J.J. Abrams Lands Pilot Orders For ‘Believe’ And Untitled Cops & Robots Series

It looks like J.J. Abrams’ star continues to shine. If it wasn’t enough that he was named as the director for ‘Star Wars VII’ (a coveted and enviable spot if I do say so), he also received pilot orders for 2 sci-fi projects, one to air on Fox and another on NBC .

The projects were sold to the respective studios back in September and with Abrams’ name a hot ticket these days, it’s no wonder that they received a green light for the production of the pilots to begin.

‘Believe:’

Over at NBC, Abrams will be executive producing ‘Believe,’ a pilot from Oscar nominated writer/director Alfonso Cuarón (‘Gravity,’ ‘Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban,’ ‘Children of Men’) who is also listed as an EP. Cuarón wrote the episode with Mark Friedman (‘The Forgotten’) and is attached to direct.

This supernatural show is described as a “high concept drama” about an unlikely relationship that develops between a young girl with a great gift/power , which will come into their own in seven years, and a man sprung from prison who has been tasked with protecting her from the evil elements that hunting her down.

Ever since ‘Believe’ was pitched to NBC, the pilot has gone on the fact track to getting made and word has it that the network has already started looking for someone to fill the lead role since last December.

The premise of ‘Believe’ is very promising but the words “high concept drama” to describe the pilot is worrisome. The last time those words were use, the wonderful series ‘Awake’ only managed to survive one season of 13 episodes. Hopefully, NBC will give ‘Believe’ a chance just as they have with Abrams other sci-fi series on their network, ‘Revolution.’

Untitled Cop and Robot Pilot:

It was probably a no-brainer that Fox would pick up a pilot from Abrams and J.H. Wyman. After all, Abrams was the EP for ‘Fringe’ and Wyman has been with the series since the first season, first as a writer then as co-showrunner with Jeff Pinker, then as sole showrunner in its fifth and final season.

This time around the two are working on an “action packed buddy cop show” yet without a title. This pilot is said to be set in the “near future when all LAPD officers are partnered with highly evolved human-liked androids.” Since the pilot order was from Fox and not ABC (which Disney happens to own), don’t expect to see a familiar golden colored android to appear as the cop’s partner (I hear that android may be waiting for a call from Abrams for a part in an upcoming feature franchise sequel!).

The pilot was written by Wyman who will executive produce alongside Abrams and Bryan Burk.

Surprisingly this isn’t the only pilot for the 2013 Fall season that will be offering androids and humans working together. Over at NBC, Howard Gordon (’24,’ ‘Awake’) and Josh Friedman (‘The Finder,’ ‘Locke and Key,’ ‘Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles’) are developing a nighttime soap opera where a detective must solve the case of the first robot-on-human murder while dealing with his own dysfunctional family and prevent a growing robot rebellion.

Robot cop partner series haven’t been very successful in the past (think ‘Homes and Yo-Yo,’ ‘Future Cop,’ and ‘Mann and the Machine’) so let’s hope this has a longer run than, say, Abrams’ last offer to FOX, ‘Alcatraz.’

Source: Deadline