TV Pilots 2018: The Complete Guide
Bookmark our annual guide and refresh for the latest as THR tracks pilot pickups, castings and eventual series orders.
Following another prolonged development season, the broadcast networks are gearing up for a busy pilot season as they compete with not only one another, but also with basic and premium cable and streaming services including Apple, Netflix, Amazon and Hulu — all of which are multibillion-dollar scripted pushes.
As in the past few years, the networks continue to look to reboots, family fare and procedurals to help cut through the increasing clutter, with immigration-themed comedies and dramas and light-hearted fare like The Good Doctor also hot this season.
Here's a look at the pilots in contention for the 2018-19 television season, as ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox and The CW sift through hundreds of scripts and march forward in a bid to find the next breakout comedies and dramas. Bookmark THR.com/PilotSeason as well as this page as The Hollywood Reporter will update this guide throughout the season with the latest pilot orders, castings and eventual series pickups.
ABC Drama
The Rookie — STRAIGHT-TO-SERIES ORDER
Logline: Inspired by a true story, The Rookie centers on John Nolan (Nathan Fillion), the oldest rookie in the LAPD. At an age where most are at the peak of their career, Nolan cast aside his comfortable, small-town life and moved to Los Angeles to pursue his dream of being a cop. Now, surrounded by rookies 20 years his junior, he must navigate the dangerous, humorous and unpredictable world of a "young" cop, determined to make his second shot at life count.
Cast: Nathan Fillion
Team: W/EP Alexi Hawley (Castle); Mark Gordon, Nicholas Pepper, Michelle Chapman, Jon Steinberg, Nathan Fillion; EP/D Liz Friedlander
Studio: ABC Studios, the Mark Gordon Co.
Location:
Take Two — STRAIGHT-TO-SERIES ORDER
Logline: Take Two revolves around Ella (Rachel Bilson), the former star of a hit cop series who is fresh out of rehab following a bender of epic proportion. Desperate to restart her career, she talks her way into shadowing rough-and-tumble private investigator Eddie (Eddie Cibrian) as research for a potential comeback role. Although lone wolf Eddie resents the babysitting gig, high-spirited Ella proves herself to be surprisingly valuable, drawing on her acting skills and 200 episodes of playing a detective. When the press touts Ella's role in solving a high-profile case, Eddie finds his phone ringing off the hook with new clients looking to hire the pair.
Cast: Rachel Bilson, Eddie Cibrian
Team: W/EP Andrew Marlowe, Terri Edda Miller (Castle); EP Rola Bauer, Tim Halkin
Studio: ABC Studios, Tandem Productions, StudioCanal, Milmar Pictures
Location:
ABC Comedy
Untitled Kenya Barris — STRAIGHT-TO-SERIES ORDER
Logline: A dysfunctional family comedy about a stuck-in-his-ways and opinionated fading TV star (Alec Baldwin) who moves in with his progressive daughter, her girlfriend and the child they are raising together.
Cast: Alec Baldwin
Team: W/EP Kenya Barris, Julie Bean
Studio: ABC Studios
Format: Multicamera
Location:
Untitled Tim Doyle project
Logline: The comedy is set in the 1970s and revolves around an Irish-Catholic family with a working-class dad, traditional mom and eight boisterous sons who navigate changes big and small during one of America's most turbulent decades.
Cast:
Team: W/EP Tim Doyle (Last Man Standing)
Studio: ABC Studios
Format: Single-camera
Location:
CBS Drama
No orders yet.
CBS Comedy
No orders yet.
Fox Comedy
Cool Kids
Logline: Cool Kids revolves around three guy friends in a retirement community (David Alan Grier, Leslie Jordan, Martin Mull) who are the top dogs until they’re blown out of the water by the newest member of the community, a female rebel (Vicki Lawrence) who’s ready to challenge their place. Described as high school with 70-somethings.
Cast: Vicki Lawrence, David Alan Grier, Leslie Jordan, Martin Mull
Team: W Charlie Day, Paul Fruchbom; EP/showrunner Kevin Abbott, EP Charlie Day, Rob McElhenney, Glenn Howerton; Nick Frenkel; EP/D Don Scardino; co-EP Paul Fruchbom
Studio: 20th Century Fox TV, FX Productions
Format: Multicam
Location:
Our People
Logline: Based on the Israeli format Nevsu: A Young Multi-Cultural Couple, the comedy revolves around a man from a bombastic African family, who don't have a word in their native language for "privacy,” and his fiancee from a Midwestern family who try to build a normal life together. Although nobody can agree what that "normal" means.
Cast:
Team: W/EP Vali Chandrasekaran (Modern Family, 30 Rock); EP Lee Daniels, Pam Williams, Marc Velez, Yossi Vassa, Shai Ben-Atar and Liat Shavit
Studio: Endemol Shine, 20th Century Fox Television, Lee Daniels Entertainment
Format: Single-camera
Location:
Rel
Logline: Lil Rel, a prideful, self-made success who lives by the code to "always believe in yourself and great things will come," finds that attitude put to the test when he learns his wife is having an affair with his own barber. He tries to rebuild his life post-divorce as a long-distance single father on the South Side of Chicago who is on a quest for love, respect and a new barber. Inspired by Lil Rel's life.
Cast: Lil Rel Howery (The Carmichael Show)
Team: W/EP Kevin Barnett and Josh Rabinowitz (The Carmichael Show), Lil Rel; EP/showrunner Mike Scully (Carmichael Show); EP Jerrod Carmichael
Studio: 20th Century Fox Television
Format: Multicamera
Location:
Fox Drama
Mixtape
Logline: A romantic musical drama that looks at a disparate group of interconnected people in contemporary Los Angeles through the lens of the music that defines who they are. Mixtape captures the different stages of love, exploring if time can heal a broken heart and if love can withstand life's tragedies.
Cast:
Team: W/EP Josh Safran (Quantico, Smash); EP Megan Ellison, Sue Naegle; co-EP Ali Krug
Studio: 20th Century Fox Television, Annapurna Television
Location:
The Passage (rolled from last season)
Logline: Based on the best-selling trilogy by Justin Cronin, the drama begins as a character-driven government conspiracy thriller and morphs into a post-apocalyptic saga with vampires. The potential series spans over a century and focuses on a young girl named Amy who must save the human race.
Cast: Mark-Paul Gosselaar, Vincent Piazza, Saniyya Sidney, Genesis Rodriguez, Brianne Howey, BJ Britt, Jennifer Ferrin
Team: W/EP Elizabeth Heldens (Friday Night Lights); EP Matt Reeves (Felicity, Let Me In), Ridley Scott, David W. Zucker, Adam Kassan; co-producer: Justin Cronin; EP/D Marcos Siega
Studio: 20th Century Fox Television, 6th & Idaho, Scott Free
Location:
NBC Comedy
No orders yet.
NBC Drama
In Between Lives
Logline: A mysterious young woman reluctantly uses her gift of clairvoyance to help a veteran LAPD detective and a damaged ex-FBI outsider solve the most unnerving and challenging cases the city encounters. This eerie ability also opens the door for her to see and talk to the dead, who are seeking help for unresolved problems, whether she likes it or not.
Cast:
Team: W/EP Moira Kirland (Madam Secretary); EP David Heyman, Nancy Cotton
Studio: NBC International, Universal Television, Heyday Television
Location:
Untitled Bad Boys spinoff
Logline: Free-spirited former DEA agent Syd Burnett (Gabrielle Union, reprising her role from Bad Boys II) has a fresh start in her new job as an LAPD detective. She is partnered with Nancy McKenna, a working mom who can't help but look at Syd's freedom with some grass-is-greener envy. These two have totally different lifestyles and approaches, but they both are at the top of their fields in the action-packed, character-driven procedural.
Cast: Gabrielle Union
Team: Brandon Sonnier, Brandon Margolis (The Blacklist); EP Jerry Bruckheimer, Jonathan Littman, KristieAnne Reed, Jeff Gaspin, Jeff Morrone, Doug Belgrad, Gabrielle Union
Studio: Sony Pictures Television Studios, Jerry Bruckheimer Television, Primary Wave, 2.0 Entertainment
Location:
Untitled Bellevue hospital project
Logline: Inspired by Dr. Eric Manheimer's memoir Twelve Patients: Life & Death at Bellevue Hospital, it's a character-driven medical drama that revolves around the new director of Bellevue Hospital, whose maverick approach disrupts the status quo while always prioritizing patient care. Located in Manhattan, Bellevue is the only hospital in the world that has the capability to treat Ebola patients, prisoners from Rikers Island and the president of the United States all under one roof.
Cast:
Team: W/EP David Schulner (Emerald City, Do No Harm); EP/D Peter Horton; P Eric Manheimer
Studio: Universal Television, Pico Creek Productions
Location:
The Village
Logline: Despite differences in age, race, culture and lifestyle, the residents of a Manhattan apartment building find that the more their lives intertwine, the more complex and compelling their connections become, thus proving life’s challenges are better faced alongside family, even if it’s the one you make wherever you find it. All under one roof we will meet a recovering war vet, a pregnant teenage girl and her single mom, a cop with an unexpected love interest, a woman hiding a terrifying secret from her husband and a millennial lawyer who might find his grandfather is the best and worst roommate he ever could have hoped for.
Cast:
Team: W/EP Mike Daniels (Sons of Anarchy, Taken)
Studio: Universal Television
Location: New York
The CW
Wayward Sisters (aired as a planted episode of Supernatural)
Logline: Wayward Sisters tells the story of Supernatural fan-favorite recurring player Sheriff Jody Mills (Kim Rhodes) and a group of troubled young women, all of them orphaned by supernatural monster attacks and tragedies. Under Mills' protection, they emerge as a supreme monster-fighting force.
Cast: Kim Rhodes, Briana Buckmaster, Kathryn Newton, Katherine Ramdeen, Clark Backo, Yadira Guevara-Prip
Team: W/EP Robert Berens, Andrew Daab; EP Robert Singer, Phil Sgriccia, Robert Berens
Studio: Warner Bros. Television
Location: Vancouver
Pilot SeasonRead the full article – Hollywoodreporter.com
