Tray tables in their upright, locked position. This is pilot season and we’re expecting turbulence.
Over the next two weeks, the TV networks will unveil their fall primetime slates for advertisers in New York.
It’s all guesswork until then, but ratings leader CBS probably will make the fewest additions, just three or four. NBC, which desperately needs a hit comedy, may add the most new series.
ABC scored with “Lost” and “Desperate Housewives” and hot producers are eager to do business. Fox has holes to fill, given that it coasted on the strength of “American Idol” this season. The WB must decide whether to renew the engaging but ratings-weak “Jack & Bobby.” And replacing “Star Trek: Enterprise” is a priority for UPN.
For Hollywood hopefuls, it is a time of nailbiting anxiety. And no wonder: After all that time in pitch sessions and sound stages, the odds are still 10-to-1 against landing a primetime slot. Here’s a peak at some pending deals.
ABC
COMEDIES: Among the stars with deals pending are Bernadette Peters, Fred Savage (“The Wonder Years”), Heather Graham (“Scrubs”), Marilu Henner (“Taxi”), Julie Bowen (“Ed”), Emilio Estevez (“The Breakfast Club”), Lenny Clarke (“It’s All Relative”), Annie Potts (“Designing Women”), Tom Arnold (“Roseanne”) and Melissa Etheridge. One intriguing pilot order casts Peter Dinklage (“The Station Agent”) as the teacher of gifted students.
DRAMAS: “thirtysomething” producers (Marshall Herskovitz and Ed Zwick) pitch an hour called ” 1/4life,” about roommates in their 20s; Geena Davis leads an hour, “Commander in Chief,” about the first female president; John Wells has a forensics hour, “The Evidence,” that would star Orlando Jones (“Father of the Pride”). Producers Shaun Cassidy and Thomas Schlamme offer “Invasion,” about strange doings in a Florida town after a hurricane. “Sex and the City’s” Kristin Davis is a suburban private eye in “Soccer Moms.” And the prolific J.J. Abrams (“Alias,” “Lost”) offers “Pros and Cons,” about con artists working for the FBI.
CBS
COMEDIES: So long, “Everybody Loves Raymond,” hello, some combination of the following: Jenna Elfman in “Everything I Know About Men,” cloned from a British hit; Julia Louis-Dreyfus as a divorced middle-aged mom in “Old Christine”; Tiffany Thiessen as a young mom in “Stroller Wars”; James Van Der Beek (“Dawson’s Creek”) as the third wheel, a divorced guy with married friends in “Three.” Cynthia Watros (“Titus”), Susie Essman (“Curb Your Enthusiasm”), Stockard Channing (“The West Wing”) also have half-hours in the running.
DRAMAS: Contenders include “3 Lbs.,” featuring Dylan McDermott as a brain surgeon; “Conviction,” with Sally Field as a prosecutor reconstructing crimes; David Mamet’s “The Unit,” about special-forces soldiers; Jennifer Love Hewitt as a psychic and a Jerry Bruckheimer hour, “American Crime,” about a prosecutor who’s also a new mother.
FOX
COMEDIES: Vying for slots are a Barenaked Ladies variety show; Melissa Joan Hart (“Sabrina, the Teenage Witch”) in a sitcom about blue-collar Boston chums; Kristen Johnston (“3rd Rock from the Sun”) as a suddenly single mother to a 13-year-old boy; “Kitchen Confidential,” based on the tell-all book about the culinary world; Brooke Shields in “Used Car Smell,” set in an auto dealership; “Peep Show,” based on the Brit-hit of the same name about roommates and what’s inside their heads, and Alicia Silverstone (“Miss Match”) as “Queen B,” a successful woman with an image problem.
DRAMAS: “Amy Coyne,” from the producers of “SportsNight” and “Malcolm in the Middle,” about a woman who inherits her father’s sports agency, sounds smart. Contenders include David Boreanaz (“Angel”) as a forensic anthropologist in “Bones” (based on the “Brennan” novels); Elizabeth Rohm (“Law & Order”) and Charles Mesure (“Boogeyman”) as a doctor and a fallen priest who investigate religious phenomenon in “Briar and Graves”; “Reunion,” in which each episode covers one year in a 20-year span in the lives of a group of high school friends; Luke Perry (“Beverly Hills 90210”) and Jason Gedrick (“Boomtown”) as lottery winners, and Joely Fisher (“Ellen”) in a fertility clinic.
NBC
COMEDY: Where is the next “Cosby,” “Seinfeld” or “Friends”? Could it be “All In,” starring Janeane Garofalo (“The Truth About Cats and Dogs”) as a professional poker player mom? Or “Dante,” based on the “Leon” series of Budweiser ads, about a pro football player (Morris Chestnut)? Seth Green in what sounds like a “Friends” clone? Tina Fey (“Saturday Night Live”) in a sitcom about the head writer for a variety show? Or “NoTORIous,” starring Tori Spelling in a fictionalized version of her life?
DRAMA: Aiden Quinn plays an Episcopal priest with a family – and regular conversations with Jesus – in “Book of Daniel.” Benjamin Bratt stars in a Bruckheimer hour, “E-Ring” – think “West Wing” at the Pentagon. An alien species from Venus invades Earth in “Fathom.” Ming Na (“ER”) and Alfre Woodard are part of the ensemble at another fertility clinic. Idris Elba (“The Wire”) leads “World of Trouble,” about investigations into violence against Americans abroad. And Donnie Wahlberg (“Boomtown”), Bobby Cannavale (“Kingpin”) and Tony Lo Bianco (“The French Connection”) star as cops, based on “The French Connection.”
UPN
COMEDY: “Everybody Hates Chris,” a half-hour loosely based on Chris Rock’s life with the comedian as a producer; “20 Things to Do Before You’re 30,” about twentysomethings; “Friends in the AM,” three female talk-radio hosts; AJ Calloway (“106 & Park”), Kel Mitchell (“Kenan & Kel”) and Justine Bateman (“Family Ties”) in a show about a late-night talk-show host.
DRAMA: In “Crazy,” Lara Flynn Boyle (“The Practice) plays a psychiatrist; in “The Studio,” Gina Gershon works at a movie studio; in “South Beach,” Vanessa L. Williams (“Boomtown”) and others live in Miami. In “Triangle,” a doctor searches the Caribbean for the wife who vanished on their honeymoon. And in “Wildlife,” young people in Los Angeles’ Silver Lake area search for themselves.
WB
COMEDY: Jane Leeves (“Frasier”) and French Stewart (“Third Rock From the Sun”) in a half-hour about a woman who meets the anonymous sperm donor who is her dad in “Best Laid Plans.” Also, the rapper Bow in a comedy loosely based on his life; Dean Cain (“Clubhouse”) one of five fraternity brothers who reunite in “Grown Men”; Anne Heche as a woman who moves back to her parents’ home when her husband breaks up with her – while she’s in labor; Eric Lively (“The L Word”) in a comedy about a life coach; Sara Gilbert (“Roseanne”) in a pilot from the “Will & Grace” team, about fraternal twin sisters who are nothing alike; Camryn Manheim (“The Practice”) and more soccer moms.
DRAMA: David E. Kelley’s “Halley’s Comet” follows a young cancer survivor studying to be a doctor. Producer McG has “Supernatural,” described as “The X Files” on “Route 66.” Matthew Modine (“Full Metal Jacket”) leads an hour about a small Manhattan college. Jay Baruchel (“Undeclared”) does Doogie Houser, Esq., as a teenage lawyer. Laura San Giacomo (“Just Shoot Me”) is one of four adult sisters in New York.
TV critic Joanne Ostrow can be reached at 303-820-1830 or jostrow@denverpost.com.
