`Desperate Housewives’ offers newcomers hope

Talk of a year-round TV season — with new shows popping up any old time and not just the fall — hasn’t affected spring’s pilot season, the frenzied time in Hollywood when dozens of proposed new shows are in production in hopes of being announced next month for a fall unveiling.

Two-thirds of the roughly 100 pilots under way will be shelved. But what has gotten the green light so far gives a hint at what the networks are interested in.

In a year when a quirky new scripted program, "Desperate Housewives," proved it could vault over reality shows and "CSI" variations to rank No. 1, there’s hope for network shows with new ideas — though there’s no shortage of new cop and medical shows proposed.

Among the pilots this season:

Hot jobs: Real estate seems the profession of the moment, with the comedy "Hot Property" in the works for NBC, "Hot Properties" with Nicole Sullivan and Gail O’Grady on ABC, and Ashley Scott and Charlotte Ross selling pieces of L.A. in ABC’s drama "Westside."

John Leguizamo stars in an untitled CBS drama about a sports agent; that’s also the job for Ashley Williams in the proposed Fox drama "Amy Coyne."

Looking for a touchdown

Football players are the subject of two other comedies — one starring Morris Chestnut at NBC, the other with Kevin Sorbo on ABC.

The life of talk-show hosts is explored on two potential UPN comedies, "Friends in the AM" and "The Show With AJ Calloway."

Lottery winners figure in both NBC’s comedy "My Name Is Earl" with Jason Lee and the Fox drama "Ticket To Ride" with Luke Perry.

Rx: A fertility clinic is the setting for two dramas: NBC’s "Inconceivable" and an untitled Fox show starring Joely Fisher.

In other proposed medical shows: Dylan McDermott and Reiko Aylesworth star in a CBS show about brain surgeons, "3 Lbs." Lara Flynn Boyle is a psychiatrist on the comedy "Crazy," and Ivan Sergei a doctor in the Caribbean on "Triangle," both on UPN.

`Halley’s Comet’

Stockard Channing and Henry Winkler co-star in a proposed CBS comedy about doctors, while the WB drama "Halley’s Comet" follows a cancer survivor who wants to be a doctor .

Cops: Orlando Jones and Martin Landau sort clues on ABC’s "The Evidence"; David Boreanaz plays forensic anthropologist on Fox’s "Bones"; while Diedrich Bader is featured in a proposed Fox comedy set at a police station.

Three other cop shows in the works at Fox include "Deviant Behavior," involving serial killers; "Hollywood Vice"; and "Murder Book," starring Josh Brolin.

It’s back to ’70s-style police action in an untitled NBC drama with Donnie Wahlberg, Bobby Cannavale and Tony Lo Bianco.

Jennifer Finnigan is a prosecutor and new mother on CBS’ "American Crime"; suburbanites play private eye on ABC’s "Soccer Moms," starring Kristin Davis.

On the other side of the law, Fox plans a "Prison Break."

The law: Sally Field is a prosecutor on CBS’ drama "Conviction" with Hartford’s Eriq La Salle.

A group of lawyers work to free the wrongly convicted in ABC’s drama "In Justice."

ABC’s "Laws of Chance" focuses on a Houston prosecutor. Jay Baruchel is a teen lawyer in a WB drama also with Don Johnson.

The lawyers in the Fox drama "House of Payne" have their own psychological problems.

Homeland security: "E Ring" is NBC’s look at life inside the Pentagon, with Benjamin Bratt, Sarah Clark and Dennis Hopper. Scott Foley and Dennis Haysbert star in a CBS drama about special-forces soldiers, "The Unit."

FBI agents investigate crimes against Americans abroad on NBC’s "World of Trouble" with Idris Elba of "The Wire." Mandy Patinkin is a member of the FBI Behavioral Analysis Unit in CBS’ "Quantico." Con artists work for the FBI on ABC’s "Pros and Cons." starring William Baldwin and Natasha Henstridge.

The sci-fi touch: Aliens invade via the sea in NBC’s "Fathom" with Lake Bell. They invade Florida on ABC’s "Invasion." An alien life form is found in CBS’ "Threshold," starring Carla Gugino.

More otherworldly events are found in The WB’s "Supernatural" and on an untitled CBS drama based on the psychic work of James Van Praagh starring Jennifer Love Hewitt and Aisha Tyler. And there’s a remake of the old "Kolchak: The Night Stalker," now called just "Night Stalker."

Young singles

New "Friends": Four friends in New York are led by Seth Green in NBC’s "Four Kings." Julie Bowen heads a group of Philadelphia singles on the ABC comedy "love life." Young couples figure in the NBC comedy "Lies & the Wives We Tell Them To."

Two CBS offerings focus on suburban couples: the drama "Commuters" with Jeri Ryan and David Arquette, and the comedy "Stroller Wars" with Tiffani Thiessen.

The "thirtysomething" team moves to a drama about roommates in their 20s on ABC’s "1/4 Life." The same demographic is the basis of the proposed UPN comedy "20 Things To Do Before You’re 30." Also on UPN, "The Studio" examines the work of 20-year-olds in the movie industry, and "Wildlife" follows 20-year-olds at home in L.A.

Neil Patrick Harris and Alyson Hannigan return in a CBS comedy about a guy who looks back at his single life 20 years earlier on "How I Met Your Mother." There are similar themes on Fox’s "Reunion" and The WB’s "Grown Men."