TV News in 60 seconds

It's pilot season in July! (Normally pilot season starts in January - but things are changing...)Sony Pictures TV has four pilots in the works -

CBS is looking at a comedy project called My Best Friend's Girl, about the friendship between two guys and how it changes when one of the guys starts dating his buddy's ex-wife. CBS has given this project a cast-contingent order.

A drama project at Lifetime called Practice, about a woman working at a large and prestigious Philadelphia law firm owned by a large and prestigious family.

A&E has picked up the drama project Danny Fricke, about a woman homicide detective in the LAPD. This project is co-produced with 25C Prods.

SIS is a project for Spike TV about an elite police squad who follow bad guys and lay in wait for them to commit crimes. SIS stands for Special Investigative Squad. This project is co-produced with Original Films.

Showtime is looking at a project from Scout Prods called The Beard, about a gay baseball player who creates a relationship with a woman to help hide his preferences. According to Variety, the project is billed as a romantic comedy, the script will be written by Maria Maggenti.

Another deal with Scout Prods - this one with ABC Family for a project called The Deads about a family of 300 year old witches who come back from the dead, and move into suburbia. They quickly learn the mores of the day are quite similar to what they were 300 years ago. This project will be written by Bill Masters and Tim Griffin.

Basic cable is changing the face of television development.