06 January 2011

Oh, man! 2011 Fall Season TV Shows in Development

I got this list from EW and needless to say (but I'll say it anyway...) I can't wait to watch these programs! These are slated for Fall 2011-2012.

CBS - so many Western-themed shows. Me thinks it's timely, with True Grit getting so much raves at the movies. But I'm not interested with those (yet). I'm more keen on Treadstone and Dear Girls Above Me.
  • Carol Mendelsohn project. Based on the Jane Whitefield novels by Thomas Perry about a one-woman witness protection program (drama, script).
  • Jason Alexander detective project (Alexander, Simon Davis Barry). A former TV star works for his ex-wife’s detective agency when he’s down and out (drama, script).
  • Desperado (Kyle Ward, Anthony Zuiker). A modern-day western crime drama set in Texas (drama, script).
  • Siringo (Trey Callaway). Based on the life of cowboy Charlie Siringo, who caught crooks in the late 1800s (drama, script)
  • Female police chief drama (Carl Beverly, Gary Lennon). Chronicles first female Chief of Police in Newark, N.J. (drama, script).
  • The Wild Wild West (Ron Moore, Naren Shankar). Update of the old western that aired on CBS (drama, script).
  • Treadstone (John Glenn, Anthony Zuiker). Based on Robert Ludlum’s Jason Bourne series of novels about a group of spies working for the Treadstone Corp. (drama, script)
  • Real estate comedy (Rob Riggle, Robert Smigel). A real estate agent ends up working for the guy he made fun of in his youth (comedy, script).
  • Colin Cowherd radio comedy (Bill Martin, Mike Schiff, Cowherd). Comedy based on the life of ESPN radio host Colin Cowherd (comedy, script).
  • Dear Girls Above Me (Jason Goldberg, Ashton Kutcher). Based on a Twitter feed from a man who recounts what he hears from the girls who live above him (comedy, script).

ABC - Ehhh...maybe True Lies? Being Erica would probably do, too. But I might just end up comparing this to the Canadian original, nitpick and make myself miserable. Baker Street Letters sounds a lot like Sherlock Holmes meets Psych...okay, maybe that's good.
  • Untitled Shonda Rhimes project (Rhimes, Betsy Beers). Revolves around the life and work of a professional fixer and her dysfunctional staff. The character is based on the career of Judy Smith, a crisis management consultant who has guided corporations, politicians, and public figures over the last 20 years (drama, pilot).
  • Alive in Necropolis (David H. Goodman). Cops hunt alive — and dead — criminals (drama, pilot).
  • Romeo & Juliet (Andrea Berloff). A look at the love story of Romeo and Juliet, as well as the events occurring during the Renaissance (drama, script).
  • Being Erica (Maggie Friedman). An adaptation of the Canadian series with the same name (drama, script).
  • True Lies (RenĂ© Echevarria). Based on the 1994 feature film, True Lies, directed by James Cameron (drama, script).
  • Long Gray Line (Gideon Yago). Drama set in the world of West Point (drama, script).
  • Baker Street Letters (Nicholas Wootton). Two brothers rent Sherlock Holmes’ old office space and respond to letters that still come to the dead sleuth (drama, script).
  • Nannyland (Ann Blanchard, Alexa Junge, Jennifer Lopez). Three nannies working for three different branches of a Los Angeles family (dramedy, script).
  • Awkward Family Photos (Mike Bender, Doug Chernack). Based on book and website featuring really awkward but hilarious old photos (comedy, script).
  • Carlos Mencia project (Mitchel Katlin, Nat Bernstein). Show based on Mencia’s large immigrant family (comedy, script).
  • Cedric the Entertainer project (Al Higgins, Devon Shepherd). A retired baseball player gets a job as a radio host (comedy, script).
  • Gynecology project (Hunter Bell, Jeff Bowen, Marc Cherry). Two brothers, one gay and one straight, open up a practice for women (comedy, script).
  • Supermom comedy (Laura House, Stu Bloomberg, Barry Sonnenfeld). A frazzled mom finds a suit that gives her superpowers (comedy, script).
  • Damon Wayans project (Don Reo). A model father on TV is very different at home (comedy, script).

Fox - Alcatraz! Of course. I hope it lives up to the hype. And a Will Smith-produced crime drama, huh?

  • Alcatraz (J.J. Abrams, Bryan Burk, Liz Sarnoff). Revolves around Alcatraz Island and notorious criminals housed there (drama, pilot).
  • Will Smith crime drama (James Lassiter, Will Smith, Eva Jin). A female college student fights crimes in China (drama, script).
  • Full Nelson (Jeffrey Lieber). Focuses on a woman’s rise in the music industry in the 1980s (drama, script).
  • Hitch (Pete Chiarelli). Adaptation of the feature film that starred Will Smith (drama, script)
  • Smokers (Brian Vaughan). A documentary crew follows a group of heroes who eliminate alien threats in space (drama, script).
  • The Council of Dads. Based on the memoir about a man with cancer who lures a group of friends to supervise his daughters if he dies (comedy, pilot).
  • Tiny Monsters (Alexandra Rushfield) An animated show about a group of mean girls in junior high (comedy, script).


NBC - their list offers the most variety. It's so varied, I do not know which ones I'm going to like! But hey, Bryan Fuller's back!

  • 17th Precinct (Ron Moore). World ruled by magic, not science (drama, pilot).
  • Playboy (Chad Hodge). Set in the 1960s, the drama takes a look at the lives of Playboy bunnies (drama, pilot).
  • Echelon (Michael Gordon). About a team called GHOST (Global Hierarchical Observation Strategy Taskforce) that investigates the paranormal (drama, script).
  • The Munsters (Bryan Fuller). A modern-day take on the old CBS comedy (dramedy, script).
  • Rest (Philip Levens). Based on the comic book series Rest by Milo Ventimiglia and Russ Cundiff about a workaholic who enrolls in a drug trial which eliminates the need for sleep (drama, script).
  • S.A.N.D. (Craig Titley). A squad called the Sleep and Nightmare division enter peoples’ dreams to tackle their nightmares (drama, script).
  • Are you there, Vodka? It’s me, Chelsea (Chelsea Handler, Tom Werner, Dottie Dartland Zicklin, Julie Larsen). Based on Handler’s best-selling memoir (comedy, pilot).
  • Ghost Angeles (Henry Alonzo Myers, Josh Schwartz) A young woman speaks to dead people who help her (comedy, pilot).
  • A Lot Like Us (Scot Armstrong, Ravi Nandan, Liz Feldman). A lesbian couple expecting a baby lives with the donor (comedy, script).
  • Emerald City (Emily Halpern, Sarah Haskins). Re-imagining of the The Wizard of Oz, set in Gotham (comedy, script).
  • Guardians (Carlos Jacott, Ajay Sahgal) Guardian angels disguised as Starbucks baristas help customers (comedy, script).
  • My Life as an Experiment (A.J. Jacobs). Comedy based on A. J. Jacobs’ self improvement projects (comedy, script).


CW - Raven will most likely get a lot of press time. And there's another Sherlock Holmes inspired series.

  • Acting Out (Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas, Todd Graff). Musical and dancing dramedy explores relationships of counselors and staff of a down-on-its-luck summer camp (dramedy, script).
  • Hawkshaw (David Loughery, Samuel L. Jackson, Amanda Tracey). Sexy, mysterious 20-something doesn’t know his true identity but believes he is a detective and possible descendant of Sherlock Holmes who starts solving crimes (drama, script).
  • The Prickly Spheres (Rich Frank, Jeff Kwatinetz, Matt Goldman). Extremely talented teen forgoes classical music scholarship to Julliard and joins a new indie alternative rock band in Minneapolis (drama, script).
  • Raven (Diego Gutierrez). Based upon the DC Comics character, the daughter of a human and a devil with abilities to read emotions and divine secrets, Raven fights crime — as well as the darkness in her own soul (drama, script).

What looks interesting for you?