Media Bites-March 11 2010

Pilots in the pipeline
Now is the time when all the broadcast and cable nets share their new programming plans-feuding housewives, witches and Kirstie Alley. So I thought I's get the ball rolling with a few choice shows that are on the docket for pick up or pass. Maybe I'll even start a contest or a poll to pick the winners and losers. Let's start with ABC:

Boston Finest
ABC Studios
Richard Hatem (w), Bert Salke (ep), Chris Brancato (ep), Gary Fleder (d, ep)
A female detective teams with a disgraced ex-cop to solve crimes and untangle the conspiracy that sent him underground.
Katee Sackhoff, Richard T. Jones, Will Yun Lee.

*Katee Sackhoff gave a great performance as a tortured pilot on SyFy's original series 'Battlestar Gallactica'

Cutthroat
20th Century Fox Television
Michele Fazekas (w, ep), Tara Butters (w, ep), Bronwen Hughes (d)
A dramedy about an ambitious Beverly HIlls single mother who runs an international drug cartel.
Roselyn Sanchez, Jon Seda, Peggy Lipton, Escher Holloway

*Doesn't this sound a little bit like the Showtime original 'Weeds'?

Generation Y
ABC Studios
Noah Hawley (w, ep), Warren Littlefield (ep), Henrik Bastin (ep), Peter Magnasson (ep), Martin Piersson (ep), Craig Gillespie (d)
A doc-style scripted dramedy that follows a disparate group of former high school classmates.
Michael Stahl David, Keir O'Donnell, Kelli Gamer, Daniella Alonso, Julian Morris, Mechad Brooks, Jamie King, Anne Son

*I've seen this already-isn't it called 'Degrassi' on Teen Nick.

Freshmen
20th Century Fox Television
Greg Malins (w, ep), Arianna Huffington (ep), Pamela Fryman (d), Roy Sekoff (ep)
An ensemble about three first-year members of Congress who live together in a Washington row house.
Sarah Chalke, Tommy Dewey, Taran Killam, Suzy Nakamura, Ben Lawson, Taran Killam

*Is this what happens when 'The Real World: DC' grows up??

Funny in Farsi
ABC Studios
Nastaran Dibai (w, ep), Jeffrey B. Hodes (w, ep), Barry Sonnenfeld (d, ep)
About an Iranian immigrant family in 1970s Newport Beach, Calif.
Maz Jobrani, Hrach Titizian, Marjan Neshat, Kendra Jain,
David Gore, Sarah Shahi

*'That 70's Show' moves to the Middle East

Stay tuned for more updates from the Media Man.