UPDATE: ABC Picks Up To Series ‘666′, ‘Last Resort’, ‘How To Live’, ‘Nashville’, ‘Penoza’, ‘Neighbors’, ‘Zero Hour’, ‘Red Van’
2ND UPDATE: Remaining in contention at ABC is the Reba McEntire comedy pilot Malibu Country, which is expected to be picked up shortly. (UPDATE: It was picked up.) With a few exceptions (I hear Gotham might be alive), the rest are pretty much dead, though there are last-ditch efforts to get Americana picked up and there had been talk about possibly redeveloping American Judy and The Smart One. UPDATE: Americana is not going forward.
UPDATE: It looks like ABC is done with its sister studio and moving to picking up pilots from outside suppliers. The network just picked up Warner Bros. TV’s spooky drama 666 Park Ave and 20th TV comedy How To Live With Your Parents For The Rest Of Your Life. Rounding out the freshman ABC class is Sony TV’s Last Resort, which also got a pickup.
PREVIOUS: And we’re off with ABC’s new series pickups. Picked up so far are frontrunner Nashville, comedies The Neighbors (aka untitled Dan Fogelman) and Family Tools (aka Red Van Man) and drama series are from as Red Widow (form. Penoza) and Zero Hour. Word is that Americana, which was hot, then cool, than hot again, is not going, at least not right now, though last-minute conversations are still ongoing. All five newly-picked up series are from ABC Studios. UPDATE: I hear the remaining ABC Studios pilots are not going forward. That includes Devious Maids.
Here are descriptions of the newly picked up series:
DRAMAS
666 PARK AVENUE
One-hour Drama
Studio: WBTV, Alloy Entertainment
Writer: David Wilcox
Executive Producers: David Wilcox, Gina Girolamo, Leslie Morgenstein
Director: Alex Graves
Logline: Based on the book by Gabriella Pierce about a young couple who manages one of the most historic apartment buildings in New York City and unwittingly experience supernatural occurrences that complicate and endanger the lives of everyone in the building.
Cast: Terry O’Quinn as “Gavin”; Dave Annable as “Henry”; Rachael Taylor as “Jane”, Vanessa Williams, Mercedes Masohn (second position to Fox’s The Finder), Robert Buckley, Helena Mattsson
THE LAST RESORT
One-hour Drama
Studio: Sony Pictures Television
Writers: Shawn Ryan, Karl Gajdusek
Executive Producers: Shawn Ryan, Karl Gajdusek, Marney Hochman Nash, Martin Campbell
Director: Martin Campbell
Logline: Renegade crew of a nuclear submarine go on the run after defying an order given under strange and suspicious circumstances to deploy their weapons. They seek refuge at a NATO listening post and declare themselves the world’s smallest sovereign nation with nuclear capability. They then face the challenges of creating a new society while monitoring the movements of the world’s militaries.
Cast: Andre Braugher as “Marcus Chaplin”; Daisy Betts as “Grace”; Dan Lissing as “Seal Officer James King”; Camille De Pazzis as “Sophie”; Sahr Ngaujau as “Mayor Julian Serrat”; Autumn Reeser as Kylie Sinclair; Scott Speedman as XO Sam Kendal; Dichen Lachman as “Tani”
NASHVILLE
One-hour Drama
Studio: ABC Studios and Lionsgate
Writer: Callie Khouri, RJ Cutler
Executive Producers: Callie Khouri, RJ Cutler, Steve Buchanan/Grand Ole Opry (Gaylord Entertainment)
Director: RJ Cutler
Logline: A family soap set against the backdrop of the Nashville music scene that follows one star at her peak and one on the rise.
Cast: Connie Britton, Sam Palladio as “Gunnar”; Clare Bowen as “Scarlett”; Jonathan Jackson as “Avery”; Powers Boothe as “Lamar”; Robert Wisdom as “Coleman Caldwell”; Hayden Panettiere as “Juliette”, Eric Close, Charles Esten
RED WIDOW aka PENOZA
One-hour Drama
Studio: ABC Studios in association with Endemol Studios
Writer: Melissa Rosenberg
Executive Producers: Melissa Rosenberg, Alon Aranya, Howard Klein
Director: Mark Pellington
Logline: Based on the Dutch format, PENOZA centers on the widow of an assassinated criminal who is forced to adopt her husband’s role in a crime syndicate in order to protect her family.
Cast: Radha Mitchell, Lee Tergesen, Luke Goss, Rade Sherbedzija, Wil Traval, Suleka Mathew, Jaime Ray Newman, Sterling Beaumon, Jacob Salvati, Erin Moriarty, Jakob Salvati, Anson Mount (guest star), Mido Hamada
ZERO HOUR
One-hour Drama
Studio: ABC Studios
Writer: Paul Scheuring
Executive Producers: Paul Scheuring, Lorenzo DiBonaventura, Dan McDermott
Director: Pierre Morel
Logline: A bizarre twist of fate pulls a man who’s spent 20 years as the editor of a skeptic magazine into one of the most compelling conspiracies in human history.
Cast: Anthony Edwards, Scott Michael Foster as “Arron”; Addison Timlin as “Rachel”, Michael Nyqvist, Carmen Ejogo, Jacinda Barrett
COMEDIES
THE NEIGHBORS aka UNT. DAN FOGELMAN PROJECT
Single-Camera Comedy
Studio: ABC Studios
Writer: Dan Fogelman
Executive Producers: Dan Fogelman, Aaron Kaplan, Chris Koch
Director: Chris Koch
Logline: Family moves into a beautiful, surprisingly affordable gated community in New Jersey only to discover that all the neighbors are literally from another planet.
Cast: Lenny Venito as “Marty Weaver”; Simon Templeman as “Wilt Chamberlain”; Jami Gertz as “Debbie Weaver”; Toks Olagundoye as “Jackie Joyner-Kersee”; Tim Jo as “Joe Montana”; Isabella Cramp as “Abby Weaver”; Clara Mamet as “Amber Weaver; Ian Patrick as “Lennox Lewis”; Max Charles as “Max Weaver”
HOW TO LIVE WITH YOUR PARENTS FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE
Single-Camera Comedy
Studio: 20th Century Fox and Imagine Television
Writer: Claudia Lonow
Executive Producers: Claudia Lonow, Brian Grazer, Ron Howard, Francie Calfo
Director: Julie Anne Robinson
Logline: Polly, a recently divorced single mom, moves in with her eccentric parents, Elaine and Max, a couple who’s full of life but knows no boundaries.
Cast: Sarah Chalke as “Polly”; Brad Garrett, Elizabeth Perkins, Orlando Jones, John Dore, Rachel Eggleston, Rebecca Delgado Smith
MALIBU COUNTRY
Multi-Camera Comedy
Studio: ABC Studios
Writer: Kevin Abbott
Executive Producers: Kevin Abbott, Reba McEntire, Mindy Schultheis, Michael Hanel, Pam Williams, Dave Stewart, Narvel Blackstock
Director: John Pasquin
Logline: After her “good ‘ol boy” rock star husband cheats on her and burns through most of their money, Reba divorces him and moves her three lods and mom from Nashville to the only asset they have left – a little house in Malibu. There, she’ll try to reignite her own singing career and keep herself and her three kids from being corrupted by the materialistic and rarified Malibu world she now calls home.
Cast: Reba McEntire as “Reba”; Lily Tomlin as “Shirley”; Sara Rue as “Kim”, Julietta Angelo, Justin Prentice, Owen Teague, Jai Rodriguez (recurring), Jeffrey Nordling (recurring)
FAMILY TOOLS aka RED VAN MAN (form. WHITE VAN MAN)
Single-Camera Comedy
Studio: ABC Studios
Writer: Bobby Bowman
Executive Producers: Bobby Bowman, Mark Gordon, Andrea Shay, Paul Buccieri
Logline: Based on the British format WHITE VAN MAN, the show centers on a man who is forced to put his dreams on hold in order to take over the family handyman business from his father.
Cast: Kyle Bornheimer as “Jack”; JK Simmons as “Tony”; Jonny Pemberton as “Mason”; Edi Gathegi as “Darren”; Leah Remini as “Terry”
I’m actually getting dizzy from all of these announcements so fast!
Devious Maids?
If it doesn’t go NBC should pick it up. Univision beats them every night in the 18-49 demo anyway, why not try and pick up some of that audience?
NBC passed on too many of their own good pilots, and they should be trying to build more of the male audience so they can get an Olympics & football boost. ABC is going strongly after the female demo, so NBC would be wise not to try to compete head to head.
I hope Devious Maids gets picked up, now that Desperate Housewives is gone maybe it can be my solace
Something must have gone very wrong in the negotiations between ABC, ABC Studios and Marc Cherry. That’s all I can assume at this point. I thought Devious Maids was a slam-dunk fall selection – now, DOA. Something must have gone wrong in the eleventh hour of negotiations. What will that mean for the Sunday night ABC lineup from 9-11pm without Devious Maids and GCB? Changes coming – maybe Nashville and BoP?
Nothing went wrong with negotiations. The pilot was crap. That’s why they didn’t pick it up.
What about Malibu Country and The Smart One?
not moving forward
for sure?
any word on The Untitled Roland Emmerich Project?
With Zero Hour picked up, I wonder if that knocks it out of contention?
666 Park Ave and The Last Resort are the ones I’m curious about, the latter because it may be off-brand for ABC (too male skewing).
Americana was the one ABC I was most interested in. Hope it still goes forward.
What about Prairie Dogs?!!
Heard it was really good.
Still waiting to hear I guess, it tested well.
And Mistresses? …
Mistresses got a straight-to-series order, if I’m not mistaken.
Mistresses is a ‘go’ (Milano/Kim/Aytes project) – maybe fall, perhaps winter/spring. The show had an early ‘pick-up’ by ABC.
Mistresses is supposed to be a summer 2013 show.
That (summer 2013) was at first only, not currently.
They have to pick up Gotham or 666 Park! At least one unconventional series please!
which is the pilot with mandy moore and majandra delfino?
Mandy Moore project (20th Century) not mentioned yet – it’s not an ABC Studio prod, so that’s good – maybe still hope there for Mandy fans. Three comedies thus far noted as a ‘go’ – the Sarah Chalke series (How to Live with Parents), Family Tools (ABC Studio) w/Leah Remini and The Neighbors (w/Jami Gertz). I’m assuming ABC will green-light some additional comedies outside ABC Studio stable (?)