I already used up all my good Thanksgiving jokes in my last post, so let’s just get into a humorless post about pilots. Yawn.
Pilot season hasn’t started, per se, but some networks, most notably NBC, are feeling the holiday spirit and starting to issue orders at a steady clip. It’s the network equivalent of Starbucks rolling out the peppermint lattes in August, or whenever the hell they’re doing it these days. Pilot season creep. What once was March is now November. So it goes.
So far NBC has given orders to comedies “Save Me,” “Isabel,” the “Munsters” reboot (seriously?), and an untitled Sarah Silverman comedy, along with dramas “Blue Tilt” and “Beautiful People.” Possibly others as well, but not many people are in their offices right now to confirm, so I can’t say for sure. I would just head down to the Whole Foods on Santa Monica and Fairfax and start randomly asking people until I found an NBC development exec, but that would be annoying…for me. It’s not important anyhow, as all of those projects are still sans casting directors except for “Isabel,” which is being cast by Schiff/Audino ahead of a January start. It’s based on a Canadian series about a girl who visits a psychologist to vent about her crazy family. I have nothing bad to say about this premise and commend NBC for ordering a show that features no supernatural or extraterrestrial beings whatsoever. Bold.
Unfortunately, I can’t say the same for ABC’s untitled Don Fogelman pilot, a comedy about a family who moves into a condo and discovers that all of the neighbors are aliens. Sigh. I’m not saying that you can’t make a good show with an alien or two (see “ALF”), but I feel like humans have enough going on without having to deal with alien neighbors or full-moon-related lupine transformations or whatever is going on in “Grimm.” Anyhow, this one also shoots in January, and Susan Vash is doing the casting.
Over at Fox, another remake idea only slightly better than “The Munsters”: “In Living Color” is coming back! Fox has ordered two half-hour specials, with an option to pick it up to series. It’ll be just like the ’90s, except with a completely different cast and none of the characters you know and love. Look forward to fresh, new ideas like Fire Marshal Steve and Homey D. Magician! Okay, you know what? I’m being unfair. This idea is still way better than rebooting “The Munsters.” Julie Ashton is casting in anticipation of a March shoot.
Lots of other pilots gearing up to shoot early next year. As always, check out the L.A. production charts for a full list of tomorrow’s disappointing shows…today!