TV Watch: Jimmy Smits pilot coming in cold at NBC? Screw Smits, we want Cole!

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TV Watch: Jimmy Smits pilot coming in cold at NBC? Screw Smits, we want Cole!

POSTED: Wednesday, May 5, 2010, 4:45 PM

Filed Under: TV


Smits	Cole

Ah, Pilot Pick-up Season! Truly the most wonderful time of the year. This is when studio execs start screening pilots and scheduling your fall-viewing. It's also the time when the boob tube biz really gets nasty and, if you pay close attention, you notice that pick-ups and what ultimately gets canceled to make way for new shows has more to do with the economics (is the production company in-house? Will the series get picked up overseas? Is the showrunner too expensive?) than actual creativity, sans the facade of artistry. At least the movie business likes to pretend it is propelled by artistic achievement (although, that doesn't explain Furry Vengeance); TV happily eschews such pretenses. Ace Hollywood biz bloggers Nikki Finke and Nellie Andreeva from Deadline.com have a full run of what's on tap for each studio this season, complete with anonymously sourced opinions of how each pilot is doing. Deadline's prognostications aren't 100 percent accurate (they are based on anonymous studio rumblings, after all), but their cheat sheet is a good indication of the new shows you'll be seeing. This isn't good news for Jimmy Smits and his Philly-shot NBC pilot Rough Justice, about a Supreme Court justice who leaves the hallowed halls to return to private practice. Here's what Andreeva and Finke say:

ROUGH JUSTICE: John Eisendrath's pilot is a legal drama starring Jimmy Smits from -- uh-oh -- Conan O'Brien's company. Gulp. "A little chilly". "Doesn't look good." But its chances improved a bit after Smits tested well.

So everybody loves Smits, but Rough Justice ain't feeling the love. Would NBC considering giving the show the boot because Conan O'Brien's name is attached to it? Probably. Oh god, I love television. While tongues have been wagging about RJ, from the description I gather that, if it gets picked up, it'll be one of those hour-long dramas geared at older people that will look vaguely promising but I'll ignore on the whole, like Monk or The Good Wife or various other shows on the air as an excuse to advertise Cialis. Speaking of Monk, I'd rather check out Gary Cole's new TBS show about a veteran Philly cop training his fuck-up nephew in Uncle Nigel, written and exec produced by the OCD PI's creator Andy Breckman. Yeah, I just shit on Monk, but Gary Cole — aka, Bill Lumbergh from Office Space — makes everything better. He just does slimy skeazewad so well. And who better to play a Philly cop? (Aww, c'mon guys, I kid, I kid.) There's no word yet on if the pilot's any good, but it's one of two cast-contingent pilots ordered up by TBS, who are looking better and better with the addition of Conan's new late night show. I may even forgive them for employing the hellish trifecta of George Lopez, Frank Caliendo and Bill Engvall. No, some sins can never be forgotten.

Rachel

Posted 2010-05-05 12:51:57

Why can't we have both?  Why diss Smits, who always "tests well" because he's a great actor and popular with viewers?  I like Cole, too, but I'd love to see both Smits and Cole.  And watch the age diss, too, buddy.

Posted by Molly Eichel @ 4:45 PM Permalink | Post a comment

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