Oi, Pilot! Your Name's Not On The List, You're Not Coming In

ABC have now decided which of it's series will be comissioned as full series and two film ick favourites were hanging in the balance.

The bad news is that, according to The Hollywood Reporter at least, Football Wives, with a Brian Singer pilot, is not on the list. Perhaps it was more like the execrable UK original than I'd hoped.

The better news is that, again according to the same list, The Cashmere Mafia has been picked up. The pilot was directed by Peyton Reed, one of the most underrated of studio filmmakers, and even if the series is a wash-out overall, I'm looking forward to Reed's installment very much.

It looks like the Mr. and Mrs. Smith spin-off has been left out in the cold too. Probably where it belongs.

And meanwhile over at Fox, the Terminator spin-off The Sarah Connor Chronicles has been given the nod. I blame all those wound-up insomniacs googling Lena Headey images - but let's see how long it lasts before Fox axes it. Three episodes? Four?

ReUnited Artists

The Cruise/Wagner UA have greenlit their sophomore effort, and it looks like a doozy. As yet untitled, the film is a World War 2 thriller with a screenplay by Christopher McQuarrie - and is to be directed by Brian Singer. Round up The Usual Suspects indeed.

Apparently, Singer and McQuarrie went directly to Cruise and Wagner who stumped up the bucks without missing a heartbeat. Wise.

Of course, this stalls Singer's Harvey Milk biopic The Mayor of Castro Street, as well as his Superman Returns sequel - perhaps even killing it outright. Only time will tell, but I wouldn't be surprised to see Warners appoint a different director to Superman now.

Singer's Football Wives pilot is well underway, however, and should air later this year.

Lawless To Sub For Lucker

Lucy Lawless, one time Warrior Princess, has been cast as Tanya in Football Wives, Bryan Singer's pilot for an American refry of Footballer's Wives.

Zoe Lucker originated the role in the UK version at a camp panto-pitch far beyond the tolerance of any US TV network, and became both loved and hated for it.

See both Lawless and Lucker above for a contrast-and-compare. Can we divine anything of the new series' approach from this single vague variance in casting attitude...? Well, not much.

Football Wives

Football Wives is to be the US version of Footballer's Wives. I'm assuming the name change means some of the wives will be married to managers and so on, because there's no other reason for it, surely?

A few months ago, it was revealed that Bryan Singer was going to be producing the show and that he might even direct the pilot episode. At the moment, there's still been no clarification on this, but casting news is starting to leak out. Casting news of dubious veracity, but casting news nonetheless.

Some tabloid scamps in the UK are reporting that Heather Mills is negotiating a lead role in the series. Doesn't seem like the sort of casting Singer would normally go for...

The articles also imply that show is still about soccer and this is the real red flag for me. No American show about Soccer would be called Football Wives, surely? Wouldn't that be Soccer Wives?