It’s pilot season, which means all of the major networks are deciding what new shows might come to television in the 2014-2015 TV season. The networks typically order a bunch of pilot episodes to be made, and then they decide which of them will get picked up to series and which will never be heard from again.
So while getting a pilot order doesn’t mean the show will ever make it to air, the CW typically has a better track record than most. Last year the network ordered eight pilots, and five of them were picked up.
Thus far the CW has six pilots ready to shoot, so odds are good that a few of them will be the shows you’ll fall in love with next fall.
The Messengers
UPDATE (2/4): A pilot has been ordered for this sci-fi series written by Teen Wolf scribe Eoghan O’Donnell. It’s about a mysterious object that falls to Earth and the energy pulse kills several unconnected people. They wake back up and learn they are in charge of preventing the Apocalypse.
Supernatural: Tribes
A spin-off of the CW’s longest-running hit drama, Tribes will be set in Chicago and focus on the battle between monsters and hunters. There’s no casting news yet, but it’s being written by Andrew Dabb (who has written for Supernatural since season 4) and will be directed by Supernatural co-showrunner and frequent director Robert Singer. The backdoor pilot will air as an episode of Supernatural‘s ninth season, like the CW did with The Originals on The Vampire Diaries last year.
The Flash
The highly anticipated Arrow spin-off, The Flash will center on the new hero played by Grant Gustin (who has already appeared in two episodes of Arrow). The show has also picked up Jesse L. Martin, Danielle Panabaker and Rick Cosnett (Dr. Wes on The Vampire Diaries) for the cast. The Flash feels like a sure-bet for a series order and, if The Originals is renewed and Tribes is ordered, could make three different spin-offs for the CW.
iZombie
From DC Comics, this show is being written by Veronica Mars creator Rob Thomas and Diane Ruggiero. The show is about a medical student who becomes a zombie and gets a job working in a coroner’s office for her constant supply of brains. However, she inherits the memories of the brains she eats and uses that information to solve their murders.
Jane the Virgin
Emily Owens, M.D. creator Jennie Snyder is writing this adaptation of a Venezuelan telenovela about a young, religious Latina woman who gets accidentally artificially inseminated.
Identity
Written by The Good Wife and Elementary‘s Corinne Brinkerhoff and produced by Sleepy Hollow‘s Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, this drama centers on a young woman in need of a transplant who learns she’s related to a rich and powerful family. The CIA contacts her to infiltrate the family’s involvement in terrorist activities.
Which of these potential shows are you most excited for? Would you be happy if the CW consists of three different spin-offs? And has there ever been a more disturbing premise than “accidental artificial insemination”?
(Image courtesy of the CW)
Senior Writer, BuddyTV
John watches nearly every show on TV, but he specializes in sci-fi/fantasy like The Vampire Diaries, Supernatural and True Blood. However, he can also be found writing about everything from Survivor and Glee to One Tree Hill and Smallville.
