Make an Argument
What we can learn from this year’s upfronts: ABC
By Eric Hughes
April 6, 2011
BoxOfficeProphets.com

They seemed a lot hotter in the 1970s.
About a month from now - typically, the third week in May - the major American broadcasters will again try convincing advertisers that they are way more than Dancing with the Stars and NCIS when they each reserve a day to talk about their new ideas. In television, that can only mean one thing: Upfronts!

Upfronts, of course, is the forum for ABC and the like to announce their fall schedules, and as it goes, it’s an opportunity to persuade time buyers why spankin’ new show X won’t be the next Outlaw or Running Wilde.

To prep for the occasion, I combed through the fall’s upcoming new offerings and compiled a list of the prospective pilots most likely to get picked up and why. To keep things simple - this week, anyway - I’m focusing on one network and on dramas only. First up: ABC, for no better reason than it’s, well, alphabetically first.

If this thing gets received warmly - heck, I’d even settle for lukewarm - I’ll fire back two weeks from now with one (or more) upfront profiles.

ABC is currently working with a baker’s dozen drama pilots, and of those, I feel comfortable with six of ‘em getting picked up to series. I’ll first run through the ones I liked - and, more importantly, those that would best fit in with what, I think, ABC is trying to do as a major network - followed by brief synopses of the shows I don’t think will earn spots on the fall 2011 schedule.

Charlie’s Angels

Like NBC’s Wonder Woman, Charlie’s Angels feels like a lock to me. It’ll be a Miami-based reboot of the classic ‘70s-era series, and I don’t know how much more you’ll need to run with it than that. Friday Night Lights’ Minka Kelly will be one of the Angels, and Robert Wagner will voice Charlie.

Some would have said NBC’s planned Rockford Files reboot was also a lock, but that series didn’t have the benefit of two, bloated Hollywood revivals getting released in theaters about a decade ago. Those films, no matter the quality, at least made aware a new generation to Charlie’s Angels’ mythology and sexiness. Rockford Files, on the other hand, is a show that for 20-somethings and younger merely “sounds familiar.”

Hallelujah

Next to Charlie’s Angels, I feel that Hallelujah, from Desperate Housewives’ Marc Cherry, will be spotted on ABC’s fall schedule. The series, starring Law & Order alum Jesse L. Martin, Lost’s Terry O’Quinn, the forever wonderful Frances O’Connor and Della Reese, has an air of mystery to it that I find intriguing. And, were I to blindly match up loglines with the broadcast network that would most likely give them good homes, Hallelujah would be a show I’d slid in ABC’s corner anyway.

The name of the show comes from the name of the fictional Tennessee town in which the series is set. Good and evil are illustrated through the lives of a hardworking family man and his longtime enemy, played by Quinn, who perhaps will channel the season six version of Locke for actor’s inspiration. Evil seems to be winning out until a new guy rides into town.

Good Christian Bitches

With a title that’s both snappy and confident, Good Christian Bitches co-stars Kristin Chenoweth in a show about a former high school “mean girl” who returns to her hometown after a divorce to earn a second chance at making nice with her former peers. Darren Star, who’s created both hits (Sex and the City) and misses (Miss Match) over his lengthy career in TV, is the creative force behind it.

I think I’m more in love with the title than anything else, but having Chenoweth involved - she was also in ABC’s short-lived Pushing Daisies - doesn’t hurt.

Pan Am

I couldn’t help but think of a looser, soapier version of Mad Men when reading over this one’s synopsis. Titled Pan Am, the show is about a group of flight attendants - Christina Ricci included - working at Pan Am Airlines during the ‘60s Jet Age. I don’t know that ‘60s period piece is enough to help a show goes to series, but it seems to be working for me just fine.

Once Upon a Time

With Grimm, NBC apparently isn’t the only network invested in fairy tale characters. Once Upon a Time, with a very available Ginnifer Goodwin (she just wrapped Big Love), is about a woman who enters a world of magic and ambiguity after a young boy shows up on her doorstep. Seasonal characters will be Snow White, Jiminy Cricket, Prince Charming and so on.

The accessibility alone makes this one an easy choice, as does the idea of Once Upon a Time appealing to young families looking to teach their little ones about the world of fantasy without the need for books and illustrations. Well, I assume this one appeals to younger people anyway.

Damage Control

I’m rounding out my picks with yet another show from Grey’s Anatomy creator Shonda Rhimes, who’s quietly become the Dick Wolf, I guess, of ABC. She spun off Grey’s to form Private Practice, then started executive producing a struggling show about med doctors in the Amazon called Off the Map. Shonda stamps her name on things, and ABC usually accepts it.

And now, the shows ABC will, I think, likely pass on. I mostly didn’t go with these because they sounded a bit general, overplayed or not fitting in with network demos:

Georgetown - A soap revolving around the young people behind D.C. power brokers.
Partners - Two police detectives are extremely loyal to one another because they’re related.
The River - A family tries to rescue their missing patriarch in the Amazon. Paranormal Activity creator Oren Peli is onboard.
Poe - A crime procedural with Edgar Allen Poe as the lead.
Identity - An elite police unit fights identity-related crime.
Grace - A super soapy drama about a dance choreographer (Eric Roberts) who has three daughters from different mothers.
Revenge - A modernized version of The Count of Monte Cristo with a female lead.