We're offering a 2-week trial of WrapPRO for $1. If you’ve been wanting to check out our full coverage, now’s the time. Greetings!Pilot season used to be the industry-standard way of testing the waters with a myriad of different shows and concepts. But that practice faded as the streaming boom drove an insatiable hunger for content and a "series order" trend with full seasons of shows greenlit from the start. Production pauses caused by the pandemic and labor strikes made making pilots difficult over the last few years. But with the industry contracting and media companies needing to be more discerning with the selection of their shows, NBC is reviving pilot season with a 2026 spin. The network has bet on eight new projects — which the network told our Jose Alejandro Bastidas will generate 4,000 new jobs across five dramas and three comedies — that will vie for full-series orders. In doing so, NBC is bringing back a practice that allows networks to take more risks with different shows without the need to fully commit to a project. The network created some of its biggest hits through a traditional pilot season, of course. “Friends,” “Seinfeld,” “Cheers,” “Law & Order,” “ER” and “30 Rock” all began with pilots before the network picked them up to air. “NBC has always believed in the value of pilots, it’s another step in development and a way to really finetune what can ultimately be the next hit,” NBC and Peacock scripted content president Lisa Katz told TheWrap in an exclusive interview. “We developed very intentionally to find the next hits, and we’re so excited about the ones that we’re making.” Beyond budgetary concerns, NBC needs to be discerning because it has fewer slots to fill. In addition to its returning shows, the network also needs to juggle evening broadcasts of NBA games, so it's unlikely all eight projects will move forward. As Bastidas writes, NBC isn't the only picking up on the practice. HBO Max is crafting two pilots this year for projects that could replicate the success and cheaper production model of Emmy-winning “The Pitt,” which airs 15 episodes per season on a $4-$5 million episodic budget. The shows include police drama “American Blue,” starring Milo Ventimiglia, and family drama series “How to Survive Without Me,” with Ray Romano and Joshua Jackson attached to star so far. Even Netflix did a pilot order for its “A Different World” sequel series, and liked how it turned out since it greenlit it for a full season in November. With that, I hope you have a restful weekend ahead of a busy week, including the next turn of the Warner Bros. M&A saga and lots of earnings. Roger Cheng 
NBC and Peacock's scripted development teams, led by Katz, reviewed more than 1,500 submitted pitches during this development cycle, a typical number for the year... 
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