NBC began defining their fall television slate this evening but won’t fully fill it in until tomorrow at the earliest. Thur far, a total of four pilots were picked up for season orders on the peacock network, all of which feature women as the main attraction.
In Up All Night (previously known as Alpha Mom), Christina Applegate stars as a working mother who never thought she’d have children. Will Arnett is on board as Applegate’s stay-at-home husband, effectively squashing rumors he was in the running to take cover for Steve Carell on The Office next season despite being slated to appear in the season finale. Maya Rudolph, who appears as the bride in Universal’s Bridesmaids opening this weekend, is also set to co-star.
Smash is derived from a Steven Spielberg idea about a cast of characters who put on a Broadway musical about Marilyn Monroe. Debra Messing and American Idol’s Katharine McPhee are scheduled to star, and you can bet there will be a fair amount of musical numbers involved. Watch out, Glee.
Comedian Whitney Cummings is getting her own show ala Jerry Seinfeld called appropriately Whitney. The comedy’s pilot about a young couple in love was written by Cummings who will also executive produce.
In the drama department, Mario Bello will star in the American version of the British series Prime Suspect that starred the ageless Helen Miren. Peter Berg (The Kingdom, Friday Night Lights) directed the pilot that introduces Bello’s character as a female detective working amongst primarily men in her New York precinct.
All of these shows were produced in-house at NBC’s studio UMS. The fate of other UMS pilots Reconstruction and Grimm, as well as David E. Kelley’s Wonder Woman, could be determined by as early as tomorrow.
