Hopeful Pilots

The networks will be announcing their fall season schedules the week of May 17. In addition to learning which existing shows will be getting the ax and which will live to see another season, they will announce what new shows they will be picking up. I browsed the lists of the TV pilots each network has cooking that will be vying for pickups in a few weeks. Here are the geeky hopefuls that caught my eye.

"No Ordinary Family" is an ABC drama that is described as a live-action version of The Incredibles. Michael Chiklis is starring. Superhero family with Michael Chiklis? Yes, please!

There is also an untitled crime drama in the works for ABC which stars Katee Sackhoff as a detective working with a disgraced ex-cop to solve both the mystery that disgraced him as well as, of course, crimes. It seems it will be filmed in Boston. The plot doesn't sound that original, but I'm happy to see Katee Sackhoff popping up in a prominent role again.

CBS is trying out a "Hawaii Five-O" remake starring Daniel Dae Kim (fresh off of "Lost") and Alex O'Loughlin (Moonlight). Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman ("Fringe", "Alias", etc.) are producing. Sounds like a good team to me, and I'm happy to have a new show shooting on the island. I like keeping an eye out for places that I recognize (silly L.A. people get spoiled--it's exciting!).

Ben Stiller's production company is making a comedy for FOX called "The Station" about a CIA operative and his team in a South America banana republic trying to install a new dictator. Sounds like a fresh idea for a comedy, so I'm intrigued.

At NBC, there's a pilot written by J.J. Abrams and Josh Reims called "Undercovers" about retired CIA agents, now husband and wife, who are reactivated and have to work together for the first time. I'm always game to see what J.J. Abrams has planned, and it sounds like it may have a lighter tone than "Fringe".

On the CW, there's a show brewing called "Betwixt", based on the teen novel of the same name about three teenagers who as supernatural "changelings" are tasked with saving humans from evil. It may turn out too CW-y (teen-ish?) for me, but I always did have a soft spot for shows about people with superpowers.

Last but not least (hopefully) is "Nikita", also on the CW, an update of the 1990 movie La Femme Nikita about a convicted felon who is trained to be a top secret spy and assassin. The plot will revolve around both the original Nikita, who has now gone rogue, and a new "Nikita" being trained to replace her (and, I presume, hunt her down). Maggie Q is cast as Nikita, and if the show is picked up, she will be the first Asian female to have a lead role in a network show (Really? Apparently.). She's actually half-Asian (that's my hapa girl!), but it's close enough.


So there's not too much new stuff that I picked out, but once we see what shows actually get picked up in a few weeks, I'm sure I'll have more to report and discuss.


******
Source: links from this LA Times Show Tracker blog page