Let the wild rumpus begin!
Each and every May, the TV world succumbs to pilot season fever as the five major networks finally make their decisions about which projects they'll be picking up to series and adding to their 2014-15 fall schedules. It's like the Super Bowl for TV nerds—it's crazy. It's exhausting. It's awesome.
ABC, CBS, the CW, Fox and NBC all announce their fall schedules at their Upfronts presentations in New York City, but they've already started announcing which new shows were lucky enough to receive series orders.
Here's a rundown of everything that's been picked up to series so far, broken down by network. And make sure to keep checking back with us for the latest pickups and TV news during the 2014 Upfronts...
ABC
Marvel's Agent Carter: Finally, a female-fronted comic book-based TV show! Starring Hayley Atwell as Captain America's fan favorite Peggy Carter, this period action drama will follow her as she balances working for the covert SSR (Strategic Scientific Reserve) and doing administrative work and going on secret missions for Howard Stark. Plus, she'll be attempting to move on after the loss of her true love, Steve Rogers (Chris Evans).
Secrets and Lies: Ryan Phillippe and Juliette Lewis star in this mystery thriller from Private Practice's Barbie Kligman. Based on the Australian series of the same name, Lewis plays a detective investigating a murder case, while Phillippe takes on the role of the main suspect.
Astronaut Wives Club: Ordered for 10 episodes at midseason, the period drama, from Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage, tells the real story of the women behind some of America's biggest heroes during the '60s space race. Dominique McElligott, Odette Annable, JoAnna Garcia Swisher, Desmond Harrington and Bret Harrison star.
How to Get Away With Murder: From Shonda Rhimes and her Scandal and Grey's partner-in-crime, Betsy Beers, this suspense-driven legal thriller that centers on ambitious law students and their brilliant and mysterious criminal defense professor, played by Oscar nominee Viola Davis.
Forever: Ioan Gruffudd plays Doctor Henry Morgan, New York City's star medical examiner in the thriller. But what no one knows is that Henry studies the dead for a reason—he is immortal, and he has been for the past 200 years.
The Club: Breaking Bad's Betsy Brandt and Boris Kodjoe star in this Dowton Abbey-esque soap (Upstairs vs. Downstairs drama, duh!) set at a private country club.
Selfie: From Emily Kapnek, this modern-day My Fair Lady stars Karen Gillan as Eliza Dooley, a girl with 263,000 followers who hang on to her every post, tweet and selfie. After a social media scandal, she enlists the help of marketing guru Henry (John Cho) to "rebrand" herself.
Black-ish: Anthony Anderson and Laurence Fishburne star as a stars as son and father duo in this sitcom about Andre ‘Dre' Johnson (Anderson), a successful man out to establish a sense of cultural identity for his family that honors their past while embracing the future. Tracee Ellis Ross plays Anderson's wife.
Manhattan Love Story: This romantic comedy, starring Crazy Stupid Love's Analeigh Tipton and Jake McDorman, exposes the differences between men and women through the unfiltered thoughts, and often contradictory actions, of a new couple who have just begun dating.
The Whispers: American Horror Story's Lily Rabe, Revenge's Barry Sloane and Heroes' Milo Ventimiglia star in this thriller about aliens invading Earth for one goal: to use our children to achieve world domination.
Galavant: Joshua Sasse stars as Prince Galavant, a royal out for revenge against the king who stole his own true love in this fairy-tale musical from the team behind Tangled and responsible for the music in Aladdin and The Little Mermaid.
American Crime: Written, directed and produced by 12 Years a Slave's John Ridley, this drama marks Felicity Huffman's first return to TV since Desperate Housewives ended. The series centers on the lives of several people who are radically impacted by the trail that follows the murder of Matt Skokie, a war vet, and his wife, Lily, who is unconscious and barely hanging on.
CBS
Battle Creek: Given the team behind the drama, Breaking Bad's Vince Gilligan and House's David Shore, it's not hard to see why CBS picked this one up straight to series. Centering on two detectives with very different world views (Anyone else picking up True Detective vibes?), they must team up to clean up the streets of Battle Creek, Mich. Josh Duhamel, Dean Winters and Kal Penn star.
NCIS: New Orleans: The NCIS New Orleans office handles cases from Pensacola through Mississippi and Louisiana to the Texas panhandle. Special Agent Dwayne Pride (Scott Bakula) will lead his team through the rich setting of music, fun, and debauchery which, in the NCIS world, is a natural magnet for trouble.
Stalker: From the dark and twisted mind of The Following's Kevin Williamson comesStalker, a psychological thriller centered around a pair of detectives, played by American Horror Story's Dylan McDermott and Nikita's Maggie Q. These two TV badasses will handle stalking incidents for the Threat Management Unit of the LAPD. And of course look damn fine while doing it.
Scorpion: Calling all Smash Fans, it's time to welcome Katharine McPhee back to the small screen. The actress has signed onto to star alongside Robert Patrick and Eddie Kyle Thomas in Scorpion. The drama follows an eccentric genius (Patrick) and his international network of super-geniuses form the last line of defense against the complex threats of the modern age.
Madam Secretary: Are you ready for yet another, political drama? Madam Secretaryfollows the personal and professional life of Secretary of State Elizabeth McCord (Tea Leoni). Viewers will watch as this "maverick" drives international diplomacy, wrangles office politics, and balances a complex family life.
The Odd Couple: Matthew Perry is once again dipping his toe back into the vast ocean of TV with a brand-new pilot. The Friends actor, who co-wrote the first script and will serve as an executive producer, is set to star as Oscar Madison, the iconic messy roommate who is always up to no good. Thomas Lennon is set to play the iconic neat freak, Felix Unger. (And in case you missed it, here are all the reasons why Matthew Perry is going to be the perfect Oscar!)
McCarthy's: Saddle up for another family comedy starring the amazing Laurie Metcalf!The McCarthys revolves around a big, sports-crazed Irish Catholic clan in Boston and their gay son, played by Tyler Ritter (Fun-fact: He's Jason Ritter's little brother!) The comedy has been retooled as multi-camera after shooting a single-camera pilot last season.
The CW
The Flash: From the dream team behind Arrow, Greg Berlanti, Andrew Kreisberg, Geoff Johns, the spinoff is the origin story of the classic DC Comics hero, Barry Allen aka The Flash aka the fastest man alive. Gustin's Barry was introduced to fans earlier this season on Arrow, and two of the series stars, Danielle Panabaker and Carlos Valdes, recently made guest appearances on the hit drama. Original Flash star John Wesley Shipp will recur, while Jesse L. Martin, Rick Gosnett and Tom Cavanagh will star.
iZombie: From Veronica Mars creator Rob Thomas and based on the DC Comic's property of the same name, this quirky drama centers on a med student-turned-zombie who ends up working in a coroner's office in order to gain access to the brains she reluctantly eats to maintain her humanity. However, with each brain she consumes, she also takes in the corpse's memories. Rose McIver, Robert Buckley, David Anders, Malcolm Goodwin and Alexandra Krosney all star.
The Messengers: Starring The Bible's Diogo Morgado, Super 8's Joel Courtney and Skins' Sofia Black-D'Elia, The Messengers comes from Teen Wolf writer Eoghan O'Donnell and focuses on a group of seemingly unconnected strangers who die after mysterious objects crash down to Earth. Except they soon wake up to learn that they have been deemed responsible for preventing the impending Apocalypse.
Jane the Virgin: Based on the Venezuelan telenovela, Gina Rodriguez stars as a religious Latina woman who is accidentally artificially inseminated. Jaime Camil, Yael Groblas, Brett Dier and Ryan Devlin also star.
Fox
Gotham: One of the most buzzed-about new offerings of pilot season, the DC Comics drama centers on a young Jim Gordon, played by The O.C.'s Ben McKenzie, and the villains who eventually will make Gotham City famous (and in desperate need of saving from Batman). The Penguin, the Riddler, Catwoman, Bruce Wayne, the gang's all here. Donal Logue and Jada Pinkett Smith also star. (Watch the first trailer.)
Empire: This family hip-hop drama from The Butler's Lee Daniels and Danny Strong stars Terrence Howard and Taraji P. Henson, and will have mega-producer Timbaland serving as songwriter and song producer. Viewers can expect to hear original music, as well as current hits. American Horror Story: Coven's Gabourey Sidibe is set to recur.
Red Band Society: Starring The Help's Octavia Spencer, this hospital drama focuses on a group of teens who meet as patients in the children's wing and form an unlikely bond. Dave Annable also stars, while Steven Spielberg is one of the EPs.
Backstrom: The Office's Rainn Wilson returns to TV in another hate-to-love-him role in Bones creator Hart Hanson's new crime drama. "He's truly despicable. He's really mean. And racist. And he hates women. And he hates himself," Wilson recently told us.
Hieroglyph: Given a 13-episode order, this fantastical action-drama set in ancient Egypt follows a thief who tasked with serving the Pharaoh after being plucked from prison. Hieroglyph comes from Travis Beacham and will blend fantasy and reality. (Insert Walk Like an Egyptian pun here.)
Last Man on Earth: Starring and written by former SNL standout Will Forte, this comedy, set for midseason, is basically exactly what you think it's about: a stranger becoming the last human on Earth.
Weird Loners: From Michael Weithorn and Jake Kasdan, this comedy tells the story of four relationship-phobic people who form an unlikely bond in a townhouse in Queens. I(t's like Girls meets New Girl, but Queens-ier?)
Mulaney: Created and written by SNL's John Mulaney, the sitcom will star him and Martin Short as a young aspiring comedian and his boss/mentor, respectively. Sticking around as Mulaney's boss is Lorne Michaels, who will serve as a producer.
NBC
State of Affairs: Grey's Anatomy's Katherine Heigl makes her return to TV in this CIA drama, which is being described as Scandal meets The West Wing. In addition to playing a CIA officer who becomes the President's daily briefer, Heigl will also serve as an executive producer.
Allegiance: Another CIA drama, Gavin Stenhouse plays an analyst who is horrified to learn his parents are deactivated Soviet spies. In a bold twist, his 'rents (Scott Cohen and Hope Davis) are tasked with one final mission: get their son to betray his country and become a Russian asset.(Hm…are Cohen and Davis just playing older version of The Americans' Matthew Rhys and Keri Russell?!)
Aquarius: The X-Files and Californication fan favorite David Duchovny will take on the role of a '60s cop tracking infamous serial killer Charles Manson's rise to popularity in this period thriller from John McNamara.
Emerald City: Ordered for midseason, this drama looks to reimagine the classic Frank L. Baum books that inspired the Wizard of Oz. Viewers will meet Dorothy Gale, a headstrong 20-year-old, who finds herself at the center of an epic battle for control of Oz.
Odyssey: Peter Facinelli, Jake Robinson and Anna Friel star in this international thriller.
Constantine: One of DC Comics' most beloved characters comes to life in this drama from Dexter's Daniel Cerone and Man of Steel and The Dark Knight Rises' David S. Goyer. Criminal Minds' Matt Ryan takes on the iconic role of John Constantine, a man who's soul is already damned to hell, the series centers on the anti-hero's battle to find the demons that threaten our world and send them back where they belong. Lost's Harold Perrineau also stars.
A to Z: Starring How I Met Your Mother's Cristin Milioti, this whimsical romantic comedy set in the world of an online dating company details a relationship from meeting to break-up.
Mysteries of Laura: Will & Grace and Smash star Debra Messing returns to the network in his procedural drama from executive producers Aaron Kaplan and Greg Berlanti. Based on a Spanish format, Messing plays a female homicide detecive who juggles crime, her ex-husband and her twin boys, all with a sharp sense of humor.
Marry Me: Happy Endings creator David Caspe's new comedy series stars the beloved-and-canceled-too-soon ABC sitcom's standout Casey Wilson (his real-life fiancé), who gets engaged to Veronica Mars' Ken Marino and realizes it's harder than it looks.
Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt: Talk about a dream team: this comedy comes from Tina Fey and stars The Office's Ellie Kemper as a woman who escapes from a cult to start a new life in New York City.
Mr. Robinson: The Office's Craig Robinson will play a musician who gets a job as a middle school music teacher in this sitcom, which was picked up for six episodes.
Working the Engels: A sitcom centering on the Engels, a family that must band together and run their late father's law firm when his death leaves them in massive debt. Eugene Levy and Martin Short are set to guest.
(Originally published May 7, 2014, at 9:54 a.m. PT)