NBC Orders Pilots ‘Smash,' ‘Whitney,' More

‘Prime Suspect,' ‘Up All Night' also picked up

By Andrea Morabito -- Broadcasting & Cable, 5/11/2011 9:14:33 PM

NBC has ordered four pilots -- Whitney, Prime Suspect, Up All Night and Smash -- to series as the pick-up frenzy continues in advance of upfronts next week.

Smash, from executive producer Steven Spielberg, is about the staging of a Broadway musical starring Debra Messing and has been considered a shoo-in since it was a project that new NBC topper Bob Greenblatt brought with him from Showtime. Also nabbing an order is drama Prime Suspect, a revamp of the British procedural series starring Maria Bello as a detective.

In comedy, the Peacock picked up two projects from Universal Media Studios. Whitney, is a multi-cam rom-com created by and starring comedian Whitney Cummings as one-half of a young couple. Also a go is Up All Night, a single-camera comedy that stars Christina Applegate as prickly working mother who never thought she'd be a parent. Will Arnett has signed on as Applegate's stay-at-home husband and the series is executive produced by Lorne Michaels and co-stars Maya Rudolph.

NBC will formally announce its fall schedule at its upfront presentation in New York next Monday.