News Briefs: Fox Orders a Robot Cop Drama Pilot from the Producers of Fringe

News Briefs: Fox Orders a Robot Cop Drama Pilot from the Producers of Fringe

J.J. ABRAMS SHITS GOLD NEWS

... J.J. Abrams, how have your last 48 hours been? After being named the director of the new Star Wars film, Abrams has another project in the works. Fox has ordered a pilot of an untitled drama that's set in the near future and follows cops who partner up with super fancy androids to keep the streets clean. Abrams is reteaming with Fringe showrunner J.H. Wyman on the show. Abrams has also sold another pilot to NBC titled Believe, about a young woman with a gift who forms an unlikely relationship with an escaped con. Abrams' leftover breakfast has also been ordered to series. [EW]

MORE PILOTS! PILOTS EVERYWHERE!

... NBC has ordered a pilot from Saturday Night Live writer John Mulaney. The untitled multi-camera comedy is loosely based on Mulaney's life and is described as a young ensemble comedy. Mulaney will star. I bet Mulaney is feeling pretty good about himself right now. [Deadline Hollywood]

... NBC has ordered a pilot for Craig Robinson's comedy from The Office's Greg Daniels. Robinson (Daryl from The Office) will star as a middle-school music teacher. [TV Guide]

... No more boring high school stuff! The CW likes its shows high-concept! The network has ordered three pilots for contention next season. The Hundred is a post-apocalyptic tale about 100 juvenile delinquents sent back to Earth to determine whether it's inhabitable after nuclear war blows it up. Oxygen finds out what happens when a human girl falls in love with a alien boy. And finally, Reign is a period piece about young Mary Queen of Scots. My money is not on the history lesson disguised as a teen drama. [TV Line]

... ABC has ordered a remake of the currently running British comedy series Spy. The single-camera sitcom centers on a father who accidentally joins the secret service to prove his fatherliness to his son. Also at ABC is a single-camera comedy about a woman who moves back home with her dad and starts coaching her son's little league team. James Caan is in talks to star as the father, a former ballplayer and current drunk. [THR]

BUSINESS TIME

... Syfy has set a date for the television premiere of Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome: February 10 at 9pm. The failed pilot has already aired on YouTube. Great, now I have to steal my neighbor's cable instead of just their internet to watch this again? [Syfy via press release]

... TruTV's Hardcore Pawn has been renewed for a seventh season because what else does TruTV have? [TruTV via press release]

... AMC is pondering a Breaking Bad companion show called Talking Bad, which would be to the hit meth-dealing drama what Talking Dead is to The Walking Dead. The new show would feature some dude and some guests talking about each new episode of Breaking Bad. I think AMC should just launch AMC2, which would be non-stop footage of Chris Hardwick watching AMC. (This is a Twitter joke repeat, sorry.) [Deadline Hollywood]

CASTING NEWS

... Sarah Chalke (Scrubs) will guest-star on an upcoming episode of Grey's Anatomy. Details on her role haven't been released, but my inside sources tell me she will play a lady. [TV Line]

... The Secret Circle star Britt Robertson has escaped the clutches of The CW and will star in CBS's Under the Dome, the sci-fi miniseries due to air this summer. The show, based on Stephen King's book, is about a small town that gets covered in a mysterious plastic shield, cutting it off from the rest of the world. Robertson will play Angie, a waitress with aspirations to leave. Good luck with that now, honey. [Deadline Hollywood]

Follow TV.com writer Tim Surette on Twitter: @TimAtTVDotCom

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marie286

Feb 12, 2013

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rodbleskow58

Jan 30, 2013

OH GOD, NO! Please don't subject us to this MORONIC CRAP again - P L E A S E !!!!
I'm begging here........
STOP HOLLYWOOD STUPIDITY!

Dre5d

Jan 29, 2013

The hundred sounds like it will be the shit, hope it gets picked up i mean the description screams CW

myaddow

JJ Abrams is turning into the sci-fi version of Seth MacFarlane...he's everywhere.

CharmedOneP391

Jan 28, 2013

JJ re-partnering with Joel Wyman?? If it could naturally become my Fringe replacement...that'd be amazing.

Flatlegz

Great news for Craig Robinson! I will be tuning in for that.

I for one hope the Abrams breakfast show gets a full season ordered.

Staff

noelrk

I'm completely intrigued by the fact that Mulaney is pitching a multicam sitcom. Hopefully with Lorne Michaels behind it, NBC will pick it up and treat it well. Or at least slightly better than most multicams get treated these days.

TrevPlatt

Tim, you had the perfect opportunity there to "Duchovny" Sarah Chalke and you missed it! Are you a little off your game since the end of Fringe?

Svanehjerte

Under the Dome is the only thing worth seeing here. Thankfully it's a miniseries so that it will at least get a proper ending.

lalaforever1989

I have no idea why networks want to spend billions on shitty television shows.

ted2332

$$$$$ + meow. :)

Marburg66

I've always reckoned that it's because the business of television has little resemblance to the fandom of television.
In a nutshell, it's the network suits job to simply care more for quality numbers than quality programs. It's not about making the viewing public happy, It's about making the shareholders happy

hockeyrick

Jan 27, 2013

Anybody see "Barracuda" sung on Suburgatory?? That was classic!

KevinG87

Robocop tv show doesn't sound promising to me, but maybe it's because I don't like cop shows?

I liked John Mulaney on the old Best Week Ever, so maybe this won't be crap?

Those new CW shows sound sort of interesting, I'd check into them atleast.

SERIOUSLY AMERICAN TV, STOP REDOING BRITISH SHOWS! IT'S ONLY WORKED LIKE TWICE! (The Office and Being Human)

I didn't think BSG: Blood & Chrome was supposed to be a pilot, I thought it was just a webseries.

Britt Robertson might've got off CW, but CBS is still too close, same company or something.

shocker713

truTV also has World's Dumbest, thank you very little.

BrandonLillis

Impractical Jokers best show in the last year!!! guts laughs ensue

Writerpatrick

It might be time for another Robocop series. The last mini-series was fairly good. But they have to keep the dark humor that made the movie good.

I don't think Blood and Chrome was every really intended as a pilot, it was more likely hoped that if it was successful that it could become a new TV series. But the fact is that unlike Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica is over. They all wind up dying in the end.

itsmemadie01

I have a very bad feeling about this...

heh! That's no pilot. It's a space filler

torque_smacky

Well, I like high-concept dramas too, CW. In fact, I'll tune into any one-hour show if the premise is out-there enough (and it's not ripping Twilight off again). We haven't agreed on this since the days of Buffy, but I'm glad to hear you might be turning back around.

vicbjones

It's a TV site, so why a picture of Robocop (and not even the TV Robocop)? It's not like there hasn't been an android cop show before (e.g., Holmes and YoYo, Future Cop, Mann and Machine, and Total Recall 2020).

Simply because despite it's age, Robocop is still well known outside of sci-fi geekdom and doesn't alienate the readers as the obscure alternatives you've suggested would have.

docspector

Mac and CHEESE...

ben45tpy

Under the Dome is sounding better and better by the day.

smorbie

The book was absolutely riveting.

VConn

The HUNDRED sounds pretty freaking awesome - Please CW give it to us.

spudda32

Jan 26, 2013

Please make the Hundred :) Sounds right up my ally if they dont CW it up like they did for Secret Circle

pcsjunior002

And now, in an idea constructed from his breakfast leftovers, from the CW, Abrams produces "Underrama", about teenage robots that are in a perpetual state of partying due to an unforeseen programming glitch caused by the humans above in an effort to make them seem more lifelike. This show is later to save the CW from obscurity. Why, we don't know, but it happened just the same.
Also, good for Britt Robertson. TSC forever!!

vr182

Abrams on his own producing a show? Eh. Abrams AND Wyman? I'm in.

JT_Kirk

Wow, JJ Abrams has created Mann & Machine, or Total Recall 2070, or as you said, Robocop, let's give him a million dollars and call him a genius.

Sad, the words "NBC" and "ordered a pilot" together only make me think of utter failure now.

The CW has 3 pilots ordered that they won't be able to afford and won't be able to market, great job!

Doesn't ABC already have a show coming up about a woman who moves back home coming up this season? Spy sounds good though, hadn't heard about the original.

BSG Blood & Chrome was a mistake, they already focused on Adama's early days once and it went over like a lead balloon, and then they focused on another prequel with Caprica and it tanked, what are they thinking???

The new Battlestar Galactica show will be a cooking reality competition show featuring cooks from all 12 colonies.

I'd so tune in to watch the Final Five (contestants) compete for the best chocolate souflet and discover that humanity is doomed because kitchenware will probably go rogue. (omg let's make it a prequel!!)

And the dishes will rise up and turn against them, and they'll have philosophical differences over whether or not to accept the dishes' nutrients.

After that, it'll be "Cylon Ghost Hunter" filmed in nightvision, taking place aboard abandoned battlestars and achieving absolutely nothing. It'll be the most successful, long-running series in the BSG franchise.

adamonfire

The Hundred sounds interesting, and could be the first CW show I will ever watch.

Taccado

The Robocop series from -94 was absolute shit. But on the other hand the producers of that show had never been involved in any significant show, and haven't since. The only show of some importance a few producers had worked on was MacGyver.
So maybe Abrams & Co with their experience will do something right. I'm a little sceptical though. Abrams' touch hasn't been all golden lately: Fringe, Lost and Person of Interest are winners, but Alcatraz, Undercovers and Revolution (despite its moderate success) are lower points. I promise to watch Abrams' version of Robocop if it's a steampunk version. I want to see the Robocops be wound up using a giant key, or walk around with steam engines on their backs.

Vicky8675309

Abrams' leftover breakfast has also been ordered to series

I think AMC should just launch AMC2, which would be non-stop footage of Chris Hardwick watching AMC. (This is a Twitter joke repeat, sorry.)

Good luck with that now, honey.

Thanks for the laughs:)

Akyriel

Wasn't Robocop more of a cyborg? This new show sounds more like a serious version of Holmes and YoYo. Like a few of Abrams' shows, both new projects sound good on paper, will probably start out fine and interesting, then have stories that take themselves a little too seriously and get bogged down with needless subplots no one will care about enough to continue watching as a whole. Not to mention they will be told within a dark and dreary atmosphere that can get a tad depressing. That said, at least he tries to do something different, but he needs to lighten up more on these types of shows, bring more energy to them, and simplify his concepts/stories a bit.

Isn't Sarah Chalk on that new comedy about living with her parents set to air in April? And doesn't this show have enough people like her? Ever notice Grey's has no older, experienced doctors and nurses?

Linc-o

Abrams doesn't need to lighten up and simplify; some showrunners already do that, why should every other showrunner do the same? Thank God they don't all do the same, so there's variety. I prefer Abrams the way he is, despite of the fact that half oh his shows die early and the other half get complicated or ridiculous at some point. Don't get me wrong, I understand what you mean, I just don't think he should do that. Same way there's one Bruckheimer, there's one Whedon, there's one Shawn Ryan, and so on. Cheers.

startug

With the way you talk about J.J. Abram's shows, it kinda gives me a warning of some of my show ideas now.

linkthehero82

I was hoping for an American adaptation of Spy, I watch it on Hulu and thoroughly enjoy it. It'll have to be adapted some, he'll most likely be a CIA analyst.

John Mulaney's stand-up comedy is hella funny, I'll definitely check out his show.

maritimer00

IIRC, Robocop is getting a big screen remake so Fox might be looking to follow that up with a series afterwards. Correct me if I'm wrong but hasn't Abrams history after Lost been a bit "checkered for small screen shows?

If you mean "after about the second season of Lost and not counting the third season of Fringe", then yes.

DavidJackson8

While a Robocop type show sounds cool enough, I'd have much preferred Rowboat Cop, written by Dan Harmon... ;)

Can't wait for Mad Men's companion, Talking Mad. Seriously, what's with these talk shows? Behind the scenes are cool and stuff, but sometimes, I feel fine just watching the episodes and that's it.

They're INCREDIBLY cheap to produce, and draw viewers. I'm expecting them to run "TALKING TALKING DEAD", just to see if they can get people to watch THAT.

If Hell on Wheels was a 90's biker show, they'd have "Talking Rad."

KeithStammer

RoboCop was begging to be "Creey Duchovny-ed". I'll probably watch that Robot-Cop show for it's 13 episode run before it gets cancelled.

You think all the 13 episodes will air? You're such an optimist.

If "The Neighbors" can get a full season order & "Whitney" gets more than one season, then anything is possible...

Whitney deserves more than one season (even more than two). The fact that we don't like a show doesn't mean it's actually crap.

Tell that to Abrams' "Undercovers" with its 11 aired and 2 unaired episodes.

This comment has been removed.

News Briefs: Fox Orders a Robot Cop Drama Pilot from the Producers of Fringe

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