Hot NBC Pilots

Picking the right pilots and putting them into the right place on the schedule is essential to success of every broadcast network, but this year it is hardly as crucial for any of the big four as it is for NBC which has recently dropped to all-time lows.

The General Electric-owned network which once ruled the airwaves with their Nielsen-smashing line-up of hit shows including Must-See TV Thursdays has hit rock bottom and is desperate for a hit.

Although the management seemed confident with their slate of high quality dramas last fall and kept saying they were "one hit away" from being back in business, all of their freshman series bombed including the midseason entries.

The network's sole success story is of course Monday night genre drama "Heroes" which stood out as the highest rated new show on all networks last fall. Recently, however, the drama has lost almost one third of that audience.

So what NBC pilots are getting most of the buzz this spring and may help the Peacock network reverse its fortunes?

One of the pilots which insiders believe is a 'slam dunk' is of course "Lipstick Jungle," NBC's entry into the prime-time soap opera business.

The drama is based on the best-selling book by Candace Bushnell ("Sex and the City") and follows three high-powered friends as they weather the ups and downs of lives lived at the top of their game.

As NBC says, these women are not looking for Mr. Big. They ARE Mr. Big. Leading the cast is of course the lovely Brooke Shields, with Kim Raver ("24") and Lindsay Price ("90210") playing her best friends.



The network's "re-imagined" remake of the classic hit "The Bionic Woman" starring sexy British actress Michelle Ryan (pictured above) as Jaime Sommers is one of the dramas being considered to fill the Mondays at 10 p.m. post-"Heroes" slot next season.


Also hot on the NBC radar is "Journeyman" starring Kevin McKidd as a man traveling into the past with a purpose – impacting people's lives for the better – and sometimes the worse and trying to reconnect with his ex-fiancée whom he lost in a mysterious plane crash.



"Chuck" from "The O.C." creator Josh Schwartz is a pilot about your average computer-whiz-next-door (Zachary Levi) whose old friend, a CIA agent, sends him an encoded email embedding world's greatest spy secrets into his brain.

Chuck becomes the government's most powerful weapon, with international terrorist plots, sexy spies and cold pizza – all just a click away.

Detective series "Winters" starring former Bond-girl Famke Jannsen; as well as comedies "Lipshitz Saves the World" about a super-hero 17-year old starring Leslie Nielsen, Jenny McCarthy and Dr. Ruth; "Business Class" about a relentless salesman starring Mark Valley; and "The I.T. Crowd" about a couple of computer nerds may also get a shot.

NBC will be the first network to reveal its new schedule on Monday, May 14 at 3:00 p.m. EST at the Radio City Music Hall in New York.

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