Upfronts is always a bittersweet time of year for me, since the broadcast networks always order only some of my favorite pilots to series, never all. (When will the world accept my taste as universal truth, anyway?) So here are my reflections on the shows that made the cut justly and unjustly, and the shows that were cut justly. And I won’t dwell on the bad pilots that were passed over—why kick ’em when they’re down?
- Best of the winners
- Revolution I’m all about dystopian visions of the future, particularly when they spring from the mind of serial-drama-ninja J.J. Abrams. So this saga about an energyless civilization looks simply electric, and it’s the series I’m most excited to see.
- Vegas Shows that tried to capitalize on Mad Men‘s appeal this season—like Pan Am and The Playboy Club—didn’t fare so well; but I think CBS’s Vegas has a better shot at piquing viewers’ curiosity since it a) has Dennis Quaid and b) seems a little more rustic and rough than glam and glossy.
- The Following A drama featuring Kevin Bacon as an FBI agent and James Purefoy as the serial killer with whom he’s engaged in a mental game of cat-and-mouse sounds thrilling. I’m in!
- Nashville Connie Britton’s got some quality work under her belt—Friday Night Lights and American Horror Story—and she’s totally plausible as an aging country star in this ABC show’s compelling trailer. But with Hayden Panettiere (Heroes) playing a younger singer poised to dethrone her, are we supposed to pretend Country Strong never existed?
- Worst of the winners
- Animal Practice What do you get when you cross Dr. House and Dr. Dolittle? A show we don’t intend to watch. And you know what, NBC? I don’t think our cat will, either.
- 666 Park Ave. You’d think you couldn’t go wrong when you enlist Terry O’Quinn (Lost) and Vanessa Williams (Ugly Betty) to play the mysterious owners of a haunted luxry apartment building, but the trailer played more cheesy than creepy.
- Beauty and the Beast CW, I know you don’t have the budget of some of your broadcast rivals, but ugh, even MTV’s Teen Wolf seems to have better production values… and don’t get me started on the writing.
- Best of the losers
- Midnight Sun The only keywords I really needed to hear were Alaska, communes, conspiracy, and Julia Stiles. Too bad NBC put this drama in deep-freeze.
- County After Friday Night Lights and Parenthood, Jason Katims has become a master at writing family dramas, so I was eager to see his narrative prowess applied to a down-on-its-luck, morally-ambiguous hospital. But NBC considered the series DOA.
- Downwardly Mobile I thought NBC would think it miraculous that they reunited Roseanne Barr and John Goodman in a trashy trailer-park sitcom. Apparently not.
- The Asset Ali Larter (Heroes) and Bradley Whitford (The West Wing) embroiled in spy games? But NBC made the pilot classified. Man, NBC, this is the fourth series you’ve pimped me
- The Selection The CW’s response to The Hunger Games sounded ambitious, complex, and political. And that’s probably what made the network go running to The Carrie Diaries.