The CW has picked up four new pilots, including Gerg Berlanti’s “Riverdale,” based on the Archie comics.
The pickups come just hours after the youth-skewing network picked up two pilots, a paranormal thriller from Kevin Williamson and a remake of the sci-fi drama “Frequency.”
The network has also picked up “No Tomorrow,” from “Jane The Virgin” alum Corinne Brinkerhoff, along with Scott McCabe and Tory Stanton. Ben Silverman will also serve as executive producer.
The story follows a risk-averse, straight-arrow, female procurement manager at an Amazon-like distribution center who falls in love with a freewheeling man who lives life to the fullest because he believes the apocalypse is imminent. They embark on a quest together to fulfill their individual bucket lists.
The project is from CBS Television Studios in association with Electus.
Berlanti’s “Riverdale” is set in the present day and is based on the iconic Archie Comics characters. It is described as a surprising and subversive take on Archie, Betty, Veronica, and their friends, exploring the surrealism of small town life — the darkness and weirdness bubbling beneath Riverdale’s wholesome façade.
Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa will write and executive produce along with Berlanti, Sarah Schechter and Jon Goldwater.
The untitled Mars pilot comes from writer/EP Doris Egan and the official logline reads: “A team of explorers arrive on Mars to join the first human colony on the planet, only to discover that their predecessors have vanished. Led by a woman whose husband is among the missing, the colonists are forced to change their mission from exploration and settlement to investigation and survival, while navigating the hostile planet and their own personal demons.”
Frank Marshall and Robert Zotnowski will also EP. The project is from CBS Television Studios in association with The Kennedy-Marshall Company.
“Transylvania” is set in 1880 and follows a headstrong young woman in search of her missing father, who ventures from New York City to Transylvania, where she teams up with a disgraced Scotland Yard detective. Together they witness the births of the most famous monsters and villains in history.
Hugh Sterbakov will write and serve as the EP along with Jeff Pinkner, Andre Nemec, Josh Applebaum and Scott Rosenberg. It hails from CBS Television Studios, in association with Midnight Radio.