TV

Pilot Pirate: NBC, ABC and Fox pick-ups and no-gos

It’s been a flurry of news from the TV networks this past week and more announcements are coming as ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC and the CW present their fall schedules in the coming week. AfterEllen.com takes a look at what made the cut and what gay-friendly projects won’t see the light of day. First up, NBC.

NBC had the most buzz-worthy pilot this season in Wonder Woman, which failed to make the cut. New network boss Robert Greenblatt told TVLine that the Adrianne Palicki remake from David E. Kelley didn’t feel like the right take on the beloved character.

Of the network’s 22 pilots, NBC ordered 11 – five dramas and six comedies — and renewed Parenthood, Chuck and Harry’s Law. However, Law & Order: Los Angeles, The Event and Outsourced were all canceled. Here’s a look at the pilots that were ordered to series at NBC:

ÔÇó The Playboy Club, a drama starring Amber Heard as a newbie Playboy Bunny who navigates the mob — and the politics and drama with her fellow bunnies — in1960s Chicago. Leah Reneee Cudmore co-stars as closeted lesbian Bunny Alice. NBC slated it for Mondays this fall at 10 p.m.

ÔÇó Up All Night, a comedy starring Christina Applegate, Will Arnett and Maya Rudolph revolves around a working mother (Applegate) and her stay-at-home husband (Arnett) who never thought she’d be a mom. The show air Wednesdays at 8 p.m., followed by –

ÔÇó Free Agents, a comedy starring Hank Azaria and Kathryn Hahn as two quirky co-workers who are on the rebound. Buffy‘s Anthony Head co-stars. It airs Wednesdays at 8:30 p.m.

ÔÇó Whitney, a romantic comedy starring stand-up comic Whitney Cummings, will air at 9:30 p.m. on Thursdays after The Office. You’ll notice that NBC’s fall schedule, announced Sunday, doesn’t include 30 Rock; the comedy will return mid-season to accommodate star Tina Fey‘s pregnancy.

ÔÇó Prime Suspect, a remake of the Helen Mirren miniseries starring Maria Bello as the hard-nosed detective who has to make it in a New York precinct dominated by men. NBC scheduled it for Thursdays at 10 p.m.

ÔÇó Grimm, a dark cop drama that’s set in a world in which the Brothers Grimm fairy tale characters exist, will follow Chuck‘s fifth and final season Fridays at 9 p.m.

ÔÇó Smash — dubbed “Glee for adults” — features an ensemble cast including Katharine McPhee and Debra Messing as they prepare to launch a Broadway musical revolving around Marilyn Monroe. NBC will launch the drama mid-season.

Pilots picked up to series but not yet on the schedule include:

ÔÇó Awake, a drama from Lone Star creator Kyle Killen, stars Jason Isaacs and Cherry Jones in the story of a detective who can’t let go of any aspect of his life after his wife dies in a car crash. It’s a high-concept procedural hybrid in which Isaacs leads parallel lives, one in which is wife is alive, the other in which she’s dead.

ÔÇóAre You There Vodka? It’s Me, Chelsea, starring Laura Prepon from That ’70s Show. The comedy, which is based on the book of the same name by Chelsea Handler, will feature Glee‘s Dot Jones as a lesbian bully.

ÔÇó Best Friends Forever, a romantic comedy starring Lennon Parham and Jessica St. Clair as a woman and her live-in boyfriend who are forced to deal with her best friend who moves in after a divorce.

ÔÇóBent, a comedy starring Amanda Peet as a single mom who tries hard not to fall for the sexy surfer-dude contractor she hires to redo her kitchen (David Walton). Arrested Develoment‘s Jeffrey Tambor co-stars.

Among the pilots that failed to make the cut:

ÔÇó 17th Precinct, The so-called Battlestar Galactica reunionfrom Ron Moore and staring Jamie Bamber and Tricia Helfer in a police drama that’s set in a world where magic is real.

ÔÇó Help Wanted, which starred Sarah Paulson as a woman with relationship issues who guides the newly unemployed through career counseling.

ÔÇó I Hate That I Love You, the comedy in which a straight couple introduces their lesbian friends to one another that results in attraction and a pregnancy.

Next page: A look at ABC’s pilots!

ABC’s new programming is heavy on kick-ass women, led by Charlie’s Angels, spies and stewardesses in Pan Am and Dallas drama queens in Good Christian Belles. Out of the network’s 23 pilots, ABC ordered 12 to series — seven dramas and five comedies, as well as renewing its Dana Delany starrer Body of Proof and romantic comedy Happy Endings. However, seven shows were canceled: Brothers and Sisters, Elizabeth Mitchell’s V, Caroline DhavernasOff the Map, Julie Benz’s No Ordinary Family, Mr. Sunshine, Detroit 1-8-7 and Better With You.

Here’s a look at the pilots that were ordered to series at ABC; the network will announce its schedule this week.

ÔÇó Charlie’s Angels, starring Minka Kelly, Rachael Taylor and Annie Ilonzeh. The update of the 1970s classic is set in Miami and counts former big-screen Angel Drew Barrymore as a producer.

ÔÇó Last Man Standing, a comedy starring Tim Allen as guy fighting for his manhood in a world — and family — increasingly dominated by women.

ÔÇó Pan Am, starring Christina Ricci as a beatnik stewardess in 1960s New York. The drama revolving around a group of airline pilots, officials and, yes, stewardesses is as much a spy thriller as it is a soapy drama.

ÔÇó Apartment 23, a comedy starring Krysten Ritter as the worst roommate ever for a Midwestern girl (Dreama Walker) fresh off the bus in New York.

ÔÇó Good Christian Belles, the Desperate Housewives in Dallas soap starring Popular’s Leslie Bibb as a former mean girl who returns home to Dallas where she must contend with the women she tortured in high school, including Kristin Chenoweth – squee! – who is now an all-powerful ringleader of karma. One thing ABC didn’t go for: The original title of Good Christian Bitches.

ÔÇó Revenge, a drama in which Emily VanCamp stars as a woman who moves to the Hamptons.

ÔÇó Once Upon a Time, stars Ginnifer Goodwin as Snow White and Jennifer Morrison as her long-lost daughter. It’s a time-travel drama set in a town that’s trapped in time after a curse from the Evil Queen (Lana Parrilla).

ÔÇó Scandal (previously known as Damage Control), is a drama from Shonda Rhimes (Grey’s Anatomy) that stars Kerry Washington as a professional fixer. It’s a legal thriller that’s high on drama and low on actual courtroom scenes.

ÔÇó The River, a drama that follows a crew searching for a missing adventurer in the Amazon. Eloise Mumford co-stars.

ÔÇó Work It, a comedy in which two out of work car salesmen dress as women in a bid to land jobs as pharmaceutical reps. If it sounds familiar it should. (See the 1980s Tom hanks sitcom Bosom Buddies.) Amaury Nolasco and Ben Koldyke co-star.

ÔÇó Suburgatory stars Jane Levy as a New Yorker who moves to the ‘burbs. Cheryl Hines and Alan Tudyk (Firefly) co-star.

ÔÇó Man Up stars Chris Moynihan in a comedy that examines what it takes to survive as a modern man, as told through his best friends and the women in his life.

Among the pilots that failed to make the cut:

ÔÇó Georgetown, a soap that followed a group of up-and-comers in Washington, D.C., that included a lesbian couple that was neither pregnant nor coming out.

ÔÇó Grace, a drama from Krista Vernoff (Grey’s Anatomy, Private Practice) set in the world of professional dance and co-starring Abigail Spencer.

ÔÇó Hallelujah, a drama that revolved around a stranger who brought change to a small Tennessee town and restored its faith that was interspersed with songs from a Gospel choir.

Next page: A look at Fox’s pilots!

Fox, which dominates the fall with American Idol, had the least room on its schedule. The network ordered 16 pilots — including two animated comedies — and of the remaining 14 picked up four — two dramas, including a mystery drama from J.J. Abrams, and two comedies including one starring Zooey Deschanel.

Among Fox’s cancelations were the Jennifer Beals starrer The Chicago Code; Breaking In with Christian Slater, Traffic Light, Human Target and Lie to Me.

Here’s a look at the pilots that were ordered to series at Fox; the network will announce its schedule this week.

ÔÇó Alcatraz, from J.J. Abrams and starring Lost‘s Jorge Garcia, ER‘s Parminder Nagra, revolves around Alcatraz and a team investigating the mysterious reappearance of its 1960s inhabitants in the present. Liz Sarnoff co-wrote the script and executive produces.

ÔÇó The Finder, a Bones spinoff starring Saffron Burrows, Geoff Stults and Michael Clarke Duncan. The pilot aired this season as a regular episode of Bones and will likely help fill in the holes created by co-star Emily Deschanel‘s pregnancy.

ÔÇó I Hate My Teenage Daughter, starring Katie Finnernan and Jamie Pressly as two women who have daughters like the girls who once picked on them in high school.

ÔÇó The New Girl (previously known as Chicks and Dicks), stars indie queen Zooey Deschanel as a quirky teacher who learns how to read men from her three new roommates: a man-child, player and cynic.

Among the pilots that failed to make the cut:

ÔÇó Iceland, a remarkably sweet comedy starring Zach Gilford and Kerry Biche who move forward after the loss of a loved one. The pilot script included a fresh and touching lesbian coming out story line.

ÔÇó Weekends at Bellevue, a drama starring Janet McTeer and Lauren Ambrose that revolves around the psychiatrist in charge of the weekend shift at the Bellevue Hospital psych ward.

Which of the series orders look good to you?

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