Pilot season '06 kicked in to high gear Wednesday as broadcast and cable networks handed out a slew of greenlighted orders for drama projects, many with high-profile creative talent attached.

ABC ordered "Six Degrees," from executive producer J.J. Abrams; CBS gave the nod to "Jericho," executive produced and to be directed by Jon Turteltaub, and to "Orpheus," from executive producers Ridley and Tony Scott; Fox greenlighted "Faceless," which "Narc" helmer Joe Carnahan is on board to direct and executive produce; and NBC gave a thumbs up to "Heroes," from "Crossing Jordan" creator Tim Kring, and to "Seeing Red," from writer-producer Graham Yost.

USA Network, meanwhile, gave the formal production nod to the dramedy pilot "Underfunded," which is eyed as a companion piece for "Monk," after settling on stage actor Mather Zickel for the lead role, lifting the cast-contingency on the project.

Separately, UPN has cut a deal with Grammy-winning soul star Alicia Keys for a drama series project loosely inspired by her life. Writer Felicia Henderson (Showtime's "Soul Food") has been tapped to pen the show, a coming-of-age story about a girl from a biracial family.

Among the broadcast networks, the pickup orders come right on schedule as programmers gear up to finalize their pilot slates in preparation for the annual spring ritual of schedule-setting and upfront presentations in April and May.

At ABC, "Six Degrees," from Touchstone TV and Abrams' studio-based Bad Robot, is an ensemble soap about the intertwined stories of a group of strangers in New York from different walks of life.

Stu Zicherman and Raven Metzner (ABC's "What About Brian") penned the script and are executive producing with Bad Robot's Abrams, Thom Sherman and Bryan Burk.

Zicherman, Metzner and Bad Robot are repped by WMA.

"Jericho," from writer/executive producer Stephen Chbosky ("Rent") and Paramount Network Television, chronicles the social, psychological and physical chaos that ensues in a small town when it becomes isolated from the rest of the world after a nuclear disaster. Turteltaub is exec producing through his Junction Entertainment banner.

The project was one of three developed under Turteltaub's three-for-one deal with CBS, which included three scripts, at least one of which was guaranteed to go to pilot (HR 12/16).

Chbosky and Turteltaub are repped by WMA.

"Orpheus" hails from Paramount Network TV and studio-based Scott Free Prods. Written by Oscar- and Emmy-nominated writer-director Nicholas Meyer ("The Human Stain"), the project centers on a young man whose girlfriend is involved in a sophisticated, modern-day cult.

WMA-repped Meyer is exec producing with Scott Free's Ridley Scott, Tony Scott and David Zucker.

"Faceless," written by Dario Scardapane (USA's "The Darkling"), centers on a federal prosecutor who goes undercover as a criminal in order to take down a sprawling underworld organization.

Carnahan, Tony Krantz, Daniel Rappaport and Evelyn O'Neill are executive producing the 20th Century Fox TV pilot, with Scardapane serving as a co-exec producer.

"Heroes," from NBC Universal TV Studio, is a two-hour pilot described as a large ensemble drama about a group of seemingly everyday people who discover that they have superpowers.

Endeavor-repped Kring is the writer/executive producer.

NBC Uni TV's "Seeing Red," which has received a cast-contingent order, centers on an eccentric, brilliant cop who talks to dead victims that help him solve his cases.

CAA-repped Yost is the writer/exec producer.

UPN's Keys project is said to be inspired by the life story of the 24-years-old musical prodigy, who was born into a biracial family in the gritty Hell's Kitchen area of New York.

Keys, repped by WMA, is on board to executive produce the project, which has received a script commitment from the network, along with her manager, Jeff Robinson, and Henderson. Henderson, whose series credits also include UPN's "Moesha" and NBC's "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air," is repped by Endeavor.

Written by David Breckman and Ross Abrash, USA's "Underfunded" centers on Darryl Freehorn (Zickel), star agent for the little-known Canadian Secret Service whose brilliance in the field compensates for the woefully underfunded agency's lack of resources.

"Mather Zickel's comedic sensibility is a perfect fit for the character David and Ross created," USA executive vp original programming Jeff Wachtel said. "This show will make Mather Zickel a household name, if it isn't already."

John Fortenberry (Fox's "Arrested Development") is set to direct the NBC Uni TV pilot, which is slated to begin production Feb. 6 in Vancouver. Breckman and Abrash serve as co-executive producers, with Ric Kellard exec producing.

Zickel is best known for his recurring role as Mike Powers on Comedy Central's "Reno 911!" and for portraying Bill Murray in the ABC biopic "Gilda Radner: It's Always Something."

He is managed by Andy Corren and Kara Welker.