013

The networks won't be announcing which new shows they're picking up until next week, but one CBS sitcom pilot is already being given an early spot on the fall schedule. Deadline reports that CBS will be ordering the pilot Mom to series today. A multi-camera comedy starring Anna Faris as a single mother who gets sober in order to turn her life around while working as a waitress in Napa Valley, Mom was co-created and executive produced by CBS sitcom kingpin Chuck Lorre. The show is being eyed for the Monday 8pm post-How I Met Your Mother timeslot. Mom is the third comedy to get an early pickup [...]

pilot season

You Can Watch Amazon's 8 New Comedy Pilots Online Right Now

by | April 19th, 2013

Online retailer Amazon is making a big push to develop original TV content a la Netflix, and they've debuted a slate of eight original comedy pilots on their streaming service Amazon Instant Video today. Unlike regular TV networks, who film a bunch of pilots but don't let the public see them, Amazon is letting users see all of its pilots to decide which ones they will order to series based on viewer response. Here's a list of the eight pilots screening on Amazon today and summaries from the web site so that you know what your options are:

Alpha House Alpha House was written by Academy Award nominee [...]

pilot season

Rob Huebel Will Star in a New CBS Pilot with Patrick Warburton

by | March 28th, 2013

Childrens Hospital and Human Giant star Rob Huebel has a new show in development. Deadline reports that Huebel has been cast as one of the two leads, alongside Patrick Warburton, in a new CBS pilot called Jacked Up. Written by Greg Malins (How I Met Your Mother, Friends) and directed by Fred Savage, the pilot follows a recently retired baseball player named Jack (Warburton) who sets out to find a wife with help from his friend Barry (Huebel), who's divorced and owns a sports bar. Huebel also has a potentially-recurring guest spot lined up in ABC's pilot Bad Management. The Warburton/Huebel pairing sounds like a fun one [...]

pilot season

CBS Orders Comedy Series Starring Robin Williams, Will Arnett, and Anna Faris

by | May 10th, 2013

CBS today announced that they've picked up four new comedy series for the fall. Here's the rundown on the new shows:

Mom comes from co-creator Chuck Lorre and stars Anna Faris as a newly-sober single mother working as a waitress in Napa Valley. The Millers comes from My Name Is Earl creator Greg Garcia and stars Will Arnett as a newly-divorced guy whose parents move in with him. Crazy Ones is a father-daughter workplace comedy created by David E. Kelley that stars Robin Williams and Sarah Michelle Gellar. The network's final new comedy, We Are Men, stars Chris Smith, Kal Penn, Tony Shalhoub, and Jerry O'Connell as four guys [...]

pilot season

NBC Orders Three New Comedies, No Decision Yet on John Mulaney and Craig Robinson's Pilots

by | May 9th, 2013

NBC began announcing today which TV pilots the network is picking up for the fall, and they've ordered four new comedies so far. One of those sitcoms is The Michael J. Fox Show, which NBC picked up for 22 episodes last August following a multi-network bidding war. Michael J. Fox will be joined on the fall schedule by three new series that were announced today: About a Boy, based on the book/Hugh Grant movie of the same name; The Family Guide, starring J.K. Simmon and Parker Posey; and Sean Saves the World, starring Sean Hayes and created by Victor Fresco (Andy Richter Controls the Universe).

NBC also announced today [...]

pilot season

9 Comedy Pilots We Hope Get Picked Up This Year

by | May 7th, 2013

Next week, the TV networks are set to unveil their new fall lineups, officially announcing which shows are coming back and which new shows will get to see the light of day. Networks always develop a ton of pilots, only choosing a few to go to series, and Deadline reports that execs at all the networks are "very happy" with their comedy pilots this time around.  With shows from Rebel Wilson, Andy Samberg, and John Mulaney in the mix, there are a lot of high-profile comedy pilots this season, and we whittled them down to nine shows that we hope make it through the pilot season gauntlet. And just [...]

pilot season

Nasim Pedrad Joins John Mulaney's NBC Pilot

by | April 3rd, 2013

SNL castmember Nasim Pedrad may be jumping to another NBC show this fall. THR reports that Pedrad has joined the cast of The John Mulaney Show, a high-profile pilot that is being produced by her SNL boss Lorne Michaels and was created by SNL writer/stand-up John Mulaney as a starring vehicle for himself.

If The John Mulaney Show gets picked up for the fall, Nasim Pedrad, who is SNL's longest-serving female castmember with four seasons under her belt, will leave the show, along with Mulaney who's been writing there for the past five seasons. So, unless NBC screws up really bad and doesn't pick up this promising show, [...]

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