Fresh off its Supergirl pickup on Wednesday and ahead of its upfronts presentation next week, CBS announced orders for six new series, some of which have familiar titles.
On the drama front, CBS greenlit TV adaptations of the films Limitless and Rush Hour and picked up the Criminal Minds spinoff Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders. The network also finally added a medical drama to its roster in the form of Code Black.
Based on the 2011 feature film starring Bradley Cooper, Limitless follows Brian Finch as he discovers the power of the mysterious drug NZT and uses his drug-enhanced abilities to solve weekly cases for the FBI. It stars Jake McDorman, Jennifer Carpenter, Hill Harper, and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio. Cooper is executive producing along with Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci, Heather Kadin, Todd Phillips, Ryan Kavanaugh, Tucker Tooley, Tom Forman, Craig Sweeny, and Marc Webb.
Rush Hour is inspired by the 1990s Jackie Chan/Chris Tucker franchise. It centers on a stoic, by-the-book Hong Kong cop who is assigned to work a Los Angeles case with a cocky African-American LAPD officer who doesn’t want a partner. The cast features Justin Hires, Jon Foo, Aimee Garcia, and Wendie Malick. The executive producers are Arthur Sarkissian, Brett Ratner, Jeff Ingold and Jon Turteltaub.
Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders focuses on a division in the FBI that helps American citizens who find themselves in danger abroad. It stars Gary Sinise, Daniel Henney, and Tyler James. It is executive produced by Mark Gordon, Erica Messer, and Nick Pepper.
Based on the 2014 documentary of the same name, Code Black takes place in the busiest and most notorious ER in the country. Marcia Gay Harden leads an ensemble cast that includes Bonnie Somerville, Raza Jaffrey, Luiz Guzman, Melanie Kannokada, Ben Hollingsworth, Harry M. Ford, and William Allen Young. It is executive produced by Michael Seitzman, Marti Noxon, Linda Goldstein-Knowlton, David Semel, and Ryan McGarry.
On the comedic front, CBS ordered ensemble single-cam family sitcom Life in Pieces and the Jane Lynch-led comedy Angel From Hell.
Life in Pieces is a comedy about one family told through the separate stories of its different family members. The cast includes Dianne Wiest, James Brolin, Zoe Lister Jones, Angelique Cabral, Thomas Sadoski, Colin Hanks and Betsy Brandt. Justin Adler, Aaron Kaplan, and Jason Winer share executive producing duties.
Angel From Hell tells the tale of Allison, whose life is interrupted by Amy, a woman claiming to be her guardian angel. The pair form an unlikely friendship and Allison is never sure if Amy is really an angel or just nuts. Its stars Lynch, Maggie Lawson, Kyle Bornheimer, and Kevin Pollak. It is executive produced by Tad Quill and Dan Scardino.