Fall pilot preview

Posted by admin on Mar 29, 2011 in Arts & Culture | 0 comments

Television pilots serve as a testing ground of sorts for networks to determine whether or not to add a new program to their line-up. If the series is picked up, the pilot will then go on to become the first episode. Otherwise, the pilot fades away into obscurity never to be heard from again. Let’s take a look at some of the trends that are emerging from this most recent crop of pilots, all of which are being prepped for the 2011-2012 season.

If there is one thing that is evident, it’s that success breeds imitation. In the wake of the success of Glee, NBC is trying its hand at producing a musical show called Smash.
Considering how well Hawaii Five-0 has done this past year, it should come as no surprise to see some more remakes on the way. ABC has picked up a reboot of Charlie’s Angels, while NBC is attempting to bring Wonder Woman back to television. The popularity of AMC’s Mad Men has also inspired the networks to try their hand at period dramas with NBC’s Playboy featuring the Chicago-based Playboy Club, and ABC’s Pan Am which tells the story of the airline’s flight crew, both of which take place in the ’60s. Another interesting period drama is ABC’s Poe, a crime procedural that features Edgar Allan Poe solving crimes in 1840’s Boston.

Poe isn’t the only interesting crime drama, however. J.J. Abrams has teamed up with Christopher Nolan’s brother Jonathan to create Person of Interest, a crime drama about an ex-CIA agent played by Jim Caviezel.

Kyle Gillen, the creator of the late, great Lonestar, has come up with REM, an Inception-style show that centers on a cop who finds himself existing in two realities at once.

While crime procedurals will always be popular, supernatural-themed dramas are arguably the biggest trend this season. Every network has at least one of them vying for a spot on its fall line-up, many of which seem reminiscent of one another; NBC’s Grimm and ABC’s Once Upon A Time both focus on worlds in which fairy tales are real. Many of the networks content simply take regular procedural dramas and throw in supernatural elements; NBC’s 17th Precinct focuses on magical law enforcement, while the CW’s Heavenly has an angel working in a courtroom. Some of the more promising supernatural dramas include FOX’s Alcatraz, the second J.J. Abram’s pilot this season, and the comic adaptation Locke & Key, which was also picked up by FOX.

While I’m sure at least one of these shows has caught your eye, keep in mind that you may never actually see any of them; we won’t know until May which ones the networks have decided to move forward with. Regardless of what gets picked up, this fall’s television looks to be a lot more promising than last year’s.