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BIG TALK

CBS Projects for the 2019 Pilot Season

Place your bets on which of these dozens of projects will make it to series.
  • APEX (Sony Picctures Television) Thriller drama by Terry Matalas (12 Monkeys), John Fox & John Davis (The Blacklist, Magnum PI, Timeless). The daughter of a notorious serial killer returns to work hunting down murders and deviants for the FBI years after living an inconspicuous suburban life.

    BODY CAM COP (CBS Television Studios)  Cop drama by Glenn Geller & David Grae (Gilmore Girls). When a cop’s heroism inadvertently lands him celebrity status after an on-the-job incident goes viral, he and his new partner are selected to be part of a pilot program that livestreams body cam footage to the public. However they soon find their lives complicated when the cameras create unintended consequences on and off the force.

    BODHI (CBS Television Studios)  Supernatural legal drama by Greg Grunberg & Jonathan Shapiro (Goliath). Cnters on a high-powered lawyer who inherits his father’s small law firm and discovers not only that his father’s clients are ghosts, but that he himself can now see and communicate with them, all of which forces him to pair with his estranged investigator brother (Grunberg) as they resolve cases that will allow the dead to finally rest in peace. Starring Greg Grunberg.

    CHAPLAIN (CBS Television Studios)  Medical drama by Nick Weiss, Laurie McCarthy (Reign), Dr Phil (Bull) & Jay McGraw. Centers around a talented, scientifically minded ICU doctor and her free-thinking, faith-oriented brother clash over the best approach to the business of saving lives when he is hired as chaplain at her hospital.

    CROOKED BROOKLYN (Lionsgate) —  Crime drama by Joel Silver (Veronica Mars) & Adair Cole (Norco). With an unparalleled drive to ferret out corruption and find justice, the DAs of the Brooklyn Rackets Division are given badges and guns and tasked with both investigating crime on the streets and prosecuting those crimes in the courtroom.

    EMBODY (CBS Television Studios) — Sci-fi drama by James Corden & Chai Hecht. After a mission gone wrong renders her permanently blind, a special agent volunteers for an experimental government program that can temporarily transfer her consciousness into someone else’s body, giving her the ability to see through their eyes as she infiltrates high-stakes situations and takes down criminals from within.

    EVIL (CBS Television Studios) — Fantasy drama by Robert & Michelle King (The Good Wife, The Good Fight). Focuses on a skeptical female clinical psychologist who joins a priest-in-training and a blue-collar contractor as they investigate supposed miracles, demonic possession and other extraordinary occurrences to see if there’s a scientific explanation or if something truly supernatural is at work.

    FALSE MEMORIES (Lionsgate/Condé Nast Entertainment) — Crime drama by Steve Maeda (Salvation) & Joel Silver (Veronica Mars). Centers on a forensic psychologist who uses her expertise in the malleability of human memory to investigate crime scenes and analyze the memories of victims and witnesses in her quest for justice.

    FAMILY EMERGENCY (CBS Television Studios) — Medical drama by Michael Rauch (Jane the Virgin) and Jennie Snyder Urman (Charmed). Revolves around three sisters who often clash but always have each other’s backs work together in a busy ER, saving patients’ lives while navigating the complications of love, medicine and family.

    FAR ROCKAWAY (CBS Television Studios) —  Supernatural cop drama by David Wilcox (Fringe, 666 Park Avenue) & Alex Kurtzman (Hawaii 5-O). Remake of spanish show Estoy Vivo. A workaholic NYPD detective killed in the line of duty is granted a second chance to return to earth in the body of another cop in order to bring his killer to justice and heal the fractured family he left behind.

    FIRST LADY (CBS Television Studios) — Drama by Michael Weatherly (Bull), Eric Christian Olsen (NCIS:LA) & Jessica Grasl (Designated Survivor). Centers around the beloved First Lady of the United States, who, determined to reclaim her life, does the unthinkable — she divorces her husband while he’s still in office and uses her prominence to become an advocate for truth and justice by revitalizing her career as an investigative journalist.

    H-TOWN (CBS Television Studios) —  Cop drama by Samantha Corbin-Miller (K-Ville). Domestic take on the Canadian drama series “19-2,”in which two Houston detectives from opposing sides of a multi-generational family feud are paired as partners and find themselves surprisingly drawn to each other even as they investigate a case that may have far-reaching ramifications for both their families

    MD-1 (Sony Pictures Television) —  Medical Drama By Dr Oz & Josh Berman (Drop Dead Diva). Follows a team of street doctors who take on the biggest catastrophes in New York, saving lives without ever setting foot in an emergency room or hospital. The project is inspired by the “Medical Avengers” program in New Jersey.

    MELANIE (CBS Television Studios) —  Legal drama by Scott Prendergast, Dr Phil & Jay McGraw. Centers on a scattered but astute criminal defense attorney who uses her seemingly inept methods to disarm judges, charm juries, and win cases returns home to join her brother’s white-shoe law firm and help her family of outsiders get back on their feet.

    MIA (CBS Television Studios) —  Detective drama produced by Michael Weatherly (NCIS, Bull) & Cote de Pablo. When a newly minted homicide detective is assigned to an experienced, by-the-book partner to solve cases in Miami, she struggles to keep the personal entanglements of her final undercover assignment from jeopardizing her future.

    MS. MAYOR (CBS Television Studios) — Female Mayor Drama by Barbara Hall (Madam Secretary, Homeland, Joan of Arc) & Nina Tassler. When a young activist runs for Mayor of New York City on a whim, her surprise victory launches her onto a political stage that she’s not prepared for, but is determined to take on with her idealistic enthusiasm. Put pilot commitment.

    NURSES (CBS Television Studios) — Medical drama based on finnish series by Eric Christian Olsen. About four trauma center nurses charged with everything from triage to surgery who must balance life and death stakes on the job with the drama of their complicated lives outside the hospital.

    RANGER (CBS Television Studios) —  Police procedural by Jason Hall. Centers on a Texas Ranger and his cantankerous father move to South Florida where the Ranger becomes a homicide detective and searches for his brother’s killer.

    SECRET SIX (Warner Bros. Television) — DC Comics drama by Bill Lawrence (Scrubs, Cougar Town) & Rick Muirragui (Suits). Centers on six morally ambiguous strangers, each with their own unique specialties and secret pasts, who are brought together by an enigmatic figure who blackmails them into working as a team to expose the corruption of the corporate and political elite. Pilot production commitment.

    THE SECRET TO A GOOD MARRIAGE (Warner Bros. Television) — Spy drama by Greg Berlanti & Martin Gero (Deception, Blindspot). Centers on an elite pair of CIA spies who, in the wake of their fractured marriage, are pushed to their limits both professionally and personally, fighting to save the world while they forge a new kind of relationship for themselves and their son. Pilot production commitment.

    SURVEILLANCE (20th Century Fox Television and CBS Television Studios) — Thriller drama by Matt Reeves (The Passage, Felicity) & Sophia Bush. A complex and timely spy thriller centered around the head of communications for the NSA, a charming operative who finds her loyalties torn between protecting the government’s secrets and her own. Starring Sophia Bush, Catalina Sandino Moreno, Raphaël Acloque, Matthew Modine, Allan Leech. Ordered to pilot.

    UNDER THE BRIDGE (CBS Television Studios) —  Medical Drama by Rina Mimoun (Everwood, Dawson’s Creek) & Jerry Bruckheimer (CSI). When a scandal rocks the medical practice she runs with her husband and their friends, a surgeon rises to the occasion and takes the lead in trying to mend both the practice and her own marriage.

    UNTITLED JOSH REIMS MEDICAL DRAMA (CBS Television Studios) — Medical military drama by Jerry Bruckheimer (CSI) & Josh Reims (Dynasty). An intimate look at the high-octane, complicated lives of the med students, residents and attending physicians at the elite Uniformed Services University, where every doctor is also a trained soldier whose patients can be anyone from a fellow serviceperson to the President of the United States.

     

    COMEDY PROJECTS

    AMERICA, USA (CBS Television Studios) —  Single-camera comedy by Michael Kramer (Men in Trees, Life Unexpected) and Lilli Birdsell (TURN). A young workplace ensemble set at a Colonial-times theme park called America, U.S.A.

    AMERIKHANS (CBS Television Studios) — Multicamera comedy by Farhand Arshad (Man with a Plan) and Brian Grazer. Centers around a young Pakistani-American guy who must make amends with his estranged family when he and his girlfriend take in his cousins and grandfather, turning their previously carefree lives upside down.

    BAIT & TACKLE (Warner Bros. Television) — Multicamera comedy by Johnny Galecki (The Big Bang Theory, Living Bibically), Brian Kelley & Linfa Figueiredo (Stuck In the Middle). Revolves around three adult siblings who must step up to run the family business—a small town bait & tackle shop—when the family patriarch retires.

    BE HERE NOW (CBS Television Studios) — Multicamera comedy by Tommy Johnagin (Man with a Plan, Late Late Show) & James Corden (Carpool Karaoke). Centers on a young widower who decides to move his life and kids from Los Angeles to a small town in Illinois to be closer to his wife’s large family.

    BOB HEARTS ABISHOLA (Warner Bros. Television) —  Multicamera comedy by Chuck Lorre (Mom, Mike & Molly, The Big Bang Theory), Al Higgins (The Kominsky Method) & Gina Yashere. The story of a man who has a heart attack and falls in love with his Nigerian nurse. He then sets his sights on getting her to give him a chance.Starring Billy Gardell.  Pilot production commitment.  

    CAROL’S SECOND ACT (CBS Television Studios) —  Multicamera comedy by Patricia Heaton, Emily Halpern (Trophy Wife) & Aaron Kaplan (Life in Pieces, American Housewife). After raising her two children and retiring from teaching, Carol Chambers embarks on a unique second act: she’s going to become a doctor. Starring Patricia Heaton. Put pilot (blind series commitment). 

    THE CREW (CBS Television Studios) — Multicamera comedy by Gracie Glassmeyer. When the family patriarch dies, his son has to step up and take the wheel as the driver of the father’s racing team

    DAD VS. FATHER (CBS Television Studios) — Multicamera comedy by Cedric The Entertainer & Kurt Braunohler (The Neighborhood). Centers on new parents Karl and Leanne, who move in with Karl’s formerly deadbeat dad, his much younger wife, and their two 14-year-old daughters, starting an intense competition between the men to prove who is the better father.

    THE EMPEROR OF MALIBU (Warner Bros. Television) — Multicamera comedy by Kevin Kwan (Crazy Rich Asians) & Michelle Nader (2 Broke Girls). Revolves around two very different families — one from Shanghai with new money and one from the U.S. East Coast with old money — who learn to co-exist when their children get married. Put pilot.

    THE FOLKS (CBS Television Studios) — Multicamera comedy by Kerry Washington & Frank Pines. About what happens when a momma’s boy marries a daddy’s girl, and their respective parents can’t let go

    GENERATION GAP (Warner Bros. Television) — Single-camera comedy by Dan Kopelman (Me, Myself and I, Malcolm). About the hell of teenage years, as told from the dueling perspectives of a 16-year-old girl and her father. Put pilot.

    HALFWAY THERE (ABC Studios) — Multi-camera comedy by Iliza Shelsinger, Ellen Plummer-Kreamer & Sherry Bilsing-Graham (I Hate my Teenage Daughter). Centers on a comic who prides herself on “guiding women” in her act. She is forced to put that to practical use when her half-sister moves in with her. Starring  Iliza Shelsinger.  Put Pilot.

    JUST LIKE US (Sony Pictures Television) —  Multicamera comedy by Gloria Calderon Kellett (One Day at a Time). Centers on a widower who takes in his teenage El Salvadorian niece while still raising his two grown daughters, retired parents and running the restaurant he started with his late wife.

    LIFE LESSONS (CBS Television Studios) — Multicamera comedy by Mark Gross & Eric Christian Olsen. Small screen take on Dave Keystone and Nolan Sarner’s Canadian digital series “Kids On”. About a guy who is a professional failure at life and finds advice and friendship in the most unlikely of places… a class of first graders.

    THE LITTLE THINGS (CBS Television Studios) — Multicamera comedy by Tom Segura & Christina Pazsitsky. Focuses on the funny coping mechanisms that get you through the harder parenting dilemmas. Starring Tom Segura, Christina Pazsitsky…

    OUR HOUSE (Sony Pictures Television) — Multicamera comedy by Nick Stoller (Friends From College, The Carmichael Show) & Brendan O’Brien (Neighbors 1 & 2).  Centers on a devoted mom and dad who are committed to raising their children with the love and support the mom never got as a kid, but discover how difficult that is with her parents and siblings back in the picture. Put pilot.

    QUINTA & JERMAINE (ABC Studios & CBS Television Studios) — Multicamera comedy by Jermaine Fowler & Larry Wilmore (Blackish, The Bernie Mac Show). Stars Jermaine Fowler and Quinta Brunson as childhood best friends who find themselves expecting a child while navigating adulthood. Pilot production commitment

    RATCHET (CBS Television Studios) —  Multicamera comedy by Natasha Leggero (Another Period) & Morgan Murphy (Two Broke Girls). Centers on Jessica Rachet, who must start a new life and make new friends after her rich fiancé suddenly dies. Starring Natasha Leggero.

    RICHES TO RAGS (CBS Television Studios) —  Multicamera comedy by Alex Herschlag (Will & Grace, Modern Family) & Jennie Snyder Urman (Jane the Virgin, Charmed). When an outrageously wealthy trust fund baby is cut off by his father, he and his wife move into her sister’s Reseda condo where they delight in the “charms” of the working class but mourn the loss of being the 1% of the 1%. Starring Jaime Camil.

    SIBLINGS (CBS Television Studios) —  Multicamera comedy by David Hornsby (It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia). Centers on two very different siblings who decide to live together and raise their kids

    SHOULDA COULDA WOULDA (Sony Pictures Television) —  Multicamera comedy by Gloria Calderon-Kellett (One Day at a Time). After receiving a letter they wrote to themselves in high school, a group of 28-year-old friends plan to hold each other accountable to becoming who they want to be in the next 10 years.

    THE SQUEEZE (CBS Television Studios) — Multi-camera comedy by Dana Klein (Friends with better lives) & Aaron Kaplan (9JKL). Centers on a married couple that struggles to take care of both dependent children and dependent parents.

    THE STORY OF US (Sony Pictures Television) —  Multicamera comedy by Nick Stoller & Mike Royce (One Day at a Time, Everybody Loves Raymond). A story told through interviews and vignettes spanning 10 years, about how an unlikely couple becomes an unlikely family.

    TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN (CBS Television Studios)  — Hybrid comedy by Mike Metz & Gail Berman. About Evan, who sets out with his group of 20-something friends to accomplish a list of challenges he wrote for himself years ago in an effort to turn around his banal life

    TOWNIES (Warner Bros. Television) — Mulitcamera comedy by Katie Greenway (The Millers) & Jared Stern (Dr Ken). Follows an eclectic group of friends in their twenties who are happily living large in their small Wisconsin hometown.

    WIDOWER (CBS Television Studios) — Single-camera comedy by Peyton Reed (Ant-Man and the Wasp), Bill Martin & Mike Schiff (Fam, Grounded for Life, 3rd Rock From the Sun). Centers on a widower who is eager to move on from the worst year of his life, only to find he’s utterly unprepared to raise his two daughters on his own. He’s equally unready for a dating world where, to his shock, he’s suddenly a hot commodity.

    Jean-Maxime Renault is a TV addict based in Paris who writes about television and movies on AlloCiné (aka "the French IMDB"). In 2015 he created Season Zero, a website about television development and pilot season, which is now a part of Primetimer. Follow him on Twitter @SeasonZeroCom

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