NBC Makes Early Pickups for Three Series
ABC adds Taye Diggs Drama
By Christopher Lisotta
Following the announcement in March that NBC is making early series pickups for the 2006-07 season, the network gave orders to three more new series Thursday, including the TV adaptation of the 2004 feature film "Friday Night Lights," sources close to the network said.
NBC picked up the NBC Universal Television Studio and Imagine drama "Friday Night Lights," which stars Kyle Chandler as a high school football coach in a small Texas town who takes the reins of a winning team. The network also picked up the NUTS drama "Raines," which stars Jeff Goldblum as an eccentric but brilliant police officer.
The network also made its first comedy pickup with 20th Century Fox's "The Singles Table," a single-camera comedy about five unmarried wedding guests who meet they are seated together at a table. An untitled comedy pilot from "Saturday Night Live" writer and star Tina Fey is also expected to get a series pickup Thursday.
NBC had no comment on the most recent series pickups.
NBC confirmed months ago that it has given series orders to the dramas "The Black Donnellys," "Kidnapped" and "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip."
Other networks are also on the early series pickup kick. Late Wednesday ABC ordered the Touchstone Television dramas "Six Degrees" and "Day Break." "Six Degrees" is an ensemble about a group of New Yorkers whose lives intersect, while "Day Break" stars Taye Diggs as a cop on the run trying to figure out who framed him for murder. That brings ABC's total series pickups to six.
ABC had no comment on its pickups.
ABC adds Taye Diggs Drama
By Christopher Lisotta
Following the announcement in March that NBC is making early series pickups for the 2006-07 season, the network gave orders to three more new series Thursday, including the TV adaptation of the 2004 feature film "Friday Night Lights," sources close to the network said.
NBC picked up the NBC Universal Television Studio and Imagine drama "Friday Night Lights," which stars Kyle Chandler as a high school football coach in a small Texas town who takes the reins of a winning team. The network also picked up the NUTS drama "Raines," which stars Jeff Goldblum as an eccentric but brilliant police officer.
The network also made its first comedy pickup with 20th Century Fox's "The Singles Table," a single-camera comedy about five unmarried wedding guests who meet they are seated together at a table. An untitled comedy pilot from "Saturday Night Live" writer and star Tina Fey is also expected to get a series pickup Thursday.
NBC had no comment on the most recent series pickups.
NBC confirmed months ago that it has given series orders to the dramas "The Black Donnellys," "Kidnapped" and "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip."
Other networks are also on the early series pickup kick. Late Wednesday ABC ordered the Touchstone Television dramas "Six Degrees" and "Day Break." "Six Degrees" is an ensemble about a group of New Yorkers whose lives intersect, while "Day Break" stars Taye Diggs as a cop on the run trying to figure out who framed him for murder. That brings ABC's total series pickups to six.
ABC had no comment on its pickups.
