Upfronts 2023: Pilot Buzz Muted By Writers Strike
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For the second time in three years, the final stage of the broadcast pilot season has been upended by an extraordinary event. In 2020, it was a global pandemic. This year, it is a writers strike. The work stoppage, which started May 2, did not impact pilots, which all had been completed before WGA’s contract with the studios expired May 1, I hear.
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But it is expected to affect pickup decisions as the networks are faced with the possibility that no newly ordered or renewed scripted series could go into production for months if the impasse between the writers guild and the studios does not get resolved quickly — which appears unlikely.
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These decisions are getting fewer and fewer as pilot season volume has declined sharply since the pandemic, with 14 pilots across three networks — ABC, CBS and NBC — this year. (Fox has given straight-to-series orders to dramas HI-Surf and Doc and has three new animated series for next season; the CW has been stocking up on acquired scripted series.) Not all pilots will hear their fate before the upfront week of May 15; for those that do, their creators might get the news on the WGA picket lines.
The TV development process is all about the writers, and it is surreal to watch the culmination of their efforts — series greenlights — play out with them on the sidelines.
RELATED: 2023 Fox Pilots & Series Orders
Between the WGA negotiations, major executive shakeups and layoffs, it has been hard to focus on pilot season this year as the importance of pilot gossip pales in comparison to the seismic events in our industry. But since it is a longstanding Deadline tradition, here is what I am hearing on the eve of the first pilot-to-series orders. Because everyone is pretty distracted, collecting intel has been very difficult, so, as usual, take the info below with a grain of salt.
It is TBD whether ABC will make any new series pickups before its upfront presentation on May 16. Like many other media companies, the network is said to be taking a wait-and-see approach at the start of the writers strike to assess the situation and evaluate what a commitment to a series would mean financially and logistically in case the writers’ work stoppage stretches for months.
RELATED: 2023 ABC Pilots & Series Orders
ABC is said to be high on Drew Goddard’s untitled hourlong character-based procedural starring Kaitlin Olson, The project, a remake of the French series Haut Potentiel Intellectuel (HPI), has been a front-runner since September, when Goddard’s scripts impressed ABC brass, landing a quick pilot order.
In addition to HPI, which is considered pretty much a lock, The Good Lawyer also is looking good, I hear. It has a title recognition as a spinoff from The Good Doctor and its backdoor pilot, starring Kennedy McMann and Felicity Huffman, has been well received.
Things are a little murkier when it comes to ABC’s other two drama pilots, The Hurt Unit, starring Ben McKenzie, and Judgement, headlined by Sarah Shahi, which both are in contention.
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I hear conflicting information whether ABC’s recent move to pick up Fox’s flagship procedural 9-1-1 would impact The Hurt Unit‘s chances. There isn’t a ton of overlap between 9-1-1, which revolves around first responders, including paramedics, and The Hurt Unit, which is about team of trauma surgeons and nurses who race in the field to help patients. Still, there is a some common ground, and ABC already has two other medical dramas, Grey’s Anatomy and The Good Doctor, which have been renewed for next season.
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Even if 9-1-1 is not a direct competitor to The Hurt Unit, it is taking a slot on ABC’s schedule next season away from a pilot awaiting a pickup or a bubble series waiting for a renewal. (ABC is yet to make a decision on Big Sky, The Rookie: Feds, The Company You Keep and Alaska Daily)
Judgement, a legal drama spanning multiple timelines, largely has been well received, though there also has been some mixed feedback to the high-concept project, I hear.
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On the comedy side, ABC has two workplace comedies with big stars, Public Defenders, headlined by Anthony Anderson, and Drop-Off (fka Motherland), led by Ellie Kemper. The network’s bar for comedy is currently very high, set by award-winning sophomore half-hour Abbott Elementary, so there is a chance that no new ABC comedy series emerges from this pilot cycle.
While veteran The Goldbergs is going away, ABC held back The Wonder Years, so it has a fresh season of a comedy series for fall. The Conners‘ renewal is a done deal, ABC also has been happy with newbie Not Dead Yet’s performance, and Home Economics also is a possibility for renewal.
Typically in the rear when it comes to timing of picking pilots to series (and sometimes the last network to make those decisions), CBS is moving to the pole position this year. The Paramount network, which will not hold a presentation during upfront week for the first time since anyone can remember, plans to unveil its fall schedule May 9, a week ahead of its counterparts. CBS’ pilots are expected to factor into its scheduling plans, so the network is expected to make pickup decisions in the next couple of days. UPDATE: CBS’ schedule reveal has been pushed to May 10.
By all accounts CBS has a strong drama pilot contingent as it went with two IP-based projects from proven creators who delivered.
RELATED: 2023 CBS Pilots & Series Orders
There had been a very strong buzz surrounding Matlock, a reboot of the classic series from Jane the Virgin‘s Jennie Snyder Urman, since the script stage. The pilot, starring Kathy Bates, has kept the momentum, heading into upfronts at full steam as those who have seen it all seem to love it.
Meanwhile, Michelle and Robert King have delivered another strong contender with The Good Wife universe offshoot Elsbeth starring Carrie Preston. It also has been very well received, creating one of those embarrassment-of-riches situations for CBS.
There is some wiggle room as CBS has three bubble series to make a decision on, S.W.A.T., East New York and True Lies, so it could conceivably pick up both drama pilots to series at the expense of renewals. The network already has one new drama series for next season, Tracker, starring Justin Hartley (fka The Nevber Game).
It’s a tougher situation on the comedy side, where CBS already has renewed its current comedy series so it will likely have to choose between its two pilots, JumpStart, starring Terry Crews, and Untitled Wayans Father/Son project, starring Damon Wayans and Damon Wayans Jr., for one slot.
It looks like a tossup between the two, with the Wayans comedy having a slight edge.
Last year, NBC only had one pilot in consideration for the upfronts, drama Quantum Leap, which got picked up. It is a similar situation this year.
I hear the network is not expected to make a call on most — if not all — of its pilots until after it unveils its schedule May 15. There is a possibility for a comedy order before that but that in flux.
Of NBC’s four pilots — two dramas and two comedies — the network has seen one drama, Untitled Jenna Bans/Bill Krebs Project starring Retta, and Justin Spitzer and Eric Ledgin’s comedy St. Denis Medical, headlined by Wendi McLendon-Covey.
RELATED: 2023 NBC Pilots & Series Orders
I hear St. Denis Medical has been enthusiastically received and is looking very good for a pickup.
NBC brass reportedly also liked the pilot from the Good Girls trio of Bans, Krebs and Retta, but no decision is expected soon as the network is waiting to see medical drama Wolf, starring Zachary Quinto and Amber Ruffin’s comedy Non-Evil Twin.
The network has banked two new drama series for next fall: Found and The Irrational.
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