It’s Pilot Season, the time of year when TV networks begin sifting through new series proposals for their fall lineups. Generally, the process begins with a script order—The CW currently has 13 of those in the pipeline—and from there, the most promising concepts are given the greenlight to produce a trial episode. The first five CW dramas chosen to advance are now auditioning stars, so we can expect frequent casting announcements for awhile. Two shows with immediate buzz are a departure from typical teen angst: Nikita is a sequel to the 1997 USA action/thriller Le Femme Nikita, in which Peta Wilson was falsely imprisoned for murder and recruited as a covert assassin. In the new series, Nikita has gone rogue and a replacement takes over—perhaps tracking the fugitive. Then, based on the 2007 novel, Betwixt will follow three teenagers who discover their eerie changeling nature and intertwined destinies. Both sound like intriguing companions to The Vampire Diaires, Supernatural or Smallville. In addition, Gilmore Girls creators Amy Sherman-Palladino (pictured) and Dan Palladino are producing a sudsy Midwest drama set on a horse ranch; and two other projects are filming condensed pilot presentations: Hellcats, Tom Welling’s expose of competitive cheerleading; and HMS, Hayden Panettiere’s intimate look at the Harvard med freshman class. Are there any former network stars you’d like to see in these casts? A few available favorites come to mind, such as Kelly Bishop, Keri Russell, Jason Dohring, Charisma Carpenter and Holly Marie Combs. You can read about some of the other CW scripts in development here and here.
