Lost's M.C. Gainey stars in "Happy Town" pilot
NBC begins its upfront presentations to advertisers today in New York, where it is expected that they will unveil their new fall series. Most of the other networks are set to release their fall schedules around the middle of the month, but screenings of their future pilots has already started, and with it, so has the buzz around them.
You can read about the buzz at NBC in this article from last week. At ABC, the drama buzz surrounds the pilots for Flash Forward, Eastwick, and Happy Town.
Flash Forward hasn't even officially been picked up by ABC yet, and they have already started a marketing campaign, featuring promotional ads during last week's 100th episode of Lost. This show has an enormous amount of buzz and is already considered a sure thing.
Eastwick, based on the 1987 feature film, "The Witches of Eastwick" is also hot at the network right now, and Happy Town, a Twin Peaks-style mystery series starring Lost's M.C. McGainy (as well as Sam Neill and Amy Acker) is also a front-runner.
Other ABC dramas with buzz include the sci-fi 80's alien invasion remake V, the Romeo and Juliet-styled Empire State, and the performing arts school0set Limelight.
On ABC's comedy list we have the Courteney Cox led Cougar Town, about a single mom who re-enters the dating scene, the untitled Ricky Blitt project, and the mockumentary My American Family. It’s tough to imagine these three comedies not making it next fall. Other comedies at ABC that include some buzz right now is Lauren Graham's The Bridget Show, Cedric the Entertainer's The Law, and the as yet untitled Kelsey Grammar project about a man who loses everything on Wall Street and is forced to start over.
At Fox, Human Target remains the stand out lead for a new drama series, and Sons of Tucson is the leading comedy pilot for the network.
Human Target stars Mark Valley as Christopher Chance, a DC Comic book character who owns a very unorthodox security company. Sons of Tucson is a comedy that centers on a charming but misguided hustler hired by three rich young brothers to act as their "father" while their real one serves time for a white-collar crime.
Other comedies with buzz for Fox include the adaptation of the British hit Absolutely Fabulous as well as Cop House. Other drama contenders include the doctor version of Eli Stone, called Maggie Hill (a schizophrenic surgeon) and the reincarnation procedural Past Life.
