NBC Pilots Update: Which Could Be Part of the 2020-21 Season?
The pandemic didn’t just impact the ends of seasons in the spring; it’s also going to affect what the networks put out for 2020-2021.
While NBC had ordered 12 pilots, Deadline reports that two dramas and three comedies will be held for next year: At That Age, Echo, Crazy for You, Jefferies, and Someone Out There.
At That Age explores the legacy of an African-American family. In Echo, crimes are solved by sending investigators back in time into the victims’ bodies. Crazy for You follows the lead character (Shelley Hennig) reentering the dating scene after it’s changed, while Someone Out There sees adults set in their ways challenged to become better versions of themselves. And Jefferies stars Jim Jefferies as a fictionalized version of himself.
Meanwhile, the network plans to get to work on pilots for dramas Langdon and Ordinary Joe and comedies Night School, Grand Crew, and American Auto, when they are able to start filming.
Langdon is the Da Vince Code prequel based on Dan Brown’s international best-selling thriller The Lost Symbol. It follows symbologist Robert Langdon’s (Ashley Zukerman) early adventures. Ordinary Joe examines the different paths a man’s (James Wolk) life could take if a decision is made based on love, loyalty, or passion.
Night School, based on the 2018 film, follows the adults of a night school GED prep class. Grand Crew is Phil Augusta Jackson and Dan Goor’s comedy about “black friends, dating and wine.” The workplace comedy American Auto takes place at a major American automotive company in Detroit.
Riann Steele, Ashley Zuerkman (Dave J Hogan/Getty Images; Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images)
As for the sci-fi dramas Debris and La Brea, the former filmed enough to present to NBC and is reportedly “in consideration” to be ordered to series, while the network ordered a total of six scripts of the latter.
Debris follows agents from different contents with different mindsets (Jonathan Tucker and Riann Steele) investigating an alien spacecraft’s wreckage, while La Brea (starring Michael Raymond-James and Natalie Zea) explores the aftermath of a sinkhole in Los Angeles sending some to a primeval world.
NBC previously ordered drama Law & Order: Organized Crime (on its fall schedule) and comedies Mr. Mayor, Young Rock, and Kenan (all held for midseason and next summer) to series.
