ABC Family Working on 3 Pilots; Kickstarter Campaign to Bring Back Beat the Geeks

Tuesday, June 10, 2014

ABC Family Working on 3 Pilots; Kickstarter Campaign to Bring Back Beat the Geeks

ABC Family has begun production in Los Angeles on three drama series pilots: Recovery Road, Stitchers and Unstrung. All three are just pilot orders and are for consideration. If they like it, they could pick the pilot to series. Based on the popular young adult novel by Blake Nelson, Recovery Road focuses on a teenage girl dealing with addiction. Recovery Road stars Samantha Logan as Maddie, Sebastian De Souza as Wes, Kyla Pratt as Trish, Sharon Leal as Charlotte, Alexis Carra as Cynthia, Justin Prentice as Dallas, Caroline Sunshine as Emily, and also guest stars Doug Savant as Alan. Stitchers is a procedural drama series written by Jeffrey A. Schechter (Overruled!) and follows a young woman recruited into a covert government agency to be 'stitched' into the minds of the recently deceased, using their memories to investigate murders and decipher mysteries that otherwise would have gone to the grave. It stars Emma Ishta as Kirsten, Kyle Harris as Cameron, Felix Gomez as Dr. Pecha, Minni Jo Mazzola as Camille, and also guest stars Diane Farr as Maggie. And finally, Unstrung explores the sexy, cutthroat, and emotional stakes of the professional world tour of tennis as brother and sister Luke and Ellie Holt compete to move up the ranks. Unstrung stars Alex Roe as Luke, Chanel Celaya as Ellie, Sofia Mattsson as Ninotchka, Travis Winfrey as Brett, and also guest stars Josh Stamberg as Phil. Stay with us for continued updates should these go further. And don't forget to tune in tonight for the season premiere of Pretty Little Liars followed by the series premiere of Chasing Life all starting at 8|7c on ABC Family!

Remember the game show Beat the Geeks? It was a comedy game show that aired on Comedy Central from 2001 to 2002. On the show, contestants face off in trivia matches against "geeks" who are well-versed in music, movies, and television, as well as a fourth guest geek with an alternate area of expertise which varies from episode to episode. The object is to outsmart the geek at their own subject; as a handicap, the geeks are given questions of considerably greater difficulty than the contestants. Some of the regular geeks included: Marc Edward Heuck as the Movie Geek, Paul Goebel as the TV Geek and Andy Zax as the Music Geek. Now you can help bring back this show via Kickstarter!

Help us bring back the definitive game show for geeks so we can show today's nerds how it's actually done. Let's face it. The world contains exactly two types of people - the dummies and the smarties. Watch a random movie trailer or click over to any given TV channel and you’ll find that there are an infinite number of projects dedicated solely to celebrating the idiocy of idiots. Whether it's shows featuring vapid commentary on video fail compilations or multi-series franchises about wealthy drunks having pseudo-scripted screaming matches with each other, you don’t have to search far and wide for content about stupid people that appeals to a stupid audience. So how about we change that and make a show for smart people to enjoy? But it's more than just a show for geniuses to passively watch...they can also participate in it, influence it, and help create something special. This project isn't going to exploit fans of nerd culture like some sort of dork-filled freak show. It’s going to elevate geekdom to a proper art form. By donating to this project, you’re joining a movement towards bringing intelligent, interesting, and fun content back to the airwaves. If this project is successfully funded, we can produce a quality pilot that will be released online and then used to pitch as a network-ready game show. From there, the sky’s the limit - fancier celebrity judges, a bigger contestant pool, and all kinds of cool audience interactivity that’s never been done in a show before. Back this project today!

Sitcoms Airing Tonight

Wednesday, August 21

The Goldbergs - "The Wedding Singer" (ABC, 8:00PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
Barry and Lainey’s wedding date is right around the corner, and Beverly is in her element as she tries to make everything perfect for her schmoopie’s big day. Geoff is concerned about Adam’s shortcomings as a wedding videographer. Meanwhile, Barry begins to have second thoughts.

Schooled - "Be Like Mike" (ABC, 8:30PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
It’s 1990-something, and since Lainey still hasn’t achieved rock ‘n’ roll greatness, she returns to William Penn Academy as the new music teacher. Lainey has a hard time adjusting to being an authority figure, but she realizes she might not be so bad at it when she discovers a kindred spirit in Principal Glascott’s niece, Felicia. Meanwhile, Coach Mellor struggles with Michael Jordan’s influence on modern-day basketball.

Modern Family - "The Wild" (ABC, 9:00PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
Mitch, Cam and Phil crash Jay’s annual hiking trip to find an elusive bald eagle after Gloria asks them to keep an eye on him. Meanwhile, Gloria, Alex, Claire and Haley get together to plan her baby shower.

Single Parents - "Pilot" (ABC, 9:30PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
Will Cooper has been so focused on raising his daughter, Sophie, he’s lost sight of who he is as a man and has headed deep into the parental vortex. When the other single parents – Angie, Douglas, Poppy and Miggy – at his daughter’s school see just how far down the rabbit hole of PTA, parenting and princesses Will has gone, they band together to get him out in the world and make him realize that being a great parent doesn’t mean sacrificing everything about your own identity.

Younger - "It's All About the Money, Honey" (TV Land, 10:00PM ET/PT)
Liza is shocked to see an unexpected costar in her Infinitely 21 ad campaign. Kelsey and Charles head to Chicago with a plan. Josh considers his options beyond Inkburg.

Complete TV Listings

Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of August 19)

Wednesday, August 21

Donald Glover (Atlanta/Community) - Watch on a repeat of Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
D'Arcy Carden (The Good Place/Barry) - D'Arcy appears on a repeat of Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
Selena Gomez (Wizards of Waverly Place) - Selena is a guest on a repeat of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:34pm on NBC.
Joe Namath (The Waverly Wonders) - Joe appears on a repeat of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert at 11:35pm on CBS.
Fred Savage (What Just Happened??! with Fred Savage/Friends from College/The Grinder/Working/The Wonder Years) - Fred is a guest on a repeat of Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
Jane Lynch (Angel from Hell) - Jane drops by Conan at 11pm on TBS.
Jon Cryer (Two and a Half Men/Partners/The Famous Teddy Z) - Jon is a guest on a repeat of The Talk on CBS at 2pm ET/1pm CT-PT.
Kevin Hart (The Big House/Undeclared) - Kevin stops by LIVE! with Kelly and Ryan, so check your listings.
Jennifer Aniston (Friends/Muddling Through/Ferris Bueller/Molloy) - Jennifer appears on a repeat of The Ellen DeGeneres Show, so check your local listings.
Iain Armitage (Young Sheldon) - Iain is a guest on a repeat of The Real, so check your local listings.
Brian Austin Green (Anger Management/Freddie) - Brian talks about BH90210 on Access Live, so check your local listings.
Melissa Peterman (Reba/Working Class/Baby Daddy) - Melissa guest co-hosts Access Live, so check your local listings.
Justine Lupe (Cristela) - Justine will be on New York Live on WNBC in New York at 11:30am ET.
Queen Latifah (Living Single) - Queen Latifah opens up about how she balances her personal and professional life and her latest mission to combat the stigma of mental health on a repeat of The Dr. Oz Show, so check your local listings.
Valerie Bertinelli (Hot in Cleveland/Sydney/One Day at a Time) - Valerie talks about Kids Baking Championship on the BUILD Series at 2pm.