Things are looking very good for Katie’s new show at this time
Back by popular demand: Deadline’s Pilot Buzz lists. We’re earlier than normal this year while pilots have generally been late, with only a handful of them having cuts by now and the vast majority still in various stages of production. Therefore, everything on this list has to be taken with a gigantic grain of salt as a lot could change between a table read and a final cut.
If there is such thing as sure thing so early, the CW’s ARROW and THE CARRIE DIARIES would be it. They have pre-sold titles and are already making a lot of noise. Both were solid pre-production, received mostly favorable reaction to the fist images of the title characters released last month, and the strong buzz continues. Another pilot with a instantly recognizable title, BEAUTY & THE BEAST, also has been garnering buzz, while medical drama FIRST CUT has had people raving about Meryl Streep’s daughter Mamie Gummer who plays the lead. And then there is a pilot, whose chances improved over the last two weeks for reasons completely unrelated to the actual pilot — THE SELECTION. In picking it up, the network took a page from its own playbook several years ago, when, on the heels of the success of the first Twilight movie, the network ordered to pilot the similarly-themed Vampire Diaries. This year, the CW did the same with the Hunger Games-esque THE SELECTION in anticipation that the movie would be big. The film indeed has been an instant smash, boosting the chances of The Selection.