Ironside Episodic Underwood Choi in street - H 2013
Will Hart/NBCNBC has continued making its series orders for 2013-14, picking up a police-themed Chicago Fire spinoff, Bill Lawrence‘s half-hour entry Undateable and an adaptation of 1960s drama Ironside starring Blair Underwood.
The pickup for Undateable makes the executive producer two-for-two this pilot season after Fox ordered his adaptation of I Suck at Girls — now titled Surviving Jack — to series earlier this week. Worth noting: Lawrence also has Ground Floor, a comedy pilot set up at TBS. The comedy stars Chris D’Elia and comes a day after NBC canceled Whitney, in which he co-starred opposite Whitney Cummings for two seasons.
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Chicago PD marks producer Dick Wolf‘s third series on NBC’s 2013-14 schedule, joining recently renewed procedurals Law & Order: SVU and Chicago Fire, which this week marked the debut of the police-themed spinoff story line. While Chicago Fire hasn’t been a runaway hit this season, it has been a sturdy performer for the network on Wednesdays, topping CBS stalwart CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and running neck-and-neck with ABC’s critical darling Nashville. Wolf, for his part, also has half-hour comedy Girlfriend in a Coma in contention at NBC. The comedy was rolled off-cycle after difficulty finding a replacement star for Christina Ricci.
The Ironside and Chicago PD pickups should be seen as NBC sticking with the safety of procedurals, of the few things that has worked for them this past season.
Chicago PD marks the second spinoff ordered to series this season. It joins the CW’s The Vampire Diaries spinoff The Originals. ABC, meanwhile, is expected to make a decision on its Once Upon a Time Wonderland-themed spinoff today.
Friday’s pickups join the previously ordered Michael J. Fox Show, About a Boy, Sean Saves the World, The Family Guide and dramas Believe and Crisis.
Here’s a look at what else has been ordered, with more expected to come. (Refresh for latest).
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DRAMA
Chicago PD
Logline: The Chicago Fire spinoff revolves around two different groups: Uniformed patrol cops and the Intelligence Unit, the team that combats the city’s street major offenses. Leading the Intelligence team is Sergeant Hank Voight (Jason Beghe), a man not against skirting the law in the pursuit of justice. Demanding and tough, only those who can take the heat survive under Voight’s command. Take Detective Antonio Dawson (Jon Seda) — despite his troubled history with his boss, Dawson has ambitions of running the unit … so if that means facing off against Voight every day, he’ll persevere. From the street cops with dreams of moving up to the elite crew who are already in, “life on the job” is a daily challenge. The enormous responsibilities that come with the territory take an emotional toll, as we’ll find when we follow the personal lives of our characters outside the walls of District 21.
Cast: Jason Beghe, Tania Raymonde, Scott Eastwood, Kelly Blatz, Melissa Sagemiller, Jon Seda
Team: W/EP Derek Haas, Michael Brandt, Dick Wolf, Matt Olmstead; EP Peter Jankowski, Danielle Gelber; EP/D Joe Chappelle
Studio: Universal Television, Wolf Films
Ironside
Logline: A remake of the 1960s series that starred Raymond Burr. The reboot stars Blair Underwood as a tough, sexy but acerbic police detective relegated to a wheelchair after a shooting who, hardly limited by his disability, he pushes and prods his hand-picked team to solve the most difficult cases in the city.
Cast: Blair Underwood, Spencer Grammer, Brent Sexton (The Killing), Pablo Schreiber (Lights Out), Neal Bledsoe, Kenneth Choi
Team: W/EP Michael Caleo (Rescue Me, The Sopranos); EP David Semel (No Ordinary Family), Teri Weinberg (Ugly Betty), John Davis, Jon Fox, Ron West
Studio: Universal Television, Davis Entertainment, Yellow Brick Road Productions
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COMEDY
Undateable
Logline: A young ensemble centering on a group of friends dubbed the “Undateables” whose lives are altered when a more confident character enters their world. Based on the book by Ellen Rakieten and Anne Coyle.
Cast: Chris D’Elia (2nd position to NBC’s Whitney), Brent Morin, Matthew Wilkas, Rick Glassman, Ron Funches, Briga Heelan (guest star) Aly Michalka, Bianca Kajlich
Team: W/EP Adam Sztykiel (Due Date); EP Bill Lawrence, Jeff Ingold; D Scott Ellis
Studio: Warner Bros. Television, Doozer Productions
Format: Multicamera
