Hollywood has been buzzing because last week the major networks picked out their pilots for the fall. As usual, they selected 10 doctor shows, 15 lawyer shows, and 50 cop shows. At the moment, there isn't much information about the upcoming pilots besides a simple synopsis and who's involved with the project—but sometimes all it takes is a synopsis to know something will suck.
We're not saying that these shows are guaranteed to suck (some of them might actually turn out to be pretty damn good) but judging by what little we do know, it's pretty obvious to us that some of these are terrible ideas. So awful, that we're wondering if the average Complex reader can even spot the real from the fake. So here's a list of the 10 Worst Pilot Ideas For Next Fall (plus a couple of fakes, which are revealed at the bottom). See if you can spot the ones we pulled out of our ass.
COMEDY: UNTITLED IRS PROJECT, FOX
PLOT: A comedy about IRS auditors starring David Krumholtz (Numb3rs).
COMPLEX SAYS: This show has got a few things going for it. For one, it's written by The Simpsons/The Office alum writer Brent Forrester. Secondly, it's being executive produced by Ron Howard who once brought us Arrested Development. However, we smell a Parks And Rec meets The Office train wreck approaching. And the train of TV ripoffs is never late.
DRAMA: NOMADS, CW
PLOT: A group of young adults backpacking through Europe start performing secret missions for the CIA.
COMPLEX SAYS: The pilot will be written and directed by Ken Sanzel, the former-NYPD police officer turned executive producer of Numb3rs. We're guessing that Sanzel has run into some real live criminals in the past, but we're also guessing he's never met a post-grad who had no special training (besides how to make a tent) but knew how to do super spy shit like defuse bombs and kill henchmen.
COMEDY: TALES FROM SPRINGFIELD, FOX
PLOT: FOX has finally commissioned a proper Simpson's spin-off. Instead of focusing on the Simpson family as in the original show, Tales From Springfield will focus on all the other characters who make up the town of Springfield.
COMPLEX SAYS: Originally conceived during the making of the classic Simpson's episode "22 Short Stories About Springfield," this show has a lot of potential to be better than the current incarnation of the show. However, the current incarnation of the show is so awful that even a major improvement would still be a FAIL. Oh, Matt Groening, haven't you made enough money?
COMEDY: SHIT MY DAD SAYS, CBS
PLOT: A television adaption of Justin Halpern's incredibility popular Twitter account (shitmydadsays) with William Shatner playing the dad.
COMPLEX SAYS: Now, we love Twitter, and we're big fans of Halpern's twitter account, but Shatner or no Shatner, there's no way a show about the foulmouthed shit your dad says will ever work on network TV. F*#@ YOU, FCC!
COMEDY: THE MOST INTERESTING MAN IN THE WORLD, NBC
PLOT: Based on the popular Dos Equis advertising campaign, it follows The Most Interesting Man In the World through his various adventures.
COMPLEX SAYS: We really, really want to give this show a chance but after that awful show based on Geico's cavemen ad campaign, the bar is simply set way too low.
DRAMA: THE CAPE, NBC
PLOT: A police officer is framed for murder, so he fakes his death and reinvents himself as a superhero.
COMPLEX SAYS: Superhero films have made a lot of strides in this decade, but we wish we could say the same about superhero TV shows. When we see an ad for a superhero film we can hope that it's as good as The Dark Knight or Ironman. However, when we watch a superhero TV show, the best we can hope for is that it's as good as Smallville or Heroes.
DRAMA/COMEDY: CUTTHROAT, ABC
PLOT: A single mother in Beverly Hills runs a drug cartel while learning how to make it in high society.
COMPLEX SAYS: Basically this is just Weeds meets 90210. YAWN. Call us if they cast someone as hot as Mary-Louise Parker.
COMEDY: OUTSOURCED, NBC
PLOT: A fish out of water scenario where an American man moves to India to manage customer service reps.
COMPLEX SAYS: We'll totally be watching this pilot with all our friends and a bottle of Tequila. That way we can play the Outsourced Drinking Game! You take one shot for every Indian character with an accent, you take two shots for every reference to curry, and when characters inevitably start rapping about curry in Indian accents you have to drink the whole bottle.
COMEDY: WRIGHT VS. WRONG, ABC
PLOT: The show focuses on a sexy, driven conservative pundit who is a total hypocrite in her real life.
COMPLEX SAYS: When we hear the words "conservative pundit" and "hypocrite" we were totally sure this show was about Rush Limbaugh, but then we remembered it included the words "sexy" so we realized this show must actually be about Ann Coulter.
COMEDY: BEACH LANE, NBC
PLOT: A reckless millionaire hires a famous author (Matthew Broderick) to run his small town newspaper in the Hamptons.
COMPLEX SAYS: Matthew Broderick has always avoided the small screen and settled for Broadway when he wasn't making films. Broderick only committed to this show for two reasons: 1) The insistence of Saturday Night Live/30 Rock executive-producer Lorne Michaels, and 2) He was allowed to read the read the script himself before having to commit to the project. That might sound like Broderick was exercising quality control, but we're talking about a guy who committed to films like Deck The Halls and Inspector Gadget, so it's quite possible Broderick is illiterate.
OK, we admit it. We made up The Most Interesting Man In The World and The Simpsons spinoff, but don't act like you wouldn't watch those shows instead of the rest of these terrible ideas.
