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ABC Orders 7 Intriguing New Pilots

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ABC has made a bold move in the current pilot season, announcing a whopping seven new dramas that have gone to pilot and could get picked up for full seasons. Most of them are from high-profile writer/creators, and almost all of them feature genre elements of scifi, fantasy, or horror.

First up is Georgetown by Josh Schwartz, who’s known for creating The O.C., Chuck, and Gossip Girl. Written by Will Fetters (Remember Me, The Lucky One), Georgetown is a soap following the young people who operate behind the scenes of Washington, DC’s most powerful players. Real-life journalist Ashley Parker is on staff as a consultant for this, Fetters’ first TV series.

Next is a show with a title that’s sure to raise some eyebrows (and some controversy from the Bible Belt), Good Christian Bitches, from Robert Harling (Steel Magnolias). It’s based on a novel by first-time author Kim Gatlin. Her tale of “Desperate Housewives on steroids” finds a recently divorced mother of two, Amanda Vaughn, moving back to her old stomping grounds in Dallas where she witnesses first hand the dangerous side of gossip.

Hallelujah is a mythical tale of good and evil, where the endless battle between the two is being waged in the small town of Hallelujah, Tennessee. When a stranger comes to town, he bears the power to change the place’s dynamic with his benevolent mixture of peace, justice, and faith. Each episode is said to end with a song sung by the town’s gospel choir. Hallelujah is created and written by Desperate Housewives‘ Marc Cherry, marking his first new show since that ABC hit.

Identity is an action procedural that follows an elite police unit that fights the 21st Century crime of identity theft. It’s written by John Glenn (Eagle Eye).

Next, Once Upon a Time is about a small town in Maine “where the magic and mystery of Fairy Tales” is real. The main character is a woman with a troubled past who’s mysteriously drawn to the town. Once Upon a Time is noteworthy because it was co-developed by Lost co-creator Damon Lindelof, though he’s not expected to have an ongoing presence on the show. Instead his co-creators (and former Lost staff writers) Edtward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz, who most recently wrote the feature film Tron: Legacy, are overseeing this high-profile series.

Revenge is a modern retelling of Dumas’ classic The Count of Monte Cristo, wherein a charismatic, mysterious young woman takes on the role who returns to her home to exact revenge on the people who destroyed her family. The twist: her home is the Hamptons. Revenge is written by Mike Kelley (Swingtown).

Finally, The River, which like Good Christian Bitches was won after a bidding war, is about a family who travels deep into the Amazon jungle to locate and rescue their missing father. The River is described as a “horror drama” written by Paranormal Activity‘s Oren Peli and Paranormal Activity 2‘s Michael Perry. But ABC asked for a rewrite of the pilot script to hone the concept, so Michael Green (Heroes, Kings) was brought in, after which ABC gave it the green light.

First 14 Minutes of V: Season 2

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ABC has posted the first 14 minutes of V‘s second season online as a little gift to the hardcore fans. The second season opener is titled “Red Rain,” obviously picking up where Season One’s cliffhanger, “Red Sky,” left off. Looks like fairly heavy stuff.

Enjoy!

Del Toro & Eick Behind ABC’s New Hulk

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Remember the new live-action Incredible Hulk series that Marvel and ABC are working on? Geek-friendly writer/director Guillermo del Toro and Battlestar Galactica producer David Eick are the team behind this new imagining of the Hulk’s story for TV.

Del Toro’s involvement is enough to get me onboard, as this will be his first-ever foray into television. And the Hulk is just the kind of outsidery character that he’s known for.

This new incarnation of the Hulk will be an origin story for the character and his alter ego Bruce Banner, who will be younger than past versions (mid-twenties is likely). The Hulk himself will be realized with a mixture of CGI, puppetry, and prosthetics (no doubt to keep the effects budget under control). Del Toro will put his design skills to good use in giving the Jade Giant a new look, and may even direct the pilot. Eick will write the script, based on a story by himself and del Toro.

The series isn’t expected to be ready to air as part of the Fall 2011 season, but could be a mid-season replacement, or a Fall 2012 new show. Assuming it gets picked up in the first place.

ABC & NBC Announce Returns and Renewals

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ABC has announced the mid-season return of V. The alphabet net will pair up the alien invasion saga with No Ordinary Family on Tuesday nights at 9:pm, starting January 4th.

NBC, meanwhile, has given full-season orders to three of its new-in-2010 shows. The Event, which is among the highest-rated shows of the new season, has gotten an additional order of nine more episodes, giving it a full 22-episode first season. THR suggests that this is especially good news for fans, since their sources indicate that the big reveal of just exactly what “the Event” is, is planned for the end of the first season. Law & Order: Los Angeles and Outsourced have both gotten a back 9 order as well.

The verdict is still out for freshman series Chase and Undercovers, although Undercovers probably stands a decent chance, thanks to JJ Abrams’ clout in the industry (though speeding up reveals about the show’s mythology would certainly help), and Chase‘s modest ratings could be enough to allow it to survive the season.

Marvel Readies Properties for TV, Including New ‘Hulk’

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The old Incredible Hulk series starring Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno is arguably Marvel’s most successful and most respected foray into live-action TV. So it should come as no surprise that now that Marvel has created its own TV division, Marvel Television, that the House of Ideas sees a new Hulk series as its key first property.

The original Hulk series aired on CBS, but since Marvel is now wholly owned by Disney, naturally they’re utilizing some synergy with the mouse’s very own network, ABC. Comic book scribe and former producer on such series as Lost and Heroes, Jeph Loeb, is heading up Marvel Television, and is currently on the hunt for a showrunner for ABC’s new Hulk. Another major property on his to-do list is Cloak & Dagger for ABC Family, about two runaways who team up after they’re injected with a powerful drug that gives them superpowers. In the comics, they’ve spent the majority of their crime-fighting days waging war on illegal drugs and those who traffic them.

The Hulk will also be hitting the big screen soon in Marvel’s big superhero team-up  film, The Avengers, which is being written and directed by genre icon Joss Whedon. Mark Ruffalo is taking over the film role from Edward Norton, but it’s unknown if the TV show will have any connection to the movies. (I’ll watch it — as long as they do the Planet Hulk storyline at some point.)

Other Marvel properties being considered for live-action TV series include Heroes for Hire, The Eternals, Agents of Atlas, Alter Ego (based on the Alias comic book by Brian Michael Bendis, a TV series about which Bendis has been trying to get off the ground for years, so very interesting that it’s now landed back in Marvel’s hands), Moon Knight, The Hood, Ka-Zar, Daughters of the Dragon, and The Punisher (presumably for a pay cable network, which would let the show go all out with adult content).