Pilot Season: First look at CW’s 2010 pilots

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Editor’s note: Over the next several days, Show Tracker will cover the pilots under contention for the fall season at the five broadcast networks in the following order: ABC, CBS, CW, Fox and NBC. (Yes, it’s alphabetical.)

The CW is sticking to its no-comedies policy and has ordered six dramas to consider for the fall lineup, but the slate doesn’t just feature supernatural beings, young, sexy people and soapy, sordid plots.

The network is trying its hand at action-adventure, family drama, and even a little crime-solving. And it’s definitely perpetuating its hot people trend. (Check out the photos on this post for proof).

Its most buzz-worthy project comes from Amy Sherman-Palladino and Dan Palladino who found much success with the WB’s ‘Gilmore Girls’ but flopped later with the Fox comedy ‘The Return of Jezebel James.’

‘The Wyoming Project’ centers around a 20-something horse trainer who inherits his family’s Wyoming ranch along with the responsibility of caring for his three sisters when their parents die. Sean Faris, (pictured right), who recently played a hot bloodsucking bartender on the CW’s freshman hit, ‘The Vampire Diaries,’ plays the lead. Renee Smith has been cast as one of his sisters. For some reason, farm drama sounds kinda appealing. Come on, Amy Sherman-Palladino, make us proud.

‘Nikita’ is the CW’s update of the 1990 film, ‘La Femme Nikita,’ by Craig Silverstein (‘Bones’ and ‘K-Ville’). In this version, Nikita has gone rogue and a new Nikita is being trained to replace her. If it goes to series, this show is likely to attract a lot of attention because of the casting of Hawaiian-born Maggie Q (pictured left) in the lead role. Maggie Q (‘Mission: Impossible III’), whose mother is Vietnamese, would be the first Asian actress to land the lead in a TV broadcast series.

Two of the projects are based on books.

‘Betwixt’ by Tara Bray Smith is a teen novel about three teenagers who must come to terms with the fact that they’re supernatural entities called ‘changelings’ whose role is to save humans from evil. No one has been cast yet, but it’s promising that Elizabeth Chandler (‘The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants’) wrote the script.

Kate Torgovnick’s book, ‘Cheer!’ is the foundation for ‘Hellcats,’ a script by Kevin Murphy (‘Caprica’ and ‘Desperate Housewives’) that is set in the world of competitive cheerleading. It centers on a girl from the wrong side of the tracks who is determined to leave Memphis and go to law school. When she loses her scholarship, she tries out for the Hellcats and is accepted. No one has been cast. It is produced by Tom Welling of ‘Smallville.’

Amy Holden Jones (‘Mystic Pizza’ and ‘Indecent Proposal’) has written an untitled script about a freshman Harvard Medical School class. It’s seen through the eyes of a young woman from a blue-collar town who is part of the class. Think ‘Grey’s Anatomy: The Medical School Years.’ ‘Heroes’ actress Hayden Panettiere is a co-executive producer. (Random?) No one has been cast.

From Ken Sanzel (‘Numb3rs’), and the producing team of Ridley and Tony Scott, comes ‘Nomads,’ an action-adventure story that follows a group of backpackers traveling overseas who agree to work secret missions for CIA so they can support their nomadic lifestyles. No one has been cast.

-- Maria Elena Fernandez (follow me on Twitter @writerchica)

Photos: Right, Sean Faris. Credit: Summit Entertainment. Left, Maggie Q. Credit: WireImage.

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