To round out the network portion of our look at upcoming pilots, it’s the “little guys” themselves, Fox and The CW. I don’t suppose they really are the little guys anymore but even though they have highly rated shows and have outperformed some of the “Big 3” in recent years (looking at you NBC), they still have that “sitting at the kid’s table” air about them. Give them another five-ten years and if things keep going down the same path, we’ll laugh at the days we thought The CW was just home to teen angst.
As for their pilots, it’s a little strange. The CW doesn’t have that many at all, and almost every one looks interesting whereas Fox has quite a few and almost none of them appeal to me in the least bit. Could this be the year I become a CW (I think they need to drop the awkward ‘the’) fan beyond one show? Oooh, mystery!
Let’s get on to these pilots shall we?
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Because of Star Trek, Fringe, and Alias, I can forgive Alex Kurtzman for Hawaii Five-0. He will go further in that forgiveness if his project with Phillip Iscove and Roberto Orci proves to be worth anything.
Orlando Jones is one of those guys that you see and you can’t quite place him but you know you’ve seen him everywhere. His biggest project was probably MadTV back in the late 90’s and he’s taken a tour around Hollywood since then. Now he’s signed on as a detective in this modern day version of the classic story. Joining him are Dexter actress Katia Winter and as Ichabod Crane, Tom Mison.
As we’ve seen with Grimm and Once Upon a Time, modern day versions of “children’s” stories are doing pretty well so hopefully the Headless Horseman can join the ranks this year on Fox.
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Speaking of Star Trek, Bones (Karl Urban) has himself a new role in another J.J. Abrams project. This time however, it’s a Fox drama/buddy-cop show about members of the LAPD teaming up with androids. The premise seems a little old but if it gets picked up to series, I’ll withhold judgement for at least two or three episodes. It’s one of those things that could be really good, or incredibly lame.
However, one good reason to check it out if it does make it to series? Lili Taylor.
I really enjoyed her performance in Hemlock Grove and look forward to her returning to my TV full time since Six Feet Under.
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I think we all know there was no way I was going to leave out Andy Samberg’s comedy pilot for Fox. So far it’s just known as “Untitled Mike Schur/Dan Goor Project” but with the name power that Samberg would bring in, one has to imagine this will easily make it to series and get a proper title along the way.
It isn’t just Samberg that makes this pilot look interesting. For me, the most intriguing name would be Chelsea Peretti. A comedian who has been a part of some of my favorite shows (Parks and Rec, Louie, Portlandia…) as well as a hugely popular podcast, it really was only a matter of time until Peretti showed up a bit more full time.
Add in Terry Crews, Joe Lo Truglio, and Andre Braugher as the Captain of the group of NYPD detectives and this sitcom looks to be rather appealing.
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“So there was this British series back in the 70’s and it was about this group of kids who had different superpowers and they fight evil.”
“Oh so like X-Men?”
I can’t imagine the people behind the The Tomorrow People pilot for CW haven’t had that exact conversation. That being said, I’d still watch it. Executive Producers on this one are all from shows that I have watched and really enjoyed including Greg Berlanti from Arrow and Phil Klemmer from Chuck.
Oh and speaking of Arrow, if you thought that dashing young man to the left there looked familiar, it’s because he bears a striking resemblance to his cousin, Arrow star, Stephen Amell. Robbie Amell is the lead role in The Tomorrow People and as usual with CW, is surrounded by plenty of other young and pretty people.
Forget young and pretty though, I’m looking most forward to Mark Pellegrino. Yes, that Mark Pellegrino.
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[quote]About an epic romance between a human girl and an alien boy when he and eight others of his kind are integrated into a suburban high school 10 years after they landed on Earth and were consigned to an internment camp.[/quote]
That’s the logline. No, really, that’s it. How anyone could read that and immediately not want to see how on Earth that ends up, well I don’t know that anyone could. Seems a bit Kyle XY with a little historical injustice mixed in for good measure. That’s just enough weird for me to be intrigued. Plus it’s got Matt Lanter, voice of Anakin Skywalker in The Clone Wars as well as Harry Osborne on Ultimate Spider-Man and that’s a good thing.
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It’s Anthony Head! Giles! Anthony Head!
Need I say more?
Oh, well in that case… Anthony Head is set to play King Clarkson, a man who is just trying to find his son a queen by holding a lottery. Because we all know – true love is found most often when your number is called.
Okay so it isn’t the greatest sounding premise if you aren’t a girl of the teenage variety, but come on, it’s Anthony Head! As a king just like in Merlin. You best believe, I will watch this.
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So there you have it, the pilots from Fox and The CW that I think look promising and you should keep an eye out for! Now that we’ve finished up the networks, next up we’ll take a tour around cable and see what’s in store.
Grizzly Bomb 