Friday, May 10, 2013

PILOT PICKUPS: Chicago PD, Ironside, Blacklist, Night Shift, Welcome to the Family, Undateable

NBC picked up six more pilots today to go along with five from yesterday, the already ordered The Michael J. Fox show, and the yet to air Dracula and Crossbones. Joining that list today were dramas Chicago PD, Ironside, Blacklist, and Night Shift and comedies Welcome to the Family and Undateable.

Chicago PD is the new name for the Chicago Fire spinoff. The show will have a backdoor pilot in the season finale of Fire. While it's being called a spinoff, the show seems more like a sister show where there will no doubt be crossovers. The show features recurring Fire actors Jason Beghe and Jon Seda and centers on two groups of cops in District 21: the beat cops and intelligence unit. This pickup means three shows from Dick Wolf will be on NBC for the first time in several years. It will almost certainly be paired with the mother series but will it be in the fall or at midseason?

Ironside is a remake of the acclaimed 1967-1975 series starring Raymond Burr. The show stars Blair Underwood in the Burr role as a detective relegated to a wheelchair but solving difficult cases with a talented team. The show has been a hot pilot throughout development and assures us another year of a remake though the original is probably more obscure by now. The cast also includes Spencer Grammar, Brent Sexton, Pablo Schreiber, Neal Bledsoe, and Kenneth Choi.

Blacklist was one of the hottest pilots for NBC in recent weeks and seemed a slam dunk for a pickup. The show centers on the world's most wanted criminal who turns himself in and promises to give the list of all his associates if he can work with a specific FBI agent. The show stars James Spader, Megan Boone, Diego Klattenhoff, Harry Lennix, and Ilfenesh Hadera. This is likely to be another one of NBC's big pushes for the season and could either get a prime fall slot or a prime post-Olympics slot.

Night Shift was rumored to be dead a couple days ago but that was premature as the show was picked up to series after all. The show is an ensemble medical drama about Army doctors working the night shift at a San Antonio hospital. Starring Eoin Mackin, Jill Flint, Freddy Rodriguez, Ken Leung, Jeananne Goossen, Robert Bailey Jr., and Brigid Brannagh, the show is a return to the ensemble medical drama that hasn't been around much in recent years. NBC seems to have a nice mix of high concept dramas like Believe, Crisis, and Blacklist mixed in with procedurals like Ironside, Night Shift, and Chicago PD.

Welcome to the Family is a new single cam sitcom about a white family and Latino family brought together by a pregnancy. The show seems a little similar to CBS' failed sitcom from 2011-12, Rob. However, it has a strong cast led by Mike O'Malley and continues NBC's big trend towards family comedies. It also stars Justina Machado, Mary McCormack, Ella Rae Peck, and Aramis Knight.

Undateable is a new multi-camera sitcom about a group of misfits or "undateables" who befriend a much more confident individual. The show stars Chris D'Elia from Whitney and that may have contributed to that show's demise. The show also stars Brent Morin, Rick Glassman, Ron Fuches, Bianca Kajlich, Matthew Wilkas, and Briga Heelan. It will be interesting to see if NBC pairs its only multi-cam sitcoms - this and Sean Saves the World or if this will be paired with some of the few non-family sitcoms like the returning Parks and Recreation or Community.

No comments:

Post a Comment