Aliens, cavemen and a bionic man populate fall pilots

Pilot season. It's the time of year when the networks, flush with cash and wild ideas, begin whittling down dozens of potential new series to the half-dozen each will put on the air next season.

And scouring the Internet for details of each pilot is a lot like those childhood days of tearing through Christmas catalogs. There's that same sense of excitement, wonder and curiosity. And that was just the pages with the nightgowns.

Of the more than 100 series still in contention, three have local ties:

Las Vegan Anthony Zuiker is branching out from his "CSI" franchise with CBS' "The Man," a drama starring LL Cool J as a cop raising three troubled, adopted children.

Hugh Jackman is developing "Viva Laughlin!," based on a British drama, for CBS. The series would follow a small-time Laughlin casino owner and his family, with the characters periodically breaking into song-and-dance numbers.

And Paul Reubens portrays an alien at a top-secret government location in the Nevada desert in the NBC comedy "Area 57."

Aside from those, a few trends can offer some insight into what you'll see this fall. Just remember, not all of these will see the light of day.

GIRL POWER

Hoping to cash in on the success of "Grey's Anatomy," the networks are overflowing with female-friendly pilots.

The most obvious effort is "Nurses," a hospital drama starring Eliza Dushku, for Fox. But there's also the you-better-toughen-up-if-you're-gonna-make-it comedy (ABC's "Nice Girls Don't Get the Corner Office"), the ohmigawd-we-totally-need-to-toughen-up-if-we're-gonna-make-it comedy (Fox's "The Hot Years") and the I-can't-toughen-up-any-more-I'm-already-a-single-mom-and-a-cop drama (ABC's "Judy's Got a Gun").

Then there are the dueling "Sex and the City" wannabes: NBC's "Lipstick Jungle," a drama about three sexy-but-powerful friends in Manhattan from "Sex" author Candace Bushnell, and ABC's "Cashmere Mafia," a drama about four sexy-but-powerful friends in Manhattan from "Sex" creator Darren Star.

But if anyone's going to profit from the success of "Grey's Anatomy," it should be "Grey's" creator Shonda Rhimes. Later this season, she'll send Dr. Addison Forbes Montgomery (Kate Walsh) to a Santa Monica, Calif., health cooperative -- staffed by Tim Daly, Amy Brenneman and Taye Diggs, among others -- to set up the spinoff, "Private Practice."

TALES FROM THE DARK SIDE

It's also looking like it will be a good year for fans of the supernatural.

There's a drama about an exorcist (CBS' "Demons"); a drama about a life coach who helps her clients through witchcraft (The CW's "Spellbound"); a drama about Satan's bounty hunter (The CW's "Reaper"), a drama about a nearly 400-year-old, immortal homicide detective (Fox's "New Amsterdam"); and a drama about a vampire/private investigator (CBS' "Twilight") that sounds an awful lot like the dearly departed "Angel."

There's also a drama about the resurrected attempting to resume their lives (CBS' "Babylon Fields"); a comedy about a spoiled girl who dies and is brought back to live on the wrong side of the tracks (The CW's "Hell on Earth"); and a comedy about a Wall Street bigwig who dies and, because hell is full, is enrolled in Satan's "Hell on Earth" program, overseen by David Cross (CBS' "I'm in Hell").

SOUNDS FAMILIAR

After hitting it big turning the telenovela "Yo Soy Betty La Fea" into "Ugly Betty," ABC is remaking anything it can get its hands on.

There's "Mr. & Mrs. Smith," based on the movie; "Football Wives," based on a British series; "Marlowe," based on the Raymond Chandler novels; "Women's Murder Club," based on the James Patterson novels; and "Cavemen," based on the clever-the-first-time Geico commercials.

Not to be outdone, Fox is developing "The Sarah Connor Chronicles," based on the "Terminator" movies.

And while NBC is updating "The Bionic Woman," Fox's "Me & Lee?" takes the concept one step further. The comedy, starring Lee Majors, imagines what would have happened had the actor become obsessed with his "The Six Million Dollar Man" role, gone a little mad and hired a scientist to turn an unsuspecting victim (played by Jamie Kennedy) into a bionic man.

Christopher Lawrence's Life on the Couch column appears on Mondays. E-mail him at clawrence@reviewjournal.com.