TV pilot season...

... and by the looks of it, NBC is full of fail yet again. All of the networks seem to be efforting at some pretty mundane Friends/Coupling-like shows, but there are a few interesting shows there. Of particular interest to the sj nation, on NBC nonetheless, is "Beach Lane," in which "Matthew Broderick runs a struggling small town newspaper." Hmmm.

Others are just laughable, like the CW's "Hellcats" ("Set in the world of competitive cheerleading") and ABC's "Wright vs. Wrong" ("Revolves around a sexy conservative femme pundit"). Ugh.

The rest of the lineup: http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=chart_pass&charttype=chart_pilotwatch2010&ref=ssp

 

With "Freshmen," I'm so done with the "group of young professionals in the same profession face struggles of fitting in" line. It's why I don't watch "The Deep End."

Also because the commercials looked like crap.

 

I dunno. That was one of the pilots that kind of intrigued me. Could go either way - epic or epic fail. Of course, since Sorkin's not writing it (I'm a huge West Wing fan), it'll probably be crap.

 

I can't see how "Outsourced" will be anything but cheap cliches.

 

Ditto "Funny in Farsi" and "Nevermind Nirvana," though the latter's title made me think it was a Kurt Cobain-based comedy. Now THAT could be fun.

 

Ha! What WOULDN'T be humorous in that situation?

 

I think board favorite Sarah Chalke is starring in The Freshmen.

 

I feel like I almost shouldn't bother to watch any network shows, because inevitably, they'll just get canceled within a few weeks. So why should I bother getting involved in watching a show if it's just going to be gone?

The only network show I watch now is Lost, and that was because I got hooked with the pilot episode with the opening scene plane crash. That said to me that this show will be around for a while. Before that, it was the West Wing and ER, both of which I found interesting with the commericials. There seemed to be a commitment to keeping these shows around.

If networks want me to watch, they have to show a little faith that the shows will last a little while.

 

wtf

interested

nobody replaces james garner in this role

 

I do find it amazing that while the networks may combine for a couple decent new shows every year, TBS, TNT, USA and HBO and Showtime are churning out good new shows regularly.

The Closer, White Collar, Psych, Burn Notice are all better than most of the network shows.

 

you've got to love pilot season - producers pitch an idea, maybe accept a script, maybe they tell the producer to go ahead and shoot the thing, then they either put it on the schedule, hold it for mid-season or dump it. And even then pilots that "make it" are often re-tooled with new cast members and more often than not the guy whose idea it was in the first place is no longer a part of the project.
Hope Hawaii 5-0 is good. Now if they screw with the theme song - same with Rockford - they might as well chuck the idea altogether.

Agree about the cable nets. I'm trying to think of the last USA, FX or TNT show that didn't get a second season - Even the shows that don't get a second season at least are fully formed ideas and usually all in the can by the time the show's first episode premieres. I don't think its a coincidence.

 

I think it all started when NBC passed on Monk, which became a much bigger hit than anything NBC has had in a long, long time, with the possible exceptions of SVU and ER.