Hopes grow during TV's 'pilot season'

At this point in the TV season, viewers begin to fret about the status of their favorite shows. But even as network executives ponder the fate of shows, they're also playing judge, jury and executioner on a raft of pilots for prospective news series.

It's "pilot season," and these test episodes — research and development for the TV biz — are in production. This year NBC has the most (26), followed by CBS and ABC (24 each), Fox (16) and the CW (8), according to TheWrap.com.

At most, 35 of the 98 commissioned pilots will be picked up to series.

Which potential shows stand the best chance? Networks love a known quantity. So anything that sounds familiar in title or topic (see: "Hatfields & McCoys") probably stands a better chance. Same goes for a known star or producer, which is why NBC ordered a new Michael J. Fox comedy to series without shooting a pilot first.

This pilot season a couple of programs with a military backdrop are in production, as are shows about adult children and their parents. The CW has several shows set in the future, including one about humans recolonizing a nuked-out Earth and another about aliens and humans coexisting. A couple of comedies are about assistants to demanding bosses.

Here are a few of the shows being produced that could become series this fall or next midseason — we'll know for sure when networks announce their fall schedules the week of May 12:

"Big Thunder" (ABC): Ever ridden the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad ride at a Disney park? That ride was the inspiration for a drama about a New York doctor and his family relocating to a frontier mining town that turns out to have a mysterious underbelly. But does the town have a roller-coaster train?

"Beverly Hills Cop" (CBS): The movie series becomes a TV series with Eddie Murphy and Judge Reinhold back as guest stars, but the focus shifts to Aaron (Brandon T. Jackson), son of Axel Foley (Murphy). Shawn Ryan ("The Shield") wrote the pilot.

"Hatfields & McCoys" (NBC): A modern-day family feud that stars Virginia Madsen ("Smith") as blue-collar-family matriarch Eloise McCoy and Rebecca DeMornay as wealthy Mary Hatfield, whose clans battle for control of Pittsburgh.

"The Surgeon General" (CBS): Still searching for a successful medical show, CBS goes all the way to the top with this drama about the U.S. surgeon general. (Jason Isaacs).

"NCIS: Red Team" (CBS): An introduction to the characters from this planned spinoff aired on last week's "NCIS: Los Angeles." John Corbett, Scott Grimes and Kim Raver star.

"Crazy Ones" (CBS): Drama writer David E. Kelley tries a half-hour comedy about a father (Robin Williams) and daughter (Sarah Michelle Gellar) who work in the same ad agency.

"Delirium" (Fox): Sort of a sexualized version of "Logan's Run," this drama, based on a book series, is set in a world where love is illegal and is eradicated by a procedure when citizens reach a certain age; so naturally a young woman (Emma Roberts) falls in love 95 days before she's due to get that treatment.

"Rake" (Fox): Imagine "House" but with a lawyer (Greg Kinnear) at the center.

"Untitled Dan Goor/Mike Schur Project" (Fox): Andy Samberg ("Saturday Night Live") stars in this comedy about police detectives in a New York City neighborhood.

"Ironside" (NBC): A remake of the 1970s Raymond Burr drama about a police detective in a wheelchair.

"About a Boy" (NBC): "Parenthood" and "Friday Night Lights" writer Jason Katims adapts the Hugh Grant movie for TV with David Walton ("New Girl") in Grant's role.