(Sorry guys, missed this yesterday. Sundance got the better of us TV folks. Ps – snow is really, really cold. Ok, back to the TV goodies).
TV SALES & PICK-UPS
ABC has gone ahead and greenlit another new comedy in WORK IT from writers/exec producers Andrew Reich and Ted Cohen. Network already greenlit the duos “Smothered” series earlier this month. Series, which is pitched as being in the vein of “Bosom Buddies”, centers on two unemployed car salesmen who realize that in order to land the jobs they want, they must become better men, and learn to work in the woman’s world… all of which leads them to dressing up as women to land their jobs as pharmaceutical reps.
ABC has also picked-up to pilot the new multi-camera laugher LOST AND FOUND From writer/producer Marisa Coughlan. Series centers on a narcissistic NYC bartender/party girl who has her life turned upside down when the conservative 18 year old son she gave up for adoption suddenly shows up on her doorstep.
ABC has ordered the pilot for new comedy OTHER PEOPLE’S KIDS from writer/exec producer Hunter Covington. Series, which is also exec produced by Stacy Traub and Peter Traugott, centers on an irresponsible 32-year-old guy who suddenly finds himself with an insta-family when he falls in love with an older woman with 2 kids, an ex-husband, and ex-in-laws.
ABC has greenlit the new period drama PAN AM from writer/exec producer Jack Orman. Series, which is also exec produced by Thomas Schlamme (who will direct the pilot), Nancy Hult Ganis (who the series is based upon) and Sid Ganis, is pitched as a sexy soap-like drama about the pilots and flight attendants of the swinging new “jet craze” of 1960s Pan Am Airlines.
ABC has also decided to dive into the PI game, picking up the period PI drama POE from writer/exec producer Chris Hollier. Series, which is also exec produced by Dan Lin, follows famed detective Edgar Allen Poe as he uses unconvetnional methods to solve mysteries and crimes in 19th century Boston.
ABC has ordered to series the planned Summer series MISSING from writer/exec producer Greg Poirier. Series, which was previously known as “Safe” and before that “Hall of Mirrors” centers on a female FBI agent who must travel to Europe to find her son after he is kidnapped. Gina Matthews, Grant Scharbo and Steve Shill will also exec produce.
CBS has ordered a pilot for the comedy laugher, the UNTITLED PETER KNIGHT CONSULTING COMEDY from writer/exec producer Peter Knight. Series, which is also exec produced by Jack Giarraputo, Doug Robinson and Adam Sandler, is pitched as a workplace ensemble centering on a group of assistants and junior executives as they juggle love, friendship, and the corporate ladder. Knight, also has THE UNTITLED PETER KNIGHT FAMILY COMEDY set up at CBS, with the same exec producers.
FOX has picked-up, and greenlit a pilot for the new single-cam comedy FAMILY ALBUM from writers/exec producers Joe Port and John Wiseman. Series, which will take place over the course of “one day of vacation” each season, centers on a headstrong patriarch who, determined to get some quality family time, forces his entire extended family on to a vacation journey.
FOX has also moved to greenlit, previously picked up pilot COUNCIL OF DADS from writers/exec producers Peter Tolan and Michael Wimer. Series, which was originally picked up with a heft $1.5 million put pilot penalty, centers on a dying man who enlists five men from every corner of his life to assist his wife in raising his two children.
NBC has picked up, and ordered a pilot for new crime drama S.I.L.A (SPECIAL INVESTIGATION LOS ANGELES) from writer/exec producer Stephen Gaghan. Series, which is also produced by Peter Chernin and Katherine Pope, is said to be in the vein of a the film “Traffic” but with the a complex web of crime, police work and politics spread across the city of Los Angeles.
NBC has also picked up, and ordered a pilot for the UNTITLED WHITNEY CUMMINGS COMEDY from writer/exec producer Whitney Cummings. Series, which will also be exec produced by Scott Stuber, Quan Phung and Barry Katz, centers on a young couple and the ups and downs they experience in maintaining a committed relationship in today’s complicated world.
NBC has added a new workplace comedy to their pilot order this year with BRAVE NEW WORLD, from writer/exec producer Peter Tolan. Series, which will also be exec produced by Michael Wimer, centers on a rag-tag group of employees who work at “Pilgrim Village”, a theme park that specializes in re-creations of New England in 1637.
NBC has also added a book adaptation into the pilot pick-ups with ARE YOU THERE, VODKA? IT’S ME, CHELSEA from writers/exec producers Julie Larson and Dottie Dartland Zicklin. Series, which was picked up in November, 2011, and is based on the autobiography of the same name from Chelsea Handler, centers on a 20-something woman named Chelsea, who while not pursuing the same career path of Handler, will carry the same fun, free, and party-loving sensibilities. Handler, Tom Werner and Tom Brunelle will also exec produce.
NBC has also greenlit the comedy MY LIFE AS AN EXPERIMENT from writers/exec producers Cathy Yuspa and Josh Goldsmith. Series, which was picked up in September, 2010 with a hefy seven figure pilot penalty, is also exec produced by Jack Black, Carolyn Bernstein, Howard Owens, Ben Cooley and Priyanka Mattoo. Based on the book by A.J. Jacobs, the story centers on a magazine writer who immerses himself (and his family) in several unusual situations as inspiration for his stories… only to see that they always reflect back on his marriage, and his family.