Pilot Season: ABC Orders Big Thunder Mountain Adaptation, Three More Dramas

ABC may be going for a ride this pilot season. The network has given a pilot order to Big Thunder, a drama inspired by the Disney roller coaster, TVGuide.com has learned.

In Big Thunder, a brilliant, late 19th century New York doctor and his family are given a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to relocate to a frontier mining town run by a powerful-but-mysterious tycoon. They quickly realize that not everything in Big Thunder is as it seems. Jason Fuchs will write, while Chris Morgan will executive-produce.

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The network has also ordered three other drama pilots. The first is Gothica, a sexy gothic soap set in present day that weaves together a mythology that incorporates the legends of Dracula, Jekyll and Hyde, Frankenstein and Dorian Grey, among others. Matt Lopez will write, while Mark Gordan Company will produce.

Murder in Manhattan is an hour-long dramedy set in New York City that sees a mother and daughter team up as amateur sleuths. Maria Maggenti will write.

In Reckless, when a man's wife is unjustly imprisoned during a political uprising overseas, he desperately pursues every legal option to secure her release. But when he's stymied by the U.S. government in the name of diplomacy, he is forced to consider less-than-legal options.  Chris Black will write while Martin Campbell will executive-produce.