NBC ordered 7 more serious to go with the previously picked up Whitney, Up All Night, Smash, and Prime Suspect. This brings its total to 11 series pickups including 6 comedies which probably indicates they want to expand their comedy to another night.
The thriller sci-fi drama Awake was picked up to series. Starring Jason Isaacs, Cherry Jones, and Wilmer Valderrama, the show is about a cop who lives in two different realities after an accident. Many are comparing it to the hit film Inception. Like The Event last year, this may get a lot of promotion but be a tough sell as it's almost certain to be very serialized.
The controversial pilot Playboy was also picked up. Set in the 1960s at the Chicago Playboy Club, the period drama made some news during pilot season because of a nudity clause the actors were asked to sign. Starring Eddie Cibrian and Laura Benanti, this show could be a very interesting one to watch. It's almost certain to get a 10pm launch but when and where?
The final pilot to be picked up was Grimm, an interesting twist on a cop drama that takes place in a world where Grimm's fairy tales exist. It was one of two fantasy dramas that was in development at NBC (the other, 17th Precinct, was not picked up). Like many of NBC's dramas, it could be a tough sell but these pilots all sound very inventive and interesting which is what we need on network TV.
NBC added four comedies to the two they already picked up. They picked up Are You There Vodka? It's Me Chelsea from comedienne Chelsea Handler. The show had been a hot pilot at NBC and was always likely to get a pickup. It joins Whitney as a female-centered multicamera comedy so the two could be paired together, possibly away from NBC's Thursday lineup.
Also picked up was the romantic comedy Bent starring Amanda Peet, David Walton, and Jeffrey Tambor. The pilot seemed up and down during development but has the starpower to get a pickup and could be more broadly appealing than NBC's current Thursday single-camera sitcoms.
Another comedy picked up was the Hank Azaria comedy Free Agents, which was somewhat of a darkhorse in the comedy development. A romantic comedy based on a British show, it sounds like it could be another niche show for NBC's Thursday lineup.
Finally, the Lennon Parham/Jessica St. Clair pilot was the darkest horse of them all. Written by and starring the two ladies, the now-titled BFFs was not really on the radar on buzzy websites but it was apparently a well-produced, small-budget pilot that had NBC sold. It will be interesting to see what they do with this and all the other comedies.
This appears to be it for NBC pickups. The dramas passed on were the high profile Wonder Woman reboot, the fantastical 17th Precinct, the crime drama Metro, Don Johnson's dramedy A Mann's World, and the post-Civil War set Reconstruction. Comedies passed on were wacky workplace comedy Brave New World, romantic comedies I Hate That I Love You and Lovelives, the Kari Lizer Project which was a hot prospect starring Sarah Paulson, the untitled Dan Goor project, and My Life as an Experiment which will probably allow Paget Brewster to return to Criminal Minds after all.
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