Imagine a world in which the NFL, the NBA and Major League Baseball all decided to move their seasons to the same time of year. It would be chaos, for fans and the professional sports business alike. And yet, in television, that's essentially what happens during pilot season.
The broadcast networks traditionally order pilots during the first few months of the year. From there, it's a race to find the best actors, hire a crew, build sets and produce a show before May, when the upcoming fall schedules are announced. The field has always been crowded, but this spring, several cable networks and online retailer-turned-programmer Amazon are also developing new shows that they hope will go to series (cable networks typically produce pilots throughout the year, usually avoiding the spring).
read moreShowtime has drafted former Friday Night Lights star Kyle Chandler to star in its new drama pilot The Vatican, the cable network announced Friday.
The Emmy winner formerly known as Coach has taken the lead role as Cardinal Thomas Duffy, a charismatic yet...read more
Clear eyes, full hearts ... cease and desist?
Friday Night Lights creator Peter Berg has requested that Mitt Romney stop using the show's slogan "Clear Eyes, Full Hearts, Can't Lose" in his presidential campaign — and even accused the Republican candidate of plagiarism in a harshly worded letter obtained by The Hollywood Reporter.
"Your politics and campaign are clearly not aligned with the themes we portrayed in our series," Berg writes. read more