Stacking the Drama Pilots: A Pilot Inspektor Preview

With the network upfronts scheduled for next week (I cannot wait!), I thought I'd take a look at this year's current crop of pilots, some of which will blossom into full grown series next week. I can honestly say that I have now read every single drama and comedy pilot at every single broadcast and cable network that is up for consideration for the 2007-08 schedule. (It's a demanding job but somebody has to do it.)

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, every single one. From Cashmere Mafia to Marlowe, The Return of Jezebel James to I'm in Hell (a fitting title), no pilot is beneath this Televisionary's piercing gaze. So which drama pilots did I like and what new series do I hope will make it onto their respective networks' schedules? Sit back and find out.

Dirty Sexy Money (ABC): Equally one of my favorite drama pilot scripts this year (save the remarkable Damages, which has been ordered to series at FX), it is a tantalizing combination of Arrested Development and Dynasty, populated by a far-too-wealthy-for-their-own-good family and filled with eccentric characters, hairpin plot twists, and zany soap-ish fun. Plus, it's got an amazing cast in Peter Krause, Donald Sutherland, Jill Clayburgh, William Baldwin (hope someone's watching his voicemail messages), and Samaire Armstrong, among others. I'm really hoping this makes it onto the schedule and, so far, the buzz has been really building.

Journeyman (NBC): A quirky time travel drama that doesn't feel like any other time travel TV series or movie you've ever seen. This is no Quantum Leap, but a deeply personal story about love, loss, and the possibly unwanted ability to find a second chance. Deftly blending sci fi, drama, romance, this pilot has a fantastic lead in Kevin McKidd (Rome) and more than a few twists up its sleeve. Very intriguing and the rare male-driven drama that has female appeal, to boot.

Pushing Daisies (ABC): Takes home the prize for most original and quirky drama this season. Written by the uber-talented Bryan Fuller (Wonderfalls, Heroes), it's the story of a man (Wonderfalls' Lee Pace) with the ability to bring people back from the dead, but there's a painful price to this dark gift (naturally). Instead of falling into self-loathing, he opens a pie shop and works with a detective to scam money from unsolved murders by reviving and then questioning the victims... until he encounters a corpse he recognizes belonging to his one lost childhood love (Anna Friel). Brilliant, moving, and funny (look for Swoozie Kurtz as a shotgun-toting aunt), it's groundbreaking and original and probably too good for American television. Buzz has been building as the pilot turned out much better than the nay-sayers thought.

Chuck (NBC): Imagine if The O.C.'s Seth Cohen grows up into an even more geeky 20-something slacker, accidentally downloads the entire NSA database into his brain and is coerced into helping the intelligence agencies into providing analysis of the raw data... while still not being able to get a date with the girl next door. It's Chuck, a charming action-dramedy from The O.C. creator Josh Schwartz, which might just be my next guilty pleasure.

Fort Pit (NBC): A darkly mordant Hill Street Blues for the new millennium filled with unlikable characters that you can't take your eyes off of and an atmosphere bristling with energy and rawness.

Los Duques (CBS): A gripping and soapy drama about a family-controlled rum empire and the feud between the titular characters and a takeover-savvy rival clan (including Rome's Polly Walker as an untrustworthy femme fatale). It's a fun, compulsive read with unexpected plot twists, including a very risky endgame reveal that changes your perceptions of Jimmy Smits' family man. Expect the name of this pilot, written by Cynthia Cidre, to change if ordered to series.

Big Shots (ABC): The pilot that has undergone more name changes than any other the past few months (some still call it the Untitled Jon Harmon Feldman pilot), but it's a male-driven Desperate Housewives, populated by way too wealthy CEOs shouldering too much responsibility with multi-billion dollar companies, demanding wives and mistresses, and secrets galore.

Bionic Woman (NBC): The latest script draft, rewritten by Kidnapped creator Jason Smilovic, pushed this up my list. It's a risky proposition, re-imagining classic 70s action drama The Bionic Woman but this redo, overseen by BSG's David Eick, puts a dark, contemporary spin on the bionically-enhanced Jamie Sommers (EastEnders' Michelle Ryan), forced to care for her prickly younger sister (Arrested Development's Mae Whitman) who finds herself enlisted in a secret war between the government and others like her. Look for BSG's Katee Sackhoff to potentially steal the show as Sarah Corvus. Gee, what could she want from our girl Jamie? I'm particularly intrigued to see the finished pilot, which will either be brilliant fun or a soggy, overwrought mess, but I am leaning towards the former, which would make it a perfect 10 pm companion to Heroes.

Sarah Connor Chronicles (FOX): Fight the future. A huge-budget household name franchise taken in a completely different direction, it's a fiercely riveting action adventure following Sarah Connor (Lena Headey), a woman with the ferocity of a wounded mama bear, protecting her 15-year-old son John Connor (Thomas Dekker), who might just be humanity's last chance at surviving the coming war. Look for Summer Glau and Owain Yeoman to turn up as the Connors attempt to take down Skynet in the hopes of averting the global catastrophe in the future.

Winters (NBC): It's not just a drama about a female cop from the fertile minds of Peter Blake and David Shore (House); it's an addictive guessing game of a pilot script with one of TV's most unreliable narrators. Christie Winters (Famke Janssen) isn't your every day cop: she's better dressed, sexier, and, oh, a compulsive liar in this captivating police procedural. Watch as she solves crimes, makes enemies, gets saddled with a new partner (Dorian Missick), attempts dating, and evades internal affairs. Is she a crooked cop or just a lying cop with a penchant for uncovering the truth?

Those are my favorite drama pilots, anyway. There are a bunch that I think are really good, solid dramas (like NBC's Lipstick Jungle), but you get the idea. Which drama pilots are you most excited about? And which ones make you want to throw your television out the window (that would be New Amsterdam, Babylon Fields, and Twilight for me)?

In the meantime, be sure to come back tomorrow to see my comedy pilot picks.