NBC has been been busy today picking up new pilots. They’ve ordered a total of 3 new comedy pilots and 2 dramas for the day, including a Western based on a graphic novel and a comedy based on the life of Up All Night executive producer DJ Nash.
The two dramas are The Blacklist and The Sixth Gun. The first, The Blacklist, comes from Alias' John Eisendrath, who will be serving as showrunner. Written by Perfect Stranger’s Jon Bokencamp, the project focuses on an criminal mastermind who shocks everyone by turning himself in and offering to sell out every other criminal he’s come into contact with. Even more strangely, he insists that he will only do this if he is allowed to work with a rookie FBI agent to whom he has no visible connection.
The Sixth Gun sounds like a Western, and it is. Based on a graphic novel, the plot focuses on a set of six mythical guns, the last of which turns up in the hands of a young girl named Becky. This sets evil forces on her trail bent on killing her and getting the gun, with a single gunfighter the only thing standing in their way. The pilot is being produced by Lost's Carlton Cuse.
Next we have three comedies, according to Deadline, starting with the single-camera DJ Nash project, which comes from Jason Bateman’s Aggregate Films and takes place in the 1980’s with a voice-over featuring the Nash of the present day narrating the tale of his 13-year-old self from his position of hindsight wisdom.
Girlfriend In A Coma which gets my vote for worst title so far this pilot season, comes from Nurse Jackie co-creator Liz Brixius and is about a woman who wakes after nearly two decades in a coma to find she has a 17-year-old daughter she didn’t know about. That’s quite the surprise after a nice nap.
Finally, Holding Patterns from Justin Spitzer (The Office) is an ensemble comedy about a group of people whose lives change following a plane crash, which obviously they all survive or it wouldn’t be all that funny.
Of all of these I have to say The Blacklist sounds the most promising, but I have been surprised before.
