Exclusive: CW pilot script reviews for Secret Circle, Awakening, Heavenly, Heart of Dixie,Danni Lewinski and Cooper and Stone
5 Mar 2011
Cancelled Shows Hart of Dixie Pilot Shows SpoilerTV ArticleAwakening
Grade: B
While not exactly Emmy worthy this is the strongest of the three CW fantasy scripts and thus the most likely show to get the post-Vampire Diaries slot next fall. It follows EMO zombie lawyer Jenna in denial trying to be human in a relationship with a human whose father is a zombie hunter. He recently discovered his father is a zombie hunter but isn't aware Jenna is a zombie. There's a Zombie Hunter working for the government who keeps hunting the zombies throughout the pilot -through their facebook friends lists! It's more True Blood than Vampire Diaries in its setting and tone. It is very different from The Walking Dead. Zombies can transform from human form into full decay form at will and there are zombie parties where they kidnap humans and eat them while dancing to Michael Jackson's thriller. Jenna's parents and sister are also Zombies but are more accepting of their zombie identity.
Heart of Dixie
Grade: B
More in the style of Life Unexpected and WB dramas than most stuff on the CW. Good characters and development in the episode. It's filled with quirky characters. Dialogue is charming and heartfelt. This is much deeper show than anything on the CW and might be considered off brand. Usual CW love triangle develops in the pilot.
Cooper and Stone
Grade: C
Yes it's completely ridiculous but it embraces its stupidity. It sort of works for the CW think Blair Waldorf style cops. Depending on the execution this could actually be a decent guilty pleasure with lots of cool dialogue. Basically a buddy cop comedy about light headed bitches.
Danni Lewinski
Grade: C -
Pretty bland lawyer show and completely off brand for the CW, i doubt they'll pick this up.
Secret Circle
Grade: D
More childish and much less intense compared to the Vampire Diaries. This is more of a high school drama than a fantasy. Some mythology and mystery in the background but ultimately Awakening was a much stronger script and should receive the Vampire Diaries lead-in next season. No strong romance like in the Vampire Diaries to grip the audience
Heavenly
Grade: F
An abomination - think the usual CW love triangle but with an Angel, a pastor and a lawyer - yeah Christians might boycott this!
Lawyer Lilly gets an Angel working for her who actually saved her life as a child when she was drowning. It had a boring case of the week about reckless driving. Seriously how was this even ordered to pilot?
SpoilerTV
nice insight .. only Heart of Dixie B looks promising!
ReplyDeleteAgreed.
ReplyDeleteI really can't take that zombie stuff seriously. It's like a bad joke.
The zombie one is the best!?!?
ReplyDeleteI think that tells us all we need to know...
It was pretty ridiculously at times laughable but it had me hooked more than any of the others and i will definately watch a few episodes, it seems like the kinda show that can grow on you if you can ignore things like zombies transforming at will. Heart of Dixie is probably the best one but isnt really my type of thing
ReplyDeleteLOL ANGEL PASTOR AND LAWYER what the hell is wrong with them (is this the one with Dashiel the angel pwahahaha, and now that I think about it its sounds like a slash name PWAHHHAHA even better)
ReplyDeleteI feel like I would love heart of Dixie, they will get 1 or 2 season like LUX and I'll be heat broken once again GREAT! I like the first one but I'm a Vamp/Zombie/werewolf lover so what ever I'll watch it ahhaah, expecialy now cause THE WALKING DEAD is just 6 eps AND i need more to survive ARGH
PWAHHAHAH!!!! yeah.
ReplyDeleteMaybe it won't be so bad to watch,but reading about it doesn't really help me appreciate it..Don't get me wrong,I'll probably give it a try,but I'm not having many expectations!
ReplyDeletehe even has wings which some girl discovers while making out with him lol
ReplyDeleteoh gosh ! STOP I'm dying already.
ReplyDeleteOh my god, seriously? That's just a big pile of crap and nothing more... If someone would send me this and tell me this is the list of CW pilots for this year, there's no way I'd believe it.
ReplyDeleteAnd for me The Awakening still sounds the most ridiculous and I certainly can't believe that this is the strongest of all those shows. In my opinion it's just totally raping the idea of what zombies are. I can't remember any movie that pictures zombies the way this show apparently does it. It's just trying to be trendy and jump on the "Walking Dead train". And comparing it to a quality show like True Blood is certainly also not suitable.
I guess I'll have to take a look at those shows when they come out, just to see how incredibly stupid they turned out to be.
ReplyDeleteThis has the potential to unintentionally be better than most sitcoms.
theres actually a scene in Awakening where they make fun of the mindless zombie portrayals in movies. i wasn't comparing its quality to true blood just saying it has a similar "Style"
ReplyDeleteAwakening still sounds stupid. They took the 'misunderstood' vampire and turned it into a show about 'misunderstood' zombies. Sorry, but I don't know how they can pull this show off. Shifting between human and decay form? Lol
ReplyDeleteOMG! This sounds so bad and at the same hilarious!
ReplyDeleteThey make fun of it? Oh my god, how I hate this stupid network... I for myself like Romero's approach of using zombies as a social commentary.
ReplyDeleteLol Heavenly what a train wreck
ReplyDeleteForget sitcoms watch awful shows on the CW. Lol
ReplyDeleteBTW thank you for doing the reviews tariq. Are you gonna review a few of the other network pilots as well or only the CW?
ReplyDeleteMe too. Aren't romantic vampires bad enough?....OMG I hope non of those zombies begin to sparkle when they're in their decay form.....
ReplyDeleteAND on the CW .. more of a joke :P
ReplyDeleteyour welcome, depends if i have the time i might review some of the other networks probably FOX next since they have only 6 drama pilots
ReplyDeleteI like Awakening and I will watch art of Dixie because Rachel Bilson is in it! :P
ReplyDeleteBTW Where do you get the scripts??
Sorry but i can't believe that the zombie one is the best. Secret circle has a lot of mithology in their books and it's just the script of the first episode. I remember to everyone that TVD at the beginning was only a teen drama with vampires in high school. Give time to time, and also through the realization of the pilot something will likely to change. I trust Kevin Williamson.
ReplyDeleteHart of Dixie seems the strongest non fantasy show, with rachel bilson---> likely to picked up
With the cancellation of Smallville Lux and likely OTH there will be 3 empty space in the schedule and one in mid season, so i think they will pick up HoD Awakening and Secret circle. Midseason: maybe Cooper and Stone or Heavenly???
We'll see, but how did you get the script??
That would be great! :D
ReplyDeleteAwakening -
ReplyDeleteSecret Circle-
Heart/Hart of Dixie-
Cooper & Stone-
These are what i think CW should/will pick up.
Wow... what a joke... Seriously .......
ReplyDeleteAn angel, a pastor and a lawyer walk into a bar.....and the drunk CW executive at the rail thought of a TV pilot?
Thanks for the info Tariqq! Always fun to peek behind the curtain... the down side is, sometimes it's scary back there!
ReplyDeleteThe Secret Circle script was written before Kevin Williamson came abroad the project. I'm sure things have changed and that the CW had him join the project because they plan on giving it the post-VD slot. They'll probably do crossovers too. Besides, even great acting and chemistry can elevate a mediocre script, but I'm pretty sure the script has gone through more drafts after KW got his hands on it. There's romance in the books, so I'm sure it'll come through on the show too.
ReplyDeleteThe zombie thing is wtf. Zombies don't talk. It's always about the survivors. IDK how I feel about that one.
Heart of Dixie- from the network that didn't bring you Everwood's fifth season and from the network that canceled Life Unexpected in season two. Tune in for all new episodes Monday nights at 8:00!
ReplyDeleteYeah, thanks man! I make fun about it, but it's appreciated.
ReplyDeleteOnce Smallville is finished, I am done with this crappy network. Absolutely nothing to look forward to on CW for me. If these pilots are the best they can come up with...well that's just pathetic.
ReplyDeleteWell Awakening from the synopsis seems to be ridicolous but the plot is quite interesting. At least is original, because Zombie that lives like Human is not like Walking dead and now on tv there is only TWD about this topic. It could be a success, Secret circle and Hart of dixie too.
ReplyDeleteAnd for who said that lux was cancelled... well it's quite normal in a network with 4 teen drama, who wants to see another show about this. The story wasn't strong enough, at least this is a medical dramedy with Rachel Bilson.
Lol yeah I say I wont watch that crap but I am watching every show on cw right now. (hellcats, 90210 gossip girl, VD, supernatural and im late on smallville and nikita) LOL the only thing I dont watch is One tree hill I think... I have a little bit of taste I guess lol
ReplyDeleteI'll be rooting for the humans that are going around killing these zombies. Even if the zombies are "peaceful" and "only want a normal life." I hope these zombie hunters eradicate the undead menace.
ReplyDeleteWhats dead should stay dead.
And I hope doesn't last long. Between this mess and Summit making abomination of a zombie movie (a girl and the zombie that ate her boyfriend fall in love) the basic core of zombie stories are being systematically destroyed and re-imagined for the brain-dead Twilight crowd.
100% agreed!
ReplyDeleteI think The Secret Circle has the most potential to be a hit, because of L.J., Kevin and the already huge TVD fanbase willing to give it a try. Also, it's only the pilot, the early episodes of TVD were no example of what was to come. With time, it developed its characters and mythology. So it's the one I think has more potential and the one I'm looking forward to the most from the CW.
ReplyDeletei don't believe you... i'm going to watch hart of dixie... and the secret circle is going to be great, vampire diaries pilot wasn't so good either and now is an awesome show...
ReplyDeleteI wanted to see awakening because of Welliver but after reading that the pros are zombies... nop at all... i prefer cooper and stone xD