Benjamonster's TV

We are close to the end of the pilot pickups but NBC handed out another pilot order to comedy Champions today. Champions comes from and stars Mindy Kaling. It is centered on a gym owner and his deadbeat brother whose lives are turned upside down when a former fling shows up at his doorstep with a teenage son he didn't know he had. In addition to Kaling, Champions also stars Anders Holm, Andy Favreau, JJ Totah, Mouzam Makkar, and Nina Wadia.

ABC handed out two more pilot orders today and it appears they are done now, after picking up drama Deception and comedy Splitting Up Together . Deception , sharing a name with an NBC drama from a couple years ago, is a procedural about a magician who has had his career disgraced and ends up helping the FBI catch elusive criminals while staging illusion. I have said all along that this seems like a strong Monday 10pm candidate. Deception stars Jack Cutmore-Scott, Ilfenesh Hadera, Lenora Crichlow, Amauray Nolasco, Justin Chon, Laila Robbins, and Vinnie Jones. Splitting Up Together is a family comedy about a couple whose marriage is reignited by their divorce. The family comedy seems to fit into the ABC brand. Splitting Up Together stars Jenna Fischer, Oliver Hudson, Bobby Lee, Diane Farr, Lindsay Price, Olivia Keville, Van Crosby, and Sander Thomas.

It looked like CBS was done with its pilot orders, but they had one last one later in the night, picking up comedy By the Book (formerly known as Living Biblically ). It seems as though this show got chosen over the now cancelled 2 Broke Girls . From people involved with The Big Bang Theory, By the Book centers on a man at a crossroads in his life who decides to start living his life according to the Bible. I'm guessing this will be a midseason entry. By the Book stars Jay R. Ferguson, Lindsey Kraft, Ian Gomez, David Krumholtz, Tony Rock, and Camryn Manheim.

CBS handed out pilot orders to six shows today, joining the already picked up Young Sheldon . Sitcoms 9JKL and Me, Myself, and I and dramas Instinct, Seal Team, S.W.A.T., and Wisdom of the Crowd were picked up to series. 9JKL is a family comedy centered on a man who lives in Apartment 9K while his doting parents living in Apartment 9J, and his brother, sister-in-law, and their baby live in Apartment 9L. This sounds a little similar to Everybody Loves Raymond  and seems to be right in the CBS wheelhouse. The strong cast includes Mark Feuerstein, Linda Lavin, Elliott Gould, David Walton, Liza Lapira, and Matt Murray. Me, Myself, and I is an interesting single-cam comedy centered on a man at three points in his life: as a 14 year old in 1991, a 40 year old in present day, and a 65 year old in 2042. A comedic This is Us of sorts, it stars Bobby Moynihan, who will surely be leaving Saturday Night Live for this show. It's an interesting concept but it could be a tough sell. Me, Mysel...

NBC may be done with its pilot pickups after picking up drama Reverie today. Reverie is a thriller about a former hostage negotiator brought in to save people who have gotten lost in a highly advanced virtual reality program. The sci-fi drama sounds like a classic post- Voice slot show for NBC but I think it may be held for midseason. Reverie stars Sarah Shahi, Dennis Haysbert, Jessica Lu, Sendhil Ramamurthy, and Kathryn Morris.

Amidst the flurry of ABC news tonight, NBC picked up Good Girls to series. Good Girls is a dramedy about suburban wives and mothers who find themselves in desperate circumstances and decide to stop playing it safe and risk it all. Good Girls stars Mae Whitman, Retta, Reno Wilson, Manny Montana, Lidya Jewett, Izzy Stannard, and Matthew Lillard. The lead role played by Kathleen Rose Perkins in the pilot will be re-cast.

ABC handed out six series orders today to dramas For the People, The Crossing, The Gospel of Kevin, and The Good Doctor and dramas The Mayor and the Untitled Zach Braff/Mark Tarses project. For the People is the new Shondaland drama formerly known as Black's Law . It is set in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York and centers on new lawyers working for both the defense and prosecution. The question is will it land on TGIT in the fall? For the People stars Britne Olford, Lyndon Smith, Ben Rappaport, Susannah Flood, Wesam Keesh, Rege-Jean Page, Ben Shenkman, Hope Davis, Vondie Curtis-Hall, and Anna Deavere Smith. The Crossing is a futuristic drama centered on a group of refugees who seek asylum from America for a war that hasn't happened in a small town in America. This convoluted plot sounds like the type of show ABC often falls in love with and has since Lost , but it rarely works. The Crossing stars Steve Zahn, Natalie Martinez, Sandrine Ho...

The CW handed out four pilot orders to new dramas Dynasty, Valor, Black Lightning , and Life Sentence . Dynasty is of course a reboot of the hit 1980s opulent drama. A front runner throughout pilot season, Dynasty focuses on the next generation of the feuding Carringtons and Colbys. Reboots of soaps were tried by the CW before with the somewhat successful 90210 and less successful Melrose Place . But if the CW wants this to work, it'll have to find a way to market it to its audience who were babies or not even born during the original's run. Dynasty stars Grant Show, Elizabeth Gillies, Nathalie Kelley, James Mackay, Alan Dale, Sam Adegoke, Robert Christopher Riley, and Rafael de la Fuente. Valor is one of many military dramas in contention for series pickups on the various networks and will be the first military drama on the CW. It is centered on a US Army Base with an elite group of helicopter pilots. Valor stars Matt Barr, Christina Ochoa, Charlie Barnett, W. Tre Davis, C...

FOX handed out three orders today to comedies Ghosted and LA to Vegas and drama The Resident . Ghosted has been a hot pilot throughout development. Starring Adam Scott and Craig Robinson, it centers on a skeptic and "true believer" who are asked to look into unexplained activity in Los Angeles. It sounds a bit like a comedy version of The X-Files , which will also be back on FOX next year. Ghosted also co-stars Ally Walker and Adeel Akhtar. LA to Vegas has an interesting concept as it is set on an airplane and a round trip flight from Burbank to Las Vegas over a weekend. I like the concept but I'm curious to see what it looks like on a weekly basis. LA to Vegas stars Dylan McDermott, Kim Matula, Nathan Lee Graham, Olivia Macklin, and Peter Stormare. The Resident is a medical drama centered on a senior resident guiding an idealistic young doctor. House was a hit but recent medical dramas like The Mob Doctor and Red Band Society haven't worked. This doesn't re...

In an unsurprising move, FOX picked up The Gifted to series today. The new Marvel drama is in the X-Men universe and centers on a suburban couple who discover that their children have mutant powers. The Gifted has been a hot pilot for FOX throughout pilot season and will be their first Marvel show. The Gifted stars Stephen Moyer, Amy Acker, Sean Teale, Jamie Chung, Coby Bell, Emma Dumont, Blair Redford, Natalie Alyn Lind, and Percy Hynes White.

NBC handed out another pilot order tonight, this time to comedy A.P. Bio from Mike O'Brien, Seth Meyers, and Lorne Michaels. Given that NBC pedigree, it was not surprising that it got a pick-up. In what sounds a bit like a modern day Head of the Class, it centers on a teacher who takes a job teaching AP Bio but decides to do much more with his students. A.P. Bio stars Glenn Howerton, Patton Oswalt, Lyric Lewis, Mary Sohn, Aparna Brielle, Jacob McCarthy, and Nick Peine. A.P. Bio joins For God and Country, Rise, and the Will & Grace reboot as NBC's official pickups for next season.

NBC handed out two series orders tonight to get an early jump on what will be a very busy week of pickups, renewals, and cancellations next week. Dramas Rise and For God and Country , frontrunners from the start, were picked up to series. Now that we're in the This is Us era, Rise from Jason Katims has been a hot contender for months. It is based on the book Drama High  and centers on a high school theater program. Knowing Katims, it will probably be much more about the relationships between the characters. It seems like an obvious fit with This is Us and is also a natural fit for NBC, run by the man who brought Smash and the revival of live musicals to the network. Rise stars Josh Radnor, Rosie Perez, Marley Shelton, and a group of young actors playing the students. If last year's pilots had a time travel theme, there is definitely a military theme in this year's drama pilots. The first to get a series order is For God and Country . It is centered on America's elit...

NBC picked up one more drama pilot today ahead of their schedule unveiling tomorrow. The Blacklist: Redemption is a spinoff from their successful drama The Blacklist . It had a backdoor pilot on The Blacklist this week and will now be a regular series, I'd guess for midseason. The Blacklist: Redemption stars Famke Janssen, Ryan Eggold, Edi Gathegi, and Tawny Cypress.

CBS made most of their pickups on Friday but they added one more to the list on Saturday with drama Doubt , which was redeveloped after last pilot season. It centers on a successful defense lawyer who falls for a suspect but charismatic client. The all-star cast includes Katherine Heigl, Steven Pasquale, Laverne Cox, Dule Hill, Dreama Walker, Elliott Gould, and Kobi Libii. Cox will be the first transgender actor playing a transgender character on network TV.

NBC picked up four more shows today: dramas Timeless and Midnight, Texas  and comedies Marlon and Great News . Timeless marks the third time-traveling show picked up in this pilot season alongside ABC's drama Time After Time and FOX's comedy Making History . Timeless is centered on a machine determined to destroy America by altering history and the team of unlikely people who are tasked with traveling to critical historical events to try to save things and not alter history themselves. This could be a candidate for the post- Voice Monday 10pm slot. Timeless stars Abigail Spencer, Matt Lanter, Malcolm Barrett, Goran Visnjic, Patterson Joseph, Sakina Jaffrey, and Claudia Doumit. Midnight, Texas is a supernatural drama based on the book and coming from the creator of True Blood . It is set in a town where nothing is as it seems and the population includes vampires, witches, psychics, and hit men. Midnight, Texas stars Francois Arnaud, Dylan Bruce, Parisa Fitz-Henley, Arielle K...

CBS announced a slew of pilot pickups today, picking up dramas Training Day, Pure Genius, Bull, and MacGyver  and comedies The Great Indoors and Man with a Plan . Training Day is a thriller based on the film of the same name and set 15 years later where a young police officer is assigned to an elite LAPD squad with a grizzly veteran. I'm not convinced this will be able to do what TV rehashes of movies like Rush Hour couldn't, but we'll see. Training Days stars Bill Paxton, Justin Cornwell, Drew Van Acker, Katrina Lew, Scott Davis, and Julie Benz. Pure Genius (formerly known as Bunker Hill ) comes from Jason Katims of Friday Night Lights and Parenthood fame. It is centered on a Silicon Valley genius who teams with a veteran surgeon to start a new hospital with a cutting edge approach to medicine. Pure Genius stars Augustus Prew, Dermot Mulroney, Brenda Song, Reshma Shetty, Ward Horton, Aaron Jennings, and Odette Annable. This seems like it could be a new Sunday show. B...

ABC announced one more pilot pickup today with the comedy Speechless . It's unclear if there is more coming from ABC with pilots so we'll see. Speechless is another comedy in the diverse family comedy wheelhouse that ABC has tapped into so well with shows like Black-ish, Fresh Off the Boat, and The Real O'Neals . This time, it looks at a family with a child with special needs. It stars Minnie Driver as a mom who will do anything for her family even as many challenges arise. It also stars John Ross Bowie, Mason Cook, Micah Fowler, Kyla Kennedy, and Cedric Yarbrough.

NBC has been slow and methodical with picking up shows as they have picked up a few at a time instead of one fell swoop like FOX and mostly ABC. Today they picked up the Dan Fogelman drama This is Us . The premise is a little vague as it is about people's lives, some with the same birthday, intertwining in different ways. I can't quite get a grasp on what this show is but it has gotten lots of acclaim in the pilot process. This is Us stars Mandy Moore, Milo Ventimiglia, and Sterling K. Brown among others. I expect we'll hear more from NBC tomorrow.

Along with many renewals and cancellations, ABC picked up seven shows today joining the already ordered Designated Survivor . ABC picked up dramas Still Star-Crossed, Conviction, Time After Time, and Notorious and comedies Downward Dog, Imaginary Mary, and the Untitled Sarah Dunn project (formerly The Second Fattest Housewife in Westport ). Still Star-Crossed marks Shondaland's fifth show on the ABC lineup joining Grey's Anatomy, Scandal, How to Get Away with Murder, and The Catch . The period drama tells the story of Romeo and Juliet's families following their deaths but presumably in a very Shondaland way. Still Star-Crossed was a pilot that filmed late and will only have a presentation for upfronts which makes me wonder if it will be held for midseason. It stars Wade Briggs, Anthony Head, Zuleikha Robinson, Lashana Lynch, Ebonee Noel, and more. Conviction has been a hot pilot throughout the process. Starring Agent Carter 's Hayley Atwell, it is centered on a form...

NBC's Chicago franchise is getting even bigger as NBC announced the pickup of Chicago Justice to series following last night's backdoor pilot on Chicago PD . This will make four Chicago shows on the NBC lineup as Justice will join PD, Med, and Fire . There have been many successful trilogies of shows such as the CSI shows, the Law & Order  shows, and currently the NCIS shows. But in the case of CSI and Law & Order , it was the fourth installment that wasn't successful. We'll see if this can have more success. Set in the Chicago legal world and certain to crossover with the other shows, Justice stars Philip Winchester, Carl Weathers, Nazneen Contractor, Joelle Carter, and Ryan-James Hatanaka.