New Pilot Roundup: Paranormal Cops, Hollywood Assistants, and a Comedy from J.J. Abrams

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TV’s fall development season is still going strong, with all of the major networks still buying up new pilots that might end up picking up to series for the fall 2013 season if the shows turn out right. Here’s a rundown of the flurry of new comedy projects the networks have announced this week:

  • 20-Nothings (CBS) - Based on a blog by Hollywood assistant Lauren Bachelis that’s aptly titled Hollywood Assistants Blog, Deadline reports that this sitcom revolves around a group of five over-educated 20-year-olds trying to make it in Hollywood. Fred Savage is directing, and Bachelis is writing and serving as supervising producer. She presumably left her job as an assistant for this.

  •  Adulting (Fox) - J.J. Abrams is producing this new single-camera comedy that has a put pilot commitment at the network (which means Fox has to air it or pay a hefty fee to the studio). The show is based on an upcoming book Adulting: How To Become A Grown-Up In 387 Easy(ish) Steps by journalist Kelly Williams Brown, which is based on her blog of the same name, making this the second blog-based sitcom sale of the week.

  • Strange Calls (ABC) - Based on the Australian series of the same name, Strange Calls follows a Boston cop who gets sent out on a night shift on a Nantucket Island where a lot of spooky paranormal stuff goes down. Simpsons/New Girl writer Donick Cary is writing the show, with Ruben Fleischer (Zombieland) directing and producing.

  • Joe & Joe & Jane (NBC) - Writing duo Joe Port (brother of new Community showrunner Moses Port) and Joe Wiseman, who have worked on Perfect Couples, New Girl, and Just Shoot Me! just sold this show to NBC in what Deadline calls “one of the biggest comedy sales this season.†The sitcom is based on the real-life relationship between Port, Wiseman, and Wiseman’s wife, and it’s about a childrens’ book author who is in a constant tug of war between his lady and his writing partner.

  • Nobody Trusts Maz (CBS) - Iranian-American comedian Maz Jobrani is attached to star in this new multi-camera sitcom from Cheers and Terriers writer Phoef Sutton. The show revolves around the conflict between a couple where the man is Iranian and the woman is Irish and how their wacky in-laws can’t seem to overcome their cultural differences in order to get along. So, it’s basically, Rob Schneider’s show from last season, only subbing in an Iranian family of in-laws for a Mexican family of in-laws.

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