Out with the new, in with the old

By Pat Quinn 02-04-2016

Winter. Spring. Summer. Fall. And pilot season. The earth sustains four seasons, but in Hollywood one main season occurs with similar predictability. Once again, the US networks have completed a Herculean feat, this year producing 87 comedy and drama pilot episodes in approximately three months.

The term ‘pilot season’ has always referred to the intense casting and production phase that takes place annually from January to March. It spurs an annual migration, when, for those same three months, New York actors relocate to Los Angeles to audition for lucrative television series roles in hopes of claiming their own.

1980s hit MacGyver is getting a reboot on CBS

Here’s a quick look at this year’s overall trends:

• First, pilot season has spread out, with casting directors and agents now finding themselves casting roles in new shows all year round. There’s even a ‘mini pilot season’ when cable shows cast during December and January. Recently, in addition to those 87 network pilots, shows from Netflix, Hulu and Amazon joined the pilot production frenzy.

• This year, producers and studios wanted to procure and solidify their casts as early as possible and quickly make offers to stars and leads. Given the competition from the digital networks, where did the networks focus their new content development this year?

• Remember that movie? Remember that show? (Me, either!) One notable trend this time around is that networks moved toward franchise titles, those familiar concepts with brand recognition.

• Hollywood studios know how to produce big-budget, genre features and now they’re skillfully applying this expertise to television. Familiar titles from features are being adapted to drama series this year. These include Training Day, Frequency, Lethal Weapon, Taken, Shooter and Cruel Intentions. The latter is an adaptation of the 1782 French epistolary novel by Pierre Chaterlos de Luclos.

• Nostalgic for the 1980s? CBS is bringing back the television series MacGyver, which aired from 1985 to 1992, and is also in development with a MacGyver movie. Another small-screen hit series from 2005 to 2009 is Prison Break, returning this year with many of the original cast reprising their roles. Fox’s 24, which aired from 2001 to 2010, returned as 24: Live Another Day in 2014 and the network makes it a three-peat as 24: Legacy lined up for next season, this time starring Corey Hawkins.

• Writers looked to books as rich sources for characters and material: Nancy Drew, Midnight Texas, Still Star-Crossed — a Romeo and Juliet sequel – Time After Time, Zoobiquity and The Exorcist are all in production.

• A favourite source of ideas, international television formats, are back this year from newly mined countries: Austria with Hail Mary, Australia with Upper Middle Bogan and Norway with Eyewitness.

• Television is perennially on the hunt to cast new faces, and has led the entertainment industry in diversity casting. Who can forget this year’s Oscar controversy, after all? No longer stuck in supporting stereotypical roles, diverse actors are front and centre as both leads and creators.

• Audiences have this season enthusiastically supported comedy series Dr Ken, Blackish and Fresh off the Boat. This year, promising shows are built around the stand-up acts and personas of comics. NBC premiered The Carmichael Show with Jerrod Carmichael. Now the pilot list includes Gabriel Iglesias in The Fluffy Shop, Jermaine Fowler in Superior Donuts, Marlon Wayans in Marlon and Vladimir Caamano in an as-yet untitled project. Vijal Patel is executive producing Square Roots, about an Indian family, with Adhir Kalyan and Noureen DeWulf in starring roles.

So many pilots, so little time. The coming months, and audience response, will determine which ones stand the test of time — and of ratings success or failure. And then, we do it all again…