7 Rejected 2018–2019 TV Pilots We Would Have Loved to See
False Profits (ABC)
Scandal’s Bellamy Young and Ugly Betty’s Vanessa Williams in a drama about suburbanites climbing to the top of a multi-level marketing cosmetics business? We’d be all in on that pyramid scheme! Luckily, the project might not be dead yet — ABC is redeveloping it.
Salvage (ABC)
Black Mirror’s Toby Kebbell, Oscar nominee Catalina Sandino Moreno, and good ol’ Jim Belushi would have starred in this crime drama about an ex-cop investigating a murder tied to sunken treasure in Gulf Coast Florida. The project is being shopped around, though, so maybe another network will plunder this golden premise.
The Finest (ABC)
#ABCSoWhite? It wouldn’t have been if it had picked up this cop drama — starring Martin’s Tisha Campbell-Martin and Love Thy Neighbor’s Leigh Ann Rose — about five black sisters balancing their family lives with their NYPD jobs.
The Greatest American Hero (ABC)
In another blow to on-screen inclusion, ABC passed on this comedy remake of the 1980s TV show, an update that would have seen New Girl’s Hannah Simone playing an Indian-American superhero.
Cagney and Lacey (CBS)
And speaking of canceled remakes of 1980s hits, CBS passed on the pilot for this female-led detective drama, which would have had Grey’s Anatomy fan fave Sarah Drew and Blindspot actress Michelle Hurd follow in the footsteps of Sharon Gless and Tyne Daley.
L.A. Confidential (CBS)
The 1997 cinematic adaptation of James Ellroy’s novel won critical acclaim and Oscar gold, but TV viewers won’t get a small-screen version of this 1950s Los Angeles-set crime story — a drama that would have starred Sense8’s Brian J. Smith and Justified’s Walton Goggins.
Guess Who Died (NBC)
From the mind of TV legend Norman Lear — of All in the Family, One Day at a Time, and The Jeffersons fame — came this comedy about speeding up when society expects you to slow down. The project is being shopped around, though, so hopefully, we’ll see Two and a Half Men’s Holland Taylor, Pretty Woman’s Hector Elizondo, and Back to the Future’s Christopher Lloyd on the tube soon.
As we get hyped for the broadcast network’s new offerings for the 2018–2019 television season, we have to pour one out for the projects that didn’t survive pilot season.
As you’ll see in the gallery above, brash originality and blinding star power can’t always guarantee a prospective TV show a spot on the primetime schedule. Luckily, some of these comedies and dramas might find new homes…
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