TVSquad

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.

Next week is network upfront time, when ABC, CBS, FOX and NBC announce their new fall schedules. We'll have full coverage at TV Squad (of course) and I'm handling NBC, because I just know that Studio 60 is coming back, regardless of the fact they've torn down the sets and the cast has gone on to other things. Ahem.

There's already some news for NBC ahead of their upfront. They've told four shows that they can begin staffing: The Bionic Woman, Chuck, Life, and Journeyman. So expect to see those shows on your TV sets this fall. Returning series announced so far include Heroes, ER, Medium, The Office, Law and Order: SVU, and 30 Rock.

In other news, even if NBC decides to cancel Law and Order and/or Law and Order: CI, they might find life some place else: TNT. Which is a logical place for them to go (or USA).

A lot of people said "huh?" when it was announced that ABC had ordered a pilot for a new series based on the Geico commercials featuring cavemen, and now it looks like those people may have been on to something.

Early word on the show is that it's "astoundingly awful," "without a laugh in sight," "jaw-droppingly horrendous," and makes American Dad look sophisticated. But I wonder how these people who saw the pilot really feel. The reviews come from someone at Ain't It Cool News.

The part that upsets me the most? The actors from the commercials aren't even in the show! So...what the hell?

We're in the middle of pilot season right now, and of the approximately 9000 different shows all fighting to be part of this fall's network schedule (as long as they aren't put up against American Idol), a handful have shown promise, some even more than was expected. Here's the buzz:

Dirty Sexy Money is at the top of the list. The ABC drama stars Peter Krause, Donald Sutherland, and William Baldwin and is about a lawyer who defends rich New Yorkers. It also has a title that catches your attention. Marlowe, the new modern take on the Raymond Chandler hero on ABC, is getting better than expected reviews. Other shows that look like winners: FOX's Action News, with Kelsey Grammer and Patricia Heaton, ABC's Football Wives, and an untitled CBS drama starring Jimmy Smits.

Viva Laughlin, a musical produced by Hugh Jackman and based on the British series Blackpool, is also getting good early buzz, but I don't know. A weekly musical drama? Hmmm...

Businessman and former talk show host Merv Griffin has a new game show in the works, and it just got a great syndication deal. Let's Play Crosswords will premiere this fall, and has a green light to run on five big NBC stations, including those in New York, L.A., and Chicago.

Griffin also created Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy!, two of the biggest, longest running syndicated shows in the history of television. This new game show took him a while to create, because he had to figure out a way to get a crossword puzzle board, which can be large, on a TV screen, and also keep the show interesting.

But that name, Let's Play Crosswords? Is that really a good title? Why not just called Crossword!, with the exclamation point like Jeopardy! has?

It's not even January yet, but that doesn't mean we can't take a sneak peek at some of the shows in development right now. The Futon Critic has a list that they've been updating every week, and while some of the show seem rather bland and the same old same same old, there are a few shows that could be interesting.