<http://schema.org/articleBody>
"Last year, we treated all you TV fanatics to our &amp;#039;Pick of the Pilots&amp;#039; - the choicest cuts from the projects currently in development at the various US networks... It&amp;#039;s that time of year again, so read our comprehensive list below for the most exciting pilots in the works for the 2012-13 season. Of course, it&amp;#039;s not all good - there&amp;#039;s a few disasters lurking in there too!  LA Noir (TNT)  Frank Darabont did an excellent job of transferring the Walking Dead comic to television, so we&amp;#039;re excited to see what he can do with John Buntin&amp;#039;s book LA Noir: The Struggle For The Soul Of America&amp;#039;s Most Seductive City.  Darabont&amp;#039;s Walking Dead cohort Jon Bernthal is also on board for this tale of 1940s cops vs mobsters, and the supporting cast is phenomenally strong - Milo Ventimiglia, Neal McDonough, Alexa Davalos, even Simon frickin&amp;#039; Pegg!  If Darabont can deliver a show that matches the quality of TNT&amp;#039;s Southland, with a healthy dose of The Untouchables thrown in, then we could be in for a real treat.  Devious Maids (ABC)  It&amp;#039;s the new drama pilot from Desperate Housewives creator Marc Cherry - and with a name like Devious Maids, the controversial showrunner is practically begging for comparisons to be drawn.  But this series-in-the-wings will focus on four Beverly Hills housekeepers, with Marc having Cherry-picked (sorry) four of US TV&amp;#039;s biggest Latino stars to front his show - Ana Ortiz (Ugly Betty), Judy Reyes (Scrubs), Dania Ramirez (Heroes) and Roselyn Sanchez (Without a Trace). That&amp;#039;s a solid cast, but does Cherry have more than one bow in his arsenal, or will Maids just be Desperate Housewives with a new lick of paint? We&amp;#039;re hoping we&amp;#039;ll get the chance to find out, at least...  Last Resort (ABC)  We&amp;#039;ve been excited about this pilot ever since we heard that Shawn Ryan was attached - he&amp;#039;s the man responsible for incredible FX cop drama The Shield, as well as the critically-acclaimed and much-missed Terriers. But then Last Resort started gathering up a top-flight cast - acting powerhouses such as Robert Patrick, Andre Braugher and Bruce Davison, plus hot young things Autumn Reeser, Max Adler and Jessy Schram. There&amp;#039;s also an original and exciting premise to keep viewers hooked - the pilot tells the tale of a nuclear submarine crew who become fugitives and take over a NATO outpost after refusing to fire their missiles. Fingers crossed for a pick-up!  Untitled Ralph Lamb pilot (CBS)  Speaking of The Shield, that show&amp;#039;s star Michael Chiklis returns to television in this CBS project, teaming with none other than Dennis Quaid to tell the story of real-life figure Ralph Lamb. We&amp;#039;ll admit that the premise doesn&amp;#039;t immediately grab us - Lamb was a former rodeo cowboy who became a sheriff in the 1960s. But the prospect of Quaid facing off against Chiklis sounds too good to miss. The pedigree is strong overall - Carrie-Anne Moss (The Matrix) is also attached, while the script is by Goodfellas writer Nicholas Pileggi.  Arrow (The CW)  Alright, so The CW doesn&amp;#039;t have the greatest track record with superhero shows - Smallville, particularly in its later years, was a bit of an embarrassment. But we&amp;#039;re still holding out hope for this pilot, starring Stephen Amell (The Vampire Diaries). Once again, a strong roster of actors is a factor - Arrow boasts Katie Cassidy (Gossip Girl), Colin Salmon (Resident Evil), Willa Holland (The OC), Stephen Blackthorne (The River) and Jamey Sheridan (Homeland). But we&amp;#039;re also hoping that the pilot, helmed by Game of Thrones director David Nutter, will be a grittier affair than Smallville - if it&amp;#039;s as &amp;quot;provocative and sophisticated and edgy&amp;quot; as The CW claim, it could turn out very well indeed.  The Carrie Diaries (The CW)  A Sex and the City prequel has been in the offing for a while now - we&amp;#039;re hoping that The Carrie Diaries gets picked up to series, if only so we can judge it against its parent series. AnnaSophia Robb (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) will play the character made famous by Sarah Jessica Parker, but placed on the teen-centric CW, can this show hope to match the bite and style of SATC? Consider us cautiously intrigued - Austin Butler, Matt Letscher, Chloe Bridges and, in an unexpected piece of casting, Doctor Who&amp;#039;s Freema Agyeman make up the rest of the cast.  Untitled Kevin Bacon / Kevin Williamson pilot (Fox)  We&amp;#039;ve got a hunch that this pilot could be a real killer - Scream and Vampire Diaries supremo Kevin Williamson returns to his horror roots in a new psychological thriller... Bacon - always a commanding screen presence, taking on his first regular television role - plays Ryan Hardy, a retired FBI profiler who comes out of retirement to track a ruthless killer, played by charismatic Brit star James Purefoy. Again, they&amp;#039;re backed by a rock-solid supporting cast - X-Men&amp;#039;s Shawn Ashmore, Justified&amp;#039;s Natalie Zea, Scream 4&amp;#039;s Nico Tortorella... this needs a pick-up, right now!  County (NBC)  This drama pilot will focus on the careers and personal lives of the medical staff at an LA hospital. So far, so Grey&amp;#039;s Anatomy, but again it&amp;#039;s the talent involved that makes County an exciting prospect. Jason Katims - the man behind Friday Night Lights and Parenthood - is in the producer&amp;#039;s chair, while Jason Ritter - who was ill-served by sci-fi flop The Event - has landed on his feet with another lead role. Michael Imperioli (The Sopranos), Aimee Garcia (Dexter) and Katims&amp;#039;s old Friday Night Lights chum Michael B Jordan will also star in County - we think it&amp;#039;s got &amp;quot;hit&amp;quot; written all over it...  Go On (NBC)  Last year, we named Matthew Perry as one of our &amp;#039;TV Actors Who Should Make a Comeback&amp;#039;, so we were thrilled when he signed up for this new sitcom pilot! Returning to the network that made his name, the former Friends star will play a charming, quick-witted sportscaster, while Laura Benanti (The Playboy Club) and Allison Miller (Terra Nova) will also star. After the double-whammy cancellation of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip and his underrated ABC comedy Mr Sunshine, we&amp;#039;re hoping that it&amp;#039;s third time lucky for Perry.  Revolution (NBC)  In what is possibly the ultimate fantasy geek team-up, JJ Abrams (Star Trek, Lost) has united with Supernatural creator Eric Kripke for this apocalyptic drama. Revolution follows a group struggling to survive in a world where all forms of energy have mysteriously ceased to exist. Upping the geek quotient further is Iron Man&amp;#039;s Jon Favreau, who&amp;#039;s attached to direct. But if you&amp;#039;re still on the fence, we&amp;#039;ll just drop the bombshell that Giancarlo Esposito - Gus from Breaking Bad - has also been cast in a lead role. Epic enough?  Honourable Mentions...  666 Park Avenue (ABC) - Lost&amp;#039;s Terry O&amp;#039;Quinn and Ugly Betty&amp;#039;s Vanessa Williams run a haunted apartment complex in this spooky drama. Gilded Lilys (ABC) - Grey&amp;#039;s Anatomy boss Shonda Rhimes is back with another pilot - this one stars none other than Torchwood&amp;#039;s John Barrowman! Cult (The CW) - This thriller from the makers of Gossip Girl has a top drawer cast, including Robert Knepper (Prison Break), Matt Davis (Vampire Diaries) and Alona Tal (Supernatural). The Asset (Fox) - Bradley Whitford&amp;#039;s back on the box! The West Wing actor stars opposite Ali Larter (Heroes) in this spy drama. Let It Go (Fox) - Chuck&amp;#039;s Zachary Levi returns to TV (and his comedy roots) in this new sitcom from Rescue Me&amp;#039;s Peter Tolan. Chicago Fire (NBC) - Can Law &amp;amp; Order&amp;#039;s Dick Wolf do for firefighters what he did for cops and lawyers? A fine cast - Jesse Spencer, Eamonn Walker, Taylor Kinney - will be hoping so. Friday Night Dinner (NBC) - The Office exec Greg Daniels turns his hand to another remake - Alison Janney and Tony Shalhoub are perfectly cast in this re-do of the UK comedy.  Potential Disasters...  Only Fools and Horses (ABC) - We&amp;#039;re not saying this remake of the classic UK sitcom is definitely doomed to failure, but the loveable Trigger reinvented as a &amp;#039;ghetto-talking con man&amp;#039;? Oh dear... Elementary (CBS) - Sherlock Holmes (Jonny Lee Miller) is a recovering alcoholic. Lucy Liu is Watson. They fight crime in New York. It&amp;#039;d be a terrible idea even if the BBC hadn&amp;#039;t already cornered the market with its superb present-day Holmes series Sherlock. Partners (CBS) - Charlie (David Krumholtz) and Louis (Michael Urie) are life-long friends and business partners, but with a twist - one&amp;#039;s straight, the other&amp;#039;s gay! Apparently, some CBS executive thinks it&amp;#039;s still 1973. Widow Detective (CBS) - Winning the dubious prize of stupidest show premise this season is this cop pilot. Sex and the City&amp;#039;s John Corbett plays Denny, a detective who becomes a surrogate husband, lover and father to the families of his partners, who all died in the line of duty. The icing on the cake? Denny&amp;#039;s new partner is the son of one of his old, dead partners. No, really. What do you think of our list? Are there any pilots you&amp;#039;re hoping will get picked up? Sound off below! "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/tv/ustv/news/a371932/tvs-best-new-show-pilots-for-2012/>