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CBS Pilots Update: ‘Ways & Means’, Sarah Cooper/Cindy Chupack & ‘Welcome To Georgia’ Not Moving Forward

Nellie Andreeva
·1 min read

CBS today made its new series pickups, going for one drama,Good Sam, headlined by Sophia Bush, and one comedy, the multi-camera Smallwood starring Pete Holmes.

The network also passed on political drama Ways & Means, starring Patrick Dempsey, the untitled Sarah Cooper/Cindy Chupack single-camera comedy, as well as comedy pilot Welcome To Georgia, starring Hannah Simone and Elizabeth Hurley. Both Ways & Means and Welcome To Georgia were from the previous pilot season.

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Dempsey plays a powerful congressional leader in Ways & Means, which was ordered to pilot in the early stages of the 2020 primaries when politics was very much on everybody’s mind. Fifteen months later, after a grueling Presidential campaign and two impeachment trials amid a pandemic, there appears to be some political fatigue, which likely impacted the project’s prospects, along with its ability to sell internationally. That is crucial for owned series — which both Good Sam, a medical drama that travels well, and Ways & Means are — in the current broadcast business environment. Still, few can dispute the major appeal of bringing Dempsey back to the small screen, especially post his Grey’s return. I hear there was talk about possibly picking up the show for midseason but ultimately, the network opted not to.

The untitled Sarah Cooper/Cindy Chupack single-camera comedy, which has three female leads and tackles gender politics, was a departure for CBS but was well received, with some suggesting that it could potentially move to Paramount+ if there is no shelf space at CBS. I hear that is not happening.

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