Peacock Spreads Its Wings: NBC Orders Five Drama Pilots to Series

It's always a happy day when three of your favorite drama pilots get ordered to series, all in the same day, and all before the network upfronts have even begun.

NBC today gave series orders to five dramas, including Bionic Woman, Journeyman, and Chuck.

Bionic Woman comes from NBC Universal, David Eick Productions, and G.E.P. Productions Inc. It stars Michelle Ryan (EastEnders) as a down on her luck bartender who is forced to undergo a radical surgery to save her life after a car accident that turns her into a bionic dynamo. The cast also includes Chris Bower, Miguel Ferrer, Will Yun Lee, Mae Whitman, and Molly Price.

Journeyman, from 20th Century Fox Television, stars Kevin McKidd (Rome) as a man who suddenly finds himself traveling into the past in order to change people's lives, sometimes for the better, sometimes for worse. But when he encounters his long-dead fiancée (Moon Bloodgood), who was killed in a plane crash, he finds himself torn between saving her and retaining the life he's been living with another woman. Series also stars Reed Diamond, Gretchen Egolf, Brian Howe, and Charlie Wyson.

Chuck comes from Warner Bros. Television, Wonderland Sound & Vision, and College Hill Prods. It stars Zachary Levi as a computer geek who accidentally downloads the entirety of the NSA database directly into his brain after receiving an encrypted email from an old friend. Armed with the world's top-secret intelligence, he's forced into becoming the intelligence agencies' most powerful weapon. Also stars Adam Baldwin, Joshua Gomez, Sarah Lancaster, Natalie Martinez, and Yvonne Strzechowski.

UPDATE: NBC has now given dramas Life and Lipstick Jungle series orders as well. Life, from NBC Universal, stars Damien Lewis (Band of Brothers) as a cop released from prison for serving time for a crime he didn't commit; returning to the force, he now employs a Zen-like approach to solving crimes. Also stars Adam Arkin, Melissa Sagemiller, Sarah Shahi, and Robin Weigert. Lipstick Jungle, from NBC Universal, stars Brooke Shields, Kim Raver, and Lindsay Price as a troika of high-powered women in Manhattan who lean on one another as they weather life's ever-shifting rollercoaster together.

These are most likely only the first of a series of drama and comedy pick ups to emerge prior to the Upfront Presentations next week, so stay tuned. (Fingers crossed that ABC picks up Pushing Daisies next.)