Dramas
Agatha: A big city criminologist travels in a psychedelic van with her hippie friends and a giant dog and solves mysteries (fine, I made that up). She does solve mysteries though, disappearances.
Prognosis: Is this one of those lame limited run series I was talking about earlier? Otherwise I’m giving this a big fat “been there, done that.”
American Crime: Drama about a racially charged murder in California’s Central Valley and the subsequent trial, looking through the eyes of the victims.
Prognosis: This definitely sounds like a limited run series. If it is, this is exactly the type of the “ripped from the headlines” storytelling America digs. Often when shows are done like this though they fail too. Too much melodrama. If it’s not limited run, I don’t see how this makes a whole TV series.
Astronaut Wives Club: Limited series based on Lily Koppel’s novel on the true story of the women behind the NASA astronauts.
Prognosis: Work it in, it’s already been ordered to series for 10 episodes. Honestly though, I’m definitely watching this. They really tried to spotlight the wives on the HBO miniseries From The Earth To The Moon a few years back and their story was so heartbreaking. Here’s a factoid, of the second group of nine astronauts that made it into NASA, only two marriages survived. It’s definitely worthy of expansion like this. My fear is a net like ABC might push for the soapier elements, but it’s still worth a shot.
Clementine: A very troubled 28 year old psychic sees her life begin to change when she decides to stop running from her past.
Prognosis: I like it. This is already full casted and has a full crew, so they’re pretty gung ho about this project. Tone is everything in a show like this, so the creepier and darker, the better. Think Jacob’s Ladder. This could be a good one for ABC.
Exposed: Based on the Annika Bengtzon novels about a tabloid reporter searching for truth while juggling work and home life.
Prognosis: Don’t know. For fun, I looked up the Annika Bengtzon novels. It’s a Swedish crime series and it hit number one on the New York Times Bestseller list. That alone gives it a boost. However, adaptations have also been a tough sell because people expect it to be true to the original. So, this is TBD, especially when they don’t have a lead yet to play Annika.
Forever: A 200 year old man working the New York city morgue tries to find the key to unlocking the curse of his immortality.
Prognosis: Shaky. I like the idea, but I’m having a hard time figuring out how you make a whole TV series based on this. It’s from Warner Brothers, who knows their genre stuff, but ABC has had a horrible track record with Warner Brothers Sci-Fi shows.
How to Get Away With Murder: A group of ambitious law studentsand their brilliant criminal defense professor become entangled in a murder plot that will rock the university and their lives.
Prognosis: Shonda Rhimes. The savior of ABC. Do I need to say more? Consider this ordered.
Sea of Fire: A pornographic film involving three teenage girls tears their families apart and lead to a disappearance, a murder, and other secrets boiling underneath the surface of this small town.
Prognosis: Not my thing, but this is ABC’s wheelhouse. Probably a contender.
Secrets & Lies: Another Australian import. A family man finds the body of a young boy and becomes a murder suspect.
Prognosis: It’s already made it, 13 episodes ordered. Normally I’d write this off, but Juliette Lewis and Ryan Phillippe are on this. It’s ABC Studios too, so it’s a high profile in-house project. Hopefully it’ll get the attention it deserves.
Untitled Grant and Russell Project: An upstairs/downstairs type soap set at a country club.
Prognosis: Find a title, 13 episodes have been ordered. I really hope this counts as that summer viewing they’re always trying to fill though, because it sounds kind of blah.
Untitled Richard Lagravenese Project: Drama set in New York about the love and rivalry of two equally matched socialites. They play out their obsession for one another through manipulation of others.
Prognosis: No. This is really going to have to be good to get anyone’s serious attention. As in guilty pleasure good.
The Visitors: A race against the clock to defeat an unseen alien enemy out to destroy the world by using Earth’s most precious resource, children.
Prognosis: A hard sell. So few of these shows stick. Remember V? Which was a remake of V? I won’t be swayed by the fact that the most luscious Milo Ventimiglia is part of this project. I’d rather see him in Heroes: Reborn. ABC might have to be patient and realize that it’s going to take some binge viewing on Hulu to get people to catch onto a project like this. In about season three. It’s a commitment for the long haul. This network tends to get impatient with shows like this long before that. That’s why Sci-Fi/Fantasy is succeeding on The CW and cable. Their budgets require patience.
Warriors: Drama about American soldiers and their families as well as the doctors and nurses at a national military hospital.
Prognosis: It’s so soapy, we’re feeling the clean! Nah, again, ABC’s sort of thing. It really has to stand out though and that’s a tall order given the virtually unknown cast and the people behind the project. I’ll call this an underdog. One that I’m not really rooting for.
That’s all for ABC! Coming up next, I don’t know, Fox or NBC. Both aren’t following a real traditional pilot season, so their slate becomes a bit more interesting. I like that.
Now it’s your turn to chime in. Any of these shows sound good? Do you have a fantasy schedule yet for ABC, one that won’t drive you mad?
