It is the time of year in the television industry when pilots are getting the green light and producers are trying their best to pitch new shows to the five broadcast networks. The odds are not necessarily in their favor, however, as most pilots don’t get picked up, and fewer of those get full season orders. The Hollywood Reporter published a list of more than 80 new TV projects that are starting to come together, and here are some that look the most promising.
For comedy, a few jump out. One is “Logline,” starring Portia de Rossi, who plays a succesful woman who finds herself having to go to work for her sister — a former beauty queen who is now the mayor of a big city. Many shows that are in the works don’t have working titles yet, hence them being called the this-project or the untitled-star show. Some of the big names include Mandy Moore, who will star as a newlywed starting out a new restaurant with her new husband; Sarah Silverman will be starring in a show loosely based on her life, about a woman who has to adjust to being single after getting out of a long-term relationship (perhaps an allusion to her past relationship with Jimmy Kimmel); and one I will definitely catch is the “Untitled Mindy Kaling comedy,” in which Kaling will play a doctor who is trying to figure out both her work life and her personal life.
Continuing along the lines of this season’s hits “Once Upon a Time” and “Grimm,” some of the proposed drama pilots include supernatural-ish plot lines: “Gotham” is about a cop who discovers a magical world within NYC and Roland Emmerich is pitching a show about a grad student who finds out he has the power to stop the forces of evil. But of course, there are still plenty of spy- and cop-based dramas that are in the mix.
“The Asset” will be about a female spy working out of the NYC CIA office; a new Kevin Williamson drama, which will star Kevin Bacon (hello, awesome), will be about a serial killer who creates a cult of serial killers using all sorts of technology and the agent who gets caught up in it; and I’m including the last one because Ryan Phillippe has been cast (alongside Chi McBride) in a show about a cop who rises from officer to eventual police commissioner.
For the entire list, check out The Hollywood Reporter.
