Who will be more popular on TV – cops, docs or lawyers?

The major TV networks in the United States (CBS, ABC, NBC, Fox and CW) are already actively preparing their show schedules for the 2017-2018 season, with various pilots ordered and under production for fall.

From police detectives to medical practitioners and lawyers, what professions can we expect to see on the small screen later this year and which are stepping back from the limelight?

Safety first

It comes as no great surprise that police detectives, from the FBI to the CIA, are still popular characters among series creators and the viewing public. Despite the wealth of cop shows already on the small screen, the idea of keeping US citizens safe from crime will still be a popular theme for next season’s shows.

The latest trend for crime shows – looking for different angles to set them apart – is for female leads. ABC, for example, has two shows in the works. Las Reinas follows a police detective who is forced to confront her past and her family, who happen to be the most powerful criminal organisation in Miami, Florida. Meanwhile, The Trustee follows a stubborn detective who finds unlikely help from her precinct’s ex-con trustee.

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Female characters are also popular picks for CIA and FBI shows. Toni Collette stars in Unit Zero, for example, and Salamander follows an FBI therapist hired to help track down a criminal who stole 66 safety deposit boxes. On a different theme, a magician is hired as an FBI consultant in Deception and a former CIA agent is called up by the NYPD to help solve a case in Serial Killer.

Docs and lawyers still popular too 

Law and medicine are also safe bets for US TV. For ABC, Shonda Rhimes is prepping a kind of Grey’s Anatomy set at the Southern District of New York Federal Court, where lawyers for the defense and the prosecution rub shoulders on major cases and their personal lives intersect.

CBS is hoping to return to the profession with Perfect Citizen, the story of a former NSA lawyer who tries to relaunch his career in a Boston practice. Fox’s Controversy follows the Junior Counsel of a prestigious university dealing with a developing scandal when several star football players are accused of sexual assault.

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After the success of House M.D., David Shore is back with The Good Doctor for ABC, based on a brilliant young surgeon with savant syndrome. Fox, on the other hand, will focus on an idealistic young doctor being trained by a tough but brilliant mentor in The Resident.

A more original but as-yet-untitled pilot for NBC promises a real-time medical drama following doctors and nurses over the course of a weekend at a Brooklyn hospital, which becomes overloaded after a catastrophic hurricane.

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Hurray for journalists and astronauts

While a handful of engineers and other academics have been lead characters in American series like The Big Bang Theory, astronauts haven’t previously had much air time. CBS brings the profession to the small screen in Mission Control, and NBC’s Spaced Out follows a team tasked with building a rocket to Mars.

Otherwise, ABC has a Doomsday pilot in store. After the 9/11 attacks, the US government asks brilliant scientists and creative minds to imagine the darkest and most terrifying disaster scenarios and their possible solutions. Years later, the team is called back into service to prevent the disasters of their own design from actually occurring.

Since The Newsroom ended, journalists have all but disappeared from US TV screens. ABC is hoping to return to the profession with Libby & Malcolm, following a husband-and-wife pair of political pundits who work on the same TV show.

Former Scrubs star Zach Braff is signed up to play a journalist who decides to become his own boss in Start Up and CBS has ordered The Get, based on a team of journalists with unorthodox methods of investigation. – AFP Relaxnews

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