Having accrued critical success with the delicious Mad Men, AMC is eyeing a bevy of new (and different) projects. Among them, Variety reports: Fort Smith, a Western from 24 exec producer Robert Cochran and revolving around a posse patrolling the post-Civil War West; another Western centered on Comanche leader Quanah Parker; Uninvited Guest, a quirky drama from Less Than Zero screenwriter Harley Peyton and following a fella with multiple personality disorder; and Greenfields, in which a psychiatrist breaks his patient out of jail.
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As 24 prepares to present Season 6's final hours on Monday, attention has turned as of late to Jack Bauer's next trying day. As recently teased in TV Guide, a "huge transition" and "something completely new" await the series. And in his exit interview, Eric Balfour hinted at a farewell for CTU, as part of a sweeping "change of scenery." Hmm, what exactly is going to happen at 10:59 pm Monday?Invited to weigh in on the coming "reinvention," Fox entertainment president Peter Liguori tells TVGuide.com, "It will be a significant change in the show. Obviously, I can't share any details, but I'm very excited. I'm excited because [executive producers] Joel [Surnow], Bob [Cochran] and Howard [Gordon] are unbelievable writers, and... if they take what I think is the most daring show on television and decide to [stage] a greater high-wire act for next season, I think that’s what the show is all about. They have [the network's] full support and, I'm sure, the support of [star/executive pr...
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• ABC ordered a quintet of pilots on Tuesday, including The Call, a single-camera comedy from 24 gurus Joel Surnow, Bob Cochran and Howard Gordon, and focusing on "two offbeat L.A. paramedics who save people's lives while messing up each other," says Variety. The series is likened to a mash-up of Emergency!, M*A*SH and Seinfeld — but not Saved. No, not a hint of Saved. Also greenlit by ABC: Sam I Am, in which a woman awakens from a coma with amnesia, yet determined to atone for her supposed bad-girl past, and The Middle, a dysfunctional-family sitcom fancied as "Roseanne meets Little Miss Sunshine."• Fox has added SNL alum Cheri Oteri and That '70s Show's Kurtwood Smith to the voice cast of The Life and Times of Tim, and ordered the pilot Deeply Irresponsible, in which an uptight family is shaken up when their free-spirited grandpa moves in.
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ABC has given a series commitment to The Call, a real-time medical comedy from 24 creators Joel Surnow and Bob Cochran, says the Hollywood Reporter. Unlike 24, however, The Call — which centers on a pair of best friends/unorthodox paramedics — will offer self-contained, nonserialized episodes, and no one even close to being as fab as Chloe.... X-Files exec producer Vince Gilligan has received a green light from AMC for Breaking Bad, an drama pilot about a high-school chemistry teacher who manufactures crystal meth on the side. Gee, and I thought lighting a candle without touching the wick was radical.
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24 cocreators Robert Cochran, Joel Surnow and Howard Gordon have secured a pilot commitment from Fox for NSA Innocent, about an average joe recruited to spy for the NSA.... Also per Variety: CBS has spent seven figures on a pilot for a U.S. adaptation of BBC's Viva Blackpool, a "mystery-musical miniseries" about a small-time casino owner who tries to launch a Las Vegas resort. Hugh Jackman will exec-produce the series and guest in the pilot.... ABC is eyeing a drama centered on the post-Katrina New Orleans police force. NBC already has a Spike Lee-penned NoLa in the works for next fall.
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