TVSquad

There are so many pilots made each fall that I guess CBS didn't want to go with the show about zombies that come back from the dead and have sex with the living.

But that's pretty much what Babylon Fields was about. It starrred Kathy Baker (Picket Fences), Ray Stevenson (Rome), and Amber Tamblyn (Joan of Arcadia) and was a drama set in a small town. The dead came back to life and the living had to deal with various problems that ensued (though apparantly erecticle dysfunction wasn't one of them - that must be an odd episode). Oh, and it's also a crime drama, with the sheriff solving crimes each week!

You would think that the early, painful demise of The Nine, Kidnapped, Smith, Six Degrees, and other new dramas this season that there would be more comedy pilots picked up for the 2007 season. But according to The Hollywood Reporter, that's not the case.

Except for some solid buzz from a handful of comedies, including ABC's Sam I Am, ABC's Cavemen and Miss/Guided, and several shows at CBS, it looks like more dramas will make the schedule, including NBC's Bionic Woman and Journeyman, ABC's Dirty Sexy Money and Pushing Daisies, CBS' Babylon Fields, The Man, and Viva Laughlin. The new Jimmy Smits drama might replace Close To Home on Fridays, while FOX has the much-hyped Sarah Connor Chronicles, K-Ville, and Them.

Jaime Ray Newman has been cast as the lead in the new CW drama pilot I Am Paige Armstrong. Newman plays a congressional aide who decides to run against her crooked boss.

The comedic drama Babylon Fields, about a town where the dead have come back to life, recently added Kathy Baker to the cast. Baker will play a housewife who must contend with her zombie husband, whom she killed with an ax.

Kevin Dunn has been added to the ABC comedy pilot Sam I Am, about a woman (Christina Applegate) suffering from amnesia who must piece her life back together.

Here's yet another rundown of who's been cast in network pilots for the upcoming season:

Christina Applegate and Jean Smart will both star in the ABC comedy pilot Sam I Am, which is not, one assumes, a televised sequel to the Sean Penn film I Am Sam, though turning that movie into a comedy would be really funny. Well, to me anyway. Actually, Applegate plays a woman who has to piece her life back together after suffering from amnesia.

ABC has announced casting for some of the networks upcoming pilots:

Scott Wolf will play the lead in a still-untitled comedy for ABC taking place in a law firm, despite only being twelve years old. Okay, he's actually pushing forty, but seriously, the dude looks like he never ages.

Charles Esten will star in another comedy pilot for ABC called American Family. Esten will play the patriarch of a middle class family. One assumes they'll do and say comedic things.