Pilot Watch: March 21 to March 25

During this time of year, a multitude of pilots are developed by all of the networks with very few of them actually making it to the air as a new series. The list below provides updates on just some of the countless pilots that are being developed, cast and filmed for the major and cable networks.

Actress Connie Britton (Friday Night Lights) has landed the female lead in American Horror, the much-buzzed-about FX drama pilot from Glee bosses Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk. She will play the role of Vivien Harmon, one half of the show’s central couple. The premise of the show is being kept under tight wraps, but this much can be revealed: Each season will feature an entirely new cast.

Actor Boris Kodjoe (Undercovers) has joined the ABC drama pilot Georgetown that is about a quartet of young staffers in Washington, D.C. – Sam (Daisy Betts), Nikki (Katie Cassidy), Peter (Joseph Mazzello) and Andrew (Jimmy Wolk) – who share a DuPont Circle townhouse together. He will play Sam’s boss, a White House Senior Adviser Michael Kline.

Actress Laura Allen (Terriers) has been bumped up to the female lead opposite actor Jason Isaacs (Harry Potter franchise) in the NBC drama pilot REM. Additionally, actresses Michael McManus (The Vampire Diaries and Law & Order: SVU) and Cherry Jones (24) have also joined the cast. The drama is described as an Inception-style thriller and centers on Detective Michael Britten (Isaacs), who wakes up after an accident to find he is living in two different realities, one in which he has killed his son Rex (Dylan Minnette) and one in which he has killed his wife Hannah (Allen) in a car accident. McManus will play Rex’s tennis coach, who has become his confidante in the wake of the recent loss of his mother. While Jones will play Dr. Stephanie Evans, Mark’s shrink in the reality in which his wife has been killed.

Actress Natasha Henstridge (Eli Stone) has joined the CW drama pilot called The Secret Circle, based on the book series by L.J. Smith (author of The Vampire Diaries books for which the series is based). This pilot centers on Cassie (Britt Robertson), a young girl who moves to New Salem, Maine and learns she is a member of a secret coven of witches. She is also the key that will unlock a centuries-old battle of good versus evil. Henstridge will play Dawn Chamberlain, the vice principal of New Salem High School.

S. Epatha Merkerson (Law & Order) has joined the as-yet untitled Susannah Grant/CBS supernatural medical drama pilot, which centers on Michael (Patrick Wilson), an ultra-competitive surgeon whose life is changed forever when his ex-wife (Jennifer Ehle), a doctor running a free clinic, dies and begins teaching him what life is all about from the hereafter. Merkerson will play Michael’s assistant Rita.

BBC America will co-produce the new six-part drama series called The Hour, which will premiere in the summer on BBC America. The series is a spy thriller set behind the scenes of the BBC’s news room in London in the mid ‘50s, starring Dominic West (The Wire), Romola Garai (Emma) and Ben Whishaw (Bright Star) who are locked in a highly competitive, sharp witted and passionate love triangle.

Actor David Alpay (The Tudors) will star alongside Lauren Ambrose (Six Feet Under) in the FOX drama pilot Weekends at Bellevue, which is based on Julie Holland’s memoir. The pilot centers on Ellie (Ambrose), the psychiatrist in charge of the weekend shift at Bellevue Hospital’s psychiatric unit. He will play Ben, a second-year attending psychiatrist at Bellevue who graduated from an Ivy League school and comes from a family of doctors. He has a history with Ellie and is strongly drawn to her.

Actress Eliza Dushku (Dollhouse) has landed the female lead opposite Damon Wayans in the CBS as-yet untitled sports radio show pilot. The pilot is inspired by ESPN personality Colin Cowherd’s outspoken sports talk show with this one centering on Nick (Wayans), an egotistical sports-radio host with a quick wit and cocky likability who is adored by his fans. Dushku will play Nick’s radio cohort Casey, a fun, quick-witted gal who is socially oblivious and pathologically blunt.

Actor Mark Deklin (the short-lived FOX drama Lone Star) has joined the cast of the ABC drama pilot Good Christian Bitches, which is about Amanda Vaughn (Leslie Bibb), a widowed mother of two who – to get a fresh start – moves back to the affluent Dallas neighborhood where she grew up. He will play Blake Caruth, Amanda’s first crush who’s now married to Cricket (Miriam Shor), a former Plain Jane who was tormented by Amanda as a teen.

Actor Justin Bruening (Knight Rider) will play Steve Trevor in the NBC drama pilot of Wonder Woman. Trevor is the government agent who crash landed on Themyscira, home of the mythical Amazons; fell in love with one of them, Diana (Adrianne Palicki); and brought her back with him to New York. They’ve since broken up as Diana now operates out of L.A. and Steve is a lawyer for the Justice Department.

NOTE: Again, keep in mind very few of these pilots will make it to the air so don’t count on seeing any or all of them UNLESS the networks deem them “good enough” for public consumption come this fall.