The network, which gave a straight-to-series order this week to a Murphy Brown revival, has picked up six pilots — including reboots of Cagney and Lacey and Magnum P.I.
On the drama side, ordered to pilot are Chiefs, a female-driven procedural from CSI grad Carol Mendelsohn; Cagney and Lacey, from Bridget Carpenter (11.22.63, Westworld, Friday Night Lights); and Peter Lenkov’s (Hawaii Five-O, Macgyver) take on Magnum P.I. On the comedy front, CBS ordered three multicams: Fam, Here Comes the Neighborhood, and Indian family comedy Pandas in New York. (Two of the half-hours are produced by Aaron Kaplan, who has a joint venture with CBS.) The orders bring CBS’ pilot crop for the 2018-19 season to 11 (off from 16 a year ago).
Here’s a closer look at all six of Friday’s orders.
Cagney and Lacey is being written by Carpenter and described as a reboot of the iconic series about two female police detectives and friends who keep the streets of L.A. safe. The original series, which aired on CBS for seven seasons in the ’80s, starred Tyne Daly and Sharon Gless and was produced by MGM. The reboot is a co-production with CBS Television Studios and MGM Television. Cagney and Lacey continues CBS’ big push for female characters and writers this season under new network leaders Kelly Kahl and Thom Sherman.
Magnum P.I., which was put in development in October, is from Hawaii Five-O duo Lenkov and Eric Guggenheim, who will pen the script and exec produce alongside Davis Entertainment’s John Davis and John Fox (The Blacklist). It’s described as an update of the classic TV series and set in Hawaii. It follows Thomas Magnum, a decorated ex-Navy SEAL who, upon returning home from Afghanistan, repurposes his military skills to become a private investigator. The pilot is co-produced by CBS Television Studios — where Lenkov is based — and Universal Television, with the latter having produced the original show. The news comes as CBS and CBS Television Studios are also home to original Magnum PI star Tom Selleck, who stars in the Friday-night staple Blue Bloods. The actor is not attached to the Magnum P.I. reboot, though given his connection to the network, it’s not hard to see a cameo should the project move forward. (ABC tried its hand at a Magnum P.I. reboot last year, with the Disney-owned network’s version serving as more of a sequel and revolving around Magnum’s daughter. Eva Longoria and John Rogers produced the Universal Television entry. Originally created by Donald P. Bellisario and Glen A. Larson, Magnum P.I. launched in 1980 and ran for eight seasons on CBS.
Drama Chiefs is written by David Hudgins (Friday Night Lights) and produced by Mendelsohn and her production company topper Julie Weitz. It revolves around the professional and personal lives of three driven, successful, but very different women who are each chiefs of police of their own precincts in L.A. County. The drama is a co-production between Sony Pictures Television Studios — where Mendelsohn is based — and CBS Television Studios.
On the comedy front, Fam is written by Corinne Kingsbury (The Newsroom) and revolves around a woman whose dreams of an upstanding life with her new fiancé and his upstanding family are dashed when her younger train wreck half-sister comes to live with her to escape their train wreck of a father. David Rosenthal, Kaplan, Dana Honor and Wendi Trilling exec produce for CBS Television Studios and Kaplan’s Kapital Entertainment.
Here Comes the Neighborhood is from Jim Reynolds (The Big Bang Theory) and reunites the writer with 9JKL producers Kaplan, Honor and Trilling. The CBS Television Studios-produced comedy centers on the nicest guy in the Midwest who moves his family into a tough neighborhood in L.A. where not everyone appreciates his extreme neighborliness.
(Excerpt) Read More in: The Hollywood Reporter