Rueben's Ramblings

Here are the FOX pilots up for consideration for the 2015-2016 TV season:

Frankenstein – This drama follows Ray Pritchard, a morally corrupt retired cop, who is given a second chance at life when he is brought back from the dead. Now younger and stronger, Pritchard will have to choose between his old temptations and his new sense of purpose.

THOSE BEHIND THE SCENES: Rand Ravich and Howard Gordon

CAST: Philip Baker Hall, Adhir Kalyan (Rules of Engagement), Ciara Bravo (Red Band Society), Tim Dekay (White Collar), Rob Kazinsky (True Blood) and Dilshad Vadsaria (Revenge)

Lucifer – Based on the DC Entertainment’s Vertigo imprint, the drama centers on Lucifer who, bored and unhappy as the Lord of Hell, resigns his throne and abandons his kingdom for the gorgeous, shimmering insanity of Los Angeles, where he gets his kicks helping the LAPD punish criminals.

THOSE BEHIND THE SCENES: Tom Kapinos, Jerry Bruckheimer, Len Weisman, Jonathan Littman and KristieAnne Reed

CAST: Lesley-Ann Brandt (Spartacus), Tom Ellis (Downton Abbey and Rush), Nicholas Gonzalez (Sleepy Hollow), Lina Esco (Cane), Lauren German (Chicago Fire), D. B. Woodside (24), Rachael Harris (The Hangover)

Minority Report – Ten years after the end of Precrime in Washington, D.C. from the box office film, one of the three Precogs struggles to lead a “normal” human life, but remains haunted by visions the future, when he meets a detective haunted by her past, who just may help him find a purpose to his gift.

THOSE BEHIND THE SCENES: Kevin Falls, Justin Falvey, Darryl Frank, and D. Mark Mylod

CAST: Wilmer Valderama (That 70’s Show), Laura Regan (Mad Men), Daniel London (Manhattan), Li Jun Li (Billy & Billie), Meagan Good (Deception) and Stark Sands (Inside Llewyn Davis)

Rosewood (Tentative Name) – This close-ended, investigative series centers on the brilliant Dr. Beaumont Rosewood, Jr., the top private pathologist in all of Miami. As owner of one of the most sophisticated, state-of-the-art independent labs in the country, he finds the secrets in bodies that others usually miss.

THOSE BEHIND THE SCENES: Wyck Godfrey and Marty Bowen

CAST: Morris Chestnut (Legends), Maggie Elizabeth Jones (Ben and Kate) and relative newcomer Jaina Lee Ortiz

Studio City – This drama is a coming-of-age story about a young singer’s path to stardom as she lives with her songwriter father, who happens to be a drug dealer to the stars.

THOSE BEHIND THE SCENES: Krista Vernoff, John Wells and Andrew Stern

CAST: Eric McCormack (Perception), newcomer Florence Pugh, Riley Smith (True Blood), singer-songwriter Chris Daughtry, Samantha Logan (The Fosters), Jordan Calloway (Drumlne: A New Boat), Timothy Granaderos (Undateable), Heather Graham (Californication) and Jeanine Mason (Bunheads)

MOST LIKELY TO BE PICKED-UP: Frankenstein

WOULD BE INTERESTING TO SEE: Minority Report

LONG SHOT: Studio City

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Here are the pilots up for consideration for the 2015-2016 TV season at The CW:

Cheerleader Death Squad – This drama follows a former CIA agent-turned teacher who realizes that his elite students at a Washington D.C. prep school have high level access through their personal connections, and trains them to be his eyes and ears in the world of international espionage so that he can make his way back into the CIA.

THOSE BEHIND THE SCENES: Marc Cherry, Neal Baer, Dan Truly and Sabrina Wind

CAST: Alan Van Sprang (Reign), Abbie Cobb (Suburgatory), Gia Mantegna (The Middle and Gigantic) and Aylin Bayramoglu (The Glee Project)

Cordon – The drama, based on the Belgian series, revolves around an epidemic that breaks out in Atlanta, leaving some people stuck on the outside of a large city quarantine.

THOSE BEHIND THE SCENES: Julie Plec, David Nutter and Carl Joos

CAST: George Young (Casualty) and Trevor St. John (One Life To Live), Hanna Mangan Lawrence (Spartacus), Chris Wood (The Vampire Diaries) and Claudia Black (Farscape).

Dead People – The drama centers on a down-on-his-luck, semi-alcoholic but roguishly charming cab driver, who, after a near-death experience, suddenly has the ability to interact with ghosts, including his late ex-wife who he has never gotten over.

THOSE BEHIND THE SCENES: Tom Kapinos

CAST: Jaime Lee Kirchner (Mercy), Andrew J. West (The Walking Dead), Echo Kellum (Ben and Kate) and Alexandra Chando (The Lying Game)

Tales from the Darkside – Based on the 1980’s horror/fantasy/thriller anthology will focus on one regular character, a weathered and tortured young man, Newman is the guide to the unsuspecting who come across The Darkside.

THOSE BEHIND THE SCENES: Joe Hill, Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci

CAST: Kris Lemche (Joan of Arcadia)

MOST LIKELY TO BE PICKED-UP: Cheerleader Death Squad

LONG SHOT: Dead People

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Here are the CBS pilots up for consideration for the 2015-2016 TV season:

Code Black – This medical drama is set in the busiest and most notorious ER in the nation, L.A. County Hospital, where the extraordinary staff confronts a broken system in order to protect their ideals and the patients who need them the most.

THOSE BEHIND THE SCENES: David Semel, Marti Noxon, Ryan McGarry, Michael Seitzman and Linda Goldstein-Knowlton

CAST: Bonnie Somerville (Golden Boy), Ben Hollingsworth (Cult and The Tomorrow People), Luis Guzman and Raza Jaffrey (Smash)

Criminal Minds (Spin-Off) – This version will focus on a division of the FBI that helps American citizens who find themselves in trouble abroad.

THOSE BEHIND THE SCENES: Erica Messer, Mark Gordon and Nick Pepper

CAST: Gary Sinise (CSI: NY), Tyler James Williams (Everybody Hates Chris), Anna Gunn (Breaking Bad) and David Henney (Revolution and Wolverine).

Doubt – This series is about a smart, chic, successful defense lawyer at a boutique firm, who gets romantically involved with one of her clients who may or may not be guilty of a brutal crime.

THOSE BEHIND THE SCENES: Sarah Timberman, Carl Beverly, Tony Phelan and Joan Rater

CAST: Laverne Cox (Orange is the New Black), Teddy Sears (Masters of Sex), KaDee Strickland (Secrets and Lies and Private Practice), Dule Hill (The West Wing and Psych), Dreama Walker (Don’t Trust the B—- in Apartment 23) and veteran actor Elliott Gould.

For Justice – This drama is about a female FBI agent working in the Criminal Section of the Department of Civil Rights Division who finds herself caught between her radical real family and her professional family.

THOSE BEHIND THE SCENES: Rene Balcer, Robert DeNiro, Jane Rosenthal, James Patterson, Bill Robinson and Leopoldo Gout

CAST: Mario Van Peebles (Ali and Damages), Leonardo Nam (Vantage Point), Anika Noni Rose (Dreamgirls and The Good Wife), Tim Blake Nelson (Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? and Klondike), Shawn Hatosy (Southland), Rachel Boston (Witches of East End) and veteran actress Phylicia Rashad (The Cosby Show).

LFE – This series is a high-octane medical procedural, centering on second-year residents at New York City’s top hospital as they attempt to balance their god complexes with their humanity.

THOSE BEHIND THE SCENES: Dan Jinks and Paul Downs Colaizzo

CAST: Melissa Leo (The Fighter), Annie Funke (A Most Violent Year), Andy Mientus (Smash) and Daniel Sharman (Teen Wolf)

Limitless – Picking up where the 2011 film left off, the drama follows Brian Sinclair as he discovers the power of the mysterious drug NZT and is coerced into using his newfound drug-enhanced abilities to solve weekly cases for the FBI.

THOSE BEHIND THE SCENES: Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci, Neil Berger, Bradley Cooper and Craig Sweeny

CAST: Jake McDorman (American Sniper and Greek), Hill Harper (CSI: NY), Jennifer Carpenter (Dexter) and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio (Grimm and Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves).

Rush Hour – Based on the feature film, the series is about a stoic, by-the-book Hong Kong police officer is assigned to a case in Los Angeles where he’s forced to work with a cocky African-American LAPD officer who has no interest in a partner.

THOSE BEHIND THE SCENES: Bill Lawrence, Blake McCormick, Jon Turteltaub, Arthur Sarkissian, Brett Ratner and Jeff Ingold

CAST: Justin Hires (the box office film 21 Jump Street), Page Kennedy (Backstrom), Aimee Garcia (Dexter), Jessika Van (Awkward) and Jon Foo (Tekken).

Sneaky Peter – The series follows a thirty-something con man who takes the identity of his past cellmate, upon leaving jail. Dubbed “Sneaky Pete,” he hides from his debtors, while working at his fake family’s bail bond business, and uses his charm and criminal prowess to take down bad guys worse than himself, partnering with an attractive female “cousin” who has her suspicions about his real motives.

THOSE BEHIND THE SCENES: David Shore and Bryan Cranston

CAST: Shane McRae (Still Alice and The Following), Giovanni Ribisi (Avatar and Ted), Margo Martindale (Justified and The Americans), Libe Barer (Parenthood), Marin Ireland (The Divide and Homeland) and Peter Gerety (Prime Suspect).

MOST LIKELY TO BE PICKED-UP: Rush Hour and Limitless (just because they are based on the feature films)

WOULD BE INTERESTING TO SEE: For Justice

LONG SHOT: LFE

PROBABLY NOT GONNA HAPPEN: Sneaky Pete

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In a few weeks the major networks will make their annual presentations to the advertisers in New York City, presenting a cavalcade of their existing stars from their returning series as well as introducing the new faces and shows that will hit the primetime landscape for the 2015-2016 TV season.

Over the course of this week, I will take a look at each of the five major networks, reviewing the pilots that are under consideration for possible pick-up as a full-fledged series for the upcoming fall TV season.

First of, here are the ABC pilots up for consideration for the 2015-2016 TV season:

The Adversaries – The drama will follow the patriarch of a New York legal dynasty who becomes embroiled in a trial of his own, forcing his federal-prosecutor daughter to decide which side she will fight on.

THOSE BEHIND THE SHOW: David Zabel

CAST: Kristen Hager (Being Human), Terry O’Quinn (Lost), Christine Lahti (Hawaii Five-0), Enuka Okuma (Rookie Blue), Christine Evangelista (Chicago Fire) and Lenny Platt (One Life to Live)

The Advocate – A successful woman survives a medical scare and becomes an advocate for other victims navigating their way through the American healthcare system.

THOSE BEHIND THE SCENES: Sheldon Turner and Jennifer Klein

CAST: Kim Raver (Grey’s Anatomy and 24), Joy Bryant (Parenthood), Coby Bell (Burn Notice) and Elliot Knight (How to Get Away with Murder)

Boom – The series centers on the biggest oil discovery in American history, which triggers a geopolitical shift and an economic boom in North Dakota, the greatest since the American Gold Rush in 1849. The drama tracks the pilgrimage of a young, ambitious couple, seeking a better life, to the oil fields of the Bakken. Set in a modern day “Wild West”, the couple comes across roughnecks, grifters, oil barons, criminals and fellow prospectors.

THOSE BEHIND THE SCENES: Tony Krantz, Josh Pate and Rodes Fishburne

CAST: Chace Crawford (Gossip Girl), Don Johnson (Nash Bridges), Delroy Lindo (Believe), Amber Valletta (Revenge and Legends), Scott Michael Foster (Greek and Chasing Life), Rebecca Rittenhouse (Red Band Society), India de Beaufort (Jane By Design), Caitlin Carver (The Fosters) and Yani Gellman (Pretty Little Liars).

The Broad Squad – The series is inspired by true stories, looking at the first four women to graduate from Boston’s Police Academy in 1978.

THOSE BEHIND THE SCENES: Stephane Savage, Josh Schwartz, Len Goldstein, Aaron Kaplan and Bess Wohl

CAST: Lauren Ambrose (Six Feet Under), Rutina Wesley (True Blood), Charlotte Spencer (Angelina Ballerina), Cody Horn (Magic Mike and Rescue Me), Michael Gaston (The Mentalist), Kenneth Mitchell (Jericho and Switched at Birth) and Morgan Spector (Allegiance)

Smoke and Mirrors (formerly The Catch) – Unbeknownst to her slippery fiancé, a bride-to-be — who investigates fraud for a living — is not all she claims to be. And when the fiancé’s expertly planned con collides with her perfectly constructed lies, they plunge into a dangerous game of cat and mouse.

THOSE BEHIND THE SCENES: Shonda Rhimes, Betsey Beers and Jennifer Schuur

CAST: Bethany Joy Lenz (One Tree Hill), Damon Dayoub (NCIS), Mireille Enos (The Killing), Alimi Ballard (Numb3rs and Dark Angel), Rose Rollins (The L Word), Jacky Ido (Taxi Brooklyn), Jay Hayden (The House Bunny) and Elvy Yost (Mildred Pierce)

Flesh and Blood – The series centers on a politician’s son, who shows up nearly 10 years after his presumed death and rocks the local community. His reappearance, naturally, has repercussions for the neighbor jailed for his murder and the police officer that handled the case.

THOSE BEHIND THE SCENE: Jenna Bans, David Hoberman, Todd Lieberman and Laurie Zaks

CAST: Zach Gilford (Friday Night Lights), Liam James (The Way Way Back), Joan Allen (The Bourne franchise), Andrew McCarthy, Alison Pill (The Newsroom), Madeleine Arthur (The Tomorrow People), Margot Bingham (Boardwalk Empire) and Rupert Graves (Sherlock)

Kingmakers – The series takes place at an elite Ivy League university that is rocked by a student’s sudden death, prompting a young man to take on a new identity to infiltrate the school and its century-old secret society consisting of privileged students, ambitious faculty, and high-profile alums, in order to investigate his sister’s death, after she’s found dead her freshman year.

THOSE BEHIND THE SCENES: Sallie Patrick

CAST: Adrian Pasdar (Heroes and Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.), Kristin Bauer van Straten (True Blood and Once Upon a Time), Colm Feore (Revolution), Khary Payton (Teen Titans Go), Parminder Nagra (The Blacklist and Alcatraz), Michael Trevino (The Vampire Diaries), Colin Woodell (The Originals) and Kendrick Sampson (The Vampire Diaries)

L.A. Crime – This series is a character-driven, true-crime procedural, exploring sex, politics and popular culture across various eras in L.A. history; first focuses on two LA cops in search for a Bonnie & Clyde-esque serial killing team amidst the rock-and-roll, coke-infused revelry of the 1980s Sunset Strip.

THOSE BEHIND THE SCENES: Steven Baigelman, David Hoberman, Todd Lieberman and Laurie Zaks

CAST: Taissa Farmiga (American Horror Story), Erika Christensen (Parenthood), Ed Westwick (Gossip Girl), Gabriel Luna (Matador), Adam Rothenberg (Ripper Street), Anne Winters (Tyrant), Karolina Wydra (True Blood and Justified) and W. Earl Brown (True Detective)

Mix – A one-hour dramedy that explores the realities of modern-day families — multi-cultural, multi-generational, built through divorces, affairs and adoptions — set against the backdrop of a revered family restaurant at a crossroads.

THOSE BEHIND THE SCENES: Jennifer Cecil, Rashida Jones, Will McCormack

CAST: Sharon Lawrence (NYPD Blue), Camille Guaty (Scorpion), Britne Oldford (Ravenswood), Sam Page (House of Cards) and Joaquim de Almedia (24 and Fast Five)

Of Kings and Prophets – An epic Biblical saga of faith, ambition and betrayal as told through the eyes of a battle-weary king, a powerful and resentful prophet and a resourceful young shepherd on a collision course with destiny.

THOSE BEHIND THE SCENES: Jason Reed, Reza Aslan and Mahyad Tousi

CAST: Ray Winstone (The Departed), Oliver Rix (The Musketeers), Simone Kessell (Terra Nova) and Maisie Richardson-Sellers (The Originals)

Quantico – This series is about a group of young FBI recruits, all with specific reasons for joining, and how they battle their way through training at the Quantico base in Virginia.

THOSE BEHIND THE SCENES: Mark Gordon, Nicholas Pepper and Joshua Safran

CAST: Dougray Scott (Hemlock Grove), Jake McLaughlin (Believe), Graham Rogers (Revolution), Johanna Braddy (UnReal and Hit the Floor), Aunjanue Ellis (NCIS: Los Angeles and The Book of Negroes), Tate Ellington (The Mindy Project) and Bollywood star Priyanka Chopra

Runner – In this pilot Lauren Marks believes she is leading a perfect life, until it is ripped apart by one simple twist of fate: to uncover the truth she must follow a trail of lies that take her into the world of cartels and the illegal gun trade between the US and Mexico.

THOSE BEHIND THE SCENES: Ian Sander, Kim Moses, Jon Cowan, Michael Cooney and Peter Horton

CAST: Adam Rodriguez (CSI: Miami), Paula Patton (Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol), Courtney Ford (Revenge and True), Chris Johnson (The Vampire Diaries and Betrayal), Brent Sexton (The Killing) and Megan Dodds (Ever After)

MOST LIKELY TO BE PICKED-UP: Smoke and Mirrors (simply because it’s a Shonda Rhimes production)

WOULD BE INTERESTING TO SEE: The Broad Squad

LONG SHOT: Runner and Quantico

PROBABLY NOT GONNA HAPPEN: Boom

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