USA Shows In Development Promise More of the Same

Well, it looks like the upcoming pilot season will be full of surprises. While the normally failing network NBC has picked up a lineup of shows with feminist leanings, the usually more successful cable network USA has shows in development that promise more of the same.

Last month, the network picked up not one, but two medical dramas about white dude doctors. Because, you know, there are not enough smart and concerned-looking men on television already. And the shows the network recently announced are in development look a little cliche-happy. There's the Dharma & Greg-meets-Trophy Wife premise of Love the One You're With, in which a "free-spirited" woman (not making this up, someone actually used the term "free-spirited") falls for a much older, "Type A" man. Get it? They're opposites! He's one way, she's a totally different way! How will they ever learn to love one another? On the one hand, it's written by Karen McCullah Lutz, who wrote the sneakily feminist Legally Blonde, so it could turn out to be much better than its description. On the other hand, it's written by Karen McCullah Lutz, who wrote The Ugly Truth, in which the love interest is a brazen misogynist.

And if you can't get enough of romantic comedy tropes, than look no further than Moguls. The show takes place in a Colorado ski resort, where it's run by "a young man who thinks he’s in charge and the woman from corporate who knows she is." Oh boy, sounds like there's an Uptight Boss Lady who really needs to loosen up. And you know, the across-the-board cure for Uptight Boss Lady syndrome is the love of a human man. I can see where this is going...

There's also Majordomo, which introduces us to Anna Grant, an "unlucky in love real estate heiress with a floundering career." It's easy to hope this one doesn't have "ditz" written all over it. The show's main protagonist, however, is her male friend Danny Perkins, who's forced to become her assistant after his career as a documentarian fails.

Beyond that, it's a lineup full of dudes, a couple, and a couple ensemble casts, none of which seem to have terribly female-positive plots. There is one bright spot in all of this, though: USA officially announced that it has picked up the pilot for Difficult People , the show produced by Amy Poehler and starring none other than Billy on the Street's Billy Eichner and Julie Klausner. So yes, USA's current lineup of shows in development may seem a little lackluster. But who knows what they'll look like come pilot season. And besides, even suffering through a few cliched pilots is well worth it to get to see Difficult People.

Image: USA