John Stamos, Dennis Quaid, and TV's next leading men
This season, we had Eddie Cibrian (The Playboy Club), Jason O’Mara (Terra Nova), Hank Azaria (Free Agents), Kevin Dillon (How to Be a Gentleman), Mather Zickel (Man Up!), and Amaury Nolasco (Work It).
It didn’t work out too well for those guys, did it?
Fortunately, the failures of yesterday don’t seem to be quashing hopes for the (potential) successes of tomorrow. An excellent crop of new (and familiar) male stars are hoping to follow in the footsteps of Jim Caviezel (who’s truly nailed it on Person of Interest this season) and Henry Czerny (the very underappreciated male patriarch on Revenge) as the leading men of fall 2012. Not all of the men will make it through the final cuts this May, when the broadcast networks unveil their fall schedules to advertisers. But some certainly have a leg up over the others — partly due to the subject matter of their pilots (Dennis Quaid and Michael Chiklis, you’re a slam dunk) and partly due to their star power (Kevin Bacon, how can you NOT be preparing for your network TV debut?)
Here are some of the more recognizable actors in contention for your adoration (and eyeballs). Having trouble recognizing some of these projects? Check out our handy fall pilot wrap-up here.
COMEDIES
- John Leguizamo, Only Fools and Horses (ABC)
- Dane Cook, Next Caller Please (NBC)
- Tony Shalhoub, Friday Night Dinner (NBC)
- Justin Kirk, Animal Kingdom (NBC)
- John Stamos, Little Brother (FOX)
- Scott Foley, The Goodwin Games (FOX)
- John Goodman, Downwardly Normal (NBC)
- Kyle Bornheimer, White Van Man (ABC)
- Martin Lawrence, untitled Mike Lisbe and Nate Reger project (CBS)
- Brandon Routh, David Krumholtz, Partners (CBS)
- Zachary Levi, Let It Go (FOX)
- Matthew Perry, Go On (NBC)
- Mike O’Malley, Prodigy Bully (FOX)
- Brad Garrett, How to Live With Your Parents for the Rest of Your Life (ABC)
- Justin Bartha, The New Normal (NBC)
- Colin Ferguson, Like Father (FOX)
- Donald Sutherland, Mike Vogel, Living Loaded (FOX)
- Kevin Nealon, Isabel (NBC)
- Kal Penn, Prairie Dogs (ABC)
- Will Forte, Rebounding (FOX)
DRAMAS
- Kevin Bacon, James Purefoy, untitled Kevin Williamson drama (FOX)
- Scott Speedman, Andre Braugher, Last Resort (ABC)
- Julian McMahon, untitled spy drama (FOX)
- Kyle MacLachlan, Baby Big Shot (CBS)
- Chi McBride, Golden Boy (CBS)
- Jay Mohr, Applebaum (CBS)
- Jason Ritter, County (NBC)
- Victor Garber, Notorious (NBC)
- Bradley Whitford, The Asset (FOX)
- Matt Long, John Barrowman, Gilded Lilys (ABC)
- Titus Welliver, Midnight Sun (NBC)
- Anthony LaPaglia, Americana (ABC)
- Cuba Gooding Jr, Guilty (FOX)
- Dennis Quaid, Michael Chiklis, untitled Ralph Lamb drama pilot (CBS)
- Chad Michael Murray, Boris Kodjoe, Scruples (ABC)
- Jonny Lee Miller, Aidan Quinn, Elementary, CBS
- Giancarlo Esposito, Revolution (NBC)
- Dave Annable, 666 Park Avenue (ABC)