CBS picked up up eight pilots to series ahead of their Upfront Presentation: four dramas, Evil, All Rise, FBI: Most Wanted and Tommy, and comedies Bob Hearts Abishola, Broke, Carol’s Second Act and The Unicorn. Missing from that list was the Sophia Bush drama, Surveillance, but CBS has said the series is still very much in contention for pickup while the other new shows that were looking for slots are pretty much dead.
The pilot, which had solid testing, has supporters at the network and, while its genre is a departure for CBS, they are actively looking for ways to take it to series, focusing on non-conventional models, including a possible summer run. The series has drawn comparisons to Showtime’s Homeland.
Surveillance is described as a complex and timely spy thriller centered around the head of communications for the NSA (Bush), a charming operative who finds her loyalties torn between protecting the government’s secrets and her own. A different incarnation of the project from David C. White and Matt Reeves was originally set up at Fox last season with Katie Holmes originally set to star.
