Top 5 Rejected Pilots for Fall 2011

The major television networks recently publicized their primetime schedules for fall 2011. Being interested in several of the pilots that were up for consideration, I was anxious to find out whether they would make it to the air. As always, the networks gave some of my favorites a green light and rejected others. Here are my picks for the top five pilots that didn't make the fall 2011 lineup.

1. Awakening - Zombies are popular now, which makes the CW's rejection of this series about a zombie uprising rather puzzling. Granted, we already have AMC's The Walking Dead, but Awakening would have been a better choice for younger or perhaps more squeamish fans of the genre. In any case, it seemed like a good fit for the CW, which could have paired it with Supernatural instead of moving Nikita to Smallville's former timeslot. After all, it would make sense to pair a show about two sisters fighting zombies with one about two brothers fighting demons. If Awakening had made the lineup, the title would likely have been confused with NBC's Awake, which was formerly titled REM.

2. Locke & Key - Along with Awakening, the failure of this series to make it to the fall lineup surprised me, although its creepiness factor possibly made it more suited to cable than to a broadcast channel. Based on Joe Hill's graphic novel, Locke & Key sounded like a complex and intense show that people would have anticipated all week and talked about the next day. I haven't read the comic but will have to look for it, especially now that FOX has decided not to move forward with the series.

3. Poe - Not normally into crime dramas, I thought this one could be an exception, but ABC passed on it. Set in Boston in the 1840s, this pilot featured Edgar Allan Poe as the original detective. As a fan of the author--and as someone interested in that particular setting--I had hoped Poe would make it to the air.

4. 17th Precinct - This series was going to be about a world in which a police force solves crime using magic instead of science, which doesn't exist. Instead of a coroner, the city employs a necromancer. The Futon Critic didn't like this show and even thought it was kind of a mess, but that didn't sway me. If NBC had picked it up, I would have had to give it a try.

5. Hallelujah - I was curious to see what this one would be like. It was set in the small Tennessee town of Hallelujah, which was being torn apart by the forces of good and evil until a stranger arrived. Terry O'Quinn was cast as a powerful man in town, and that in itself piqued my interest. Although I didn't watch Lost, I have seen O'Quinn in The Stepfather and Millennium and thought this would also be a good role for him. As with Poe, ABC decided not to pick up this pilot.