It's pilot season! As we speak the big TV networks are planning out their fall schedules through the time-honored tradition of filming one episode of every pitched show and choosing the strongest examples (or the most marketable, or the one based on something that was a hit 30 years ago). The list is published by the press -- here are 15 of the more...interesting ideas TV execs are thinking about.

I promise you that, no matter how fake some of these sound, they are all 100% real and all of them are in contention for the Fall 2020 season.

Stray observations:

1. The number of our "weird" picks for 2019 that actually got onto the schedule is six....though one has not actually aired. The Baker and the Beauty is still MIA with spring on our heels, and not even an announcement of where they're going to put it. Our guess, based on past ABC behavior, is that they're death-slotting the show in the middle of summer because they didn't like it. There are also reports they're changing the title to Beauty and the Baker, though the way they're treating it, it won't matter what they call it.
2. Last year multiple pilots were ordered with an all-Asian cast and the premise that part of the cast was absurdly wealthy, in an effort to TV-fy Crazy Rich Asians. NONE of these got onto the schedule of any network. The only public display of this behind-the-scenes trend were the goofy rich siblings that appeared on NBC's Sunnyside, a show that crashed and burned.

I have serious doubts that ABC would run a Dracula show, even with the chance to score easy "woke points" by making the entire cast women. But there's Mr. Moneybags, Greg Berlanti, right there behind it...maybe that will have some pull. The real surprise is that this is in contention for ABC and not The CW. Then again, Berlanti already has a show on every single time slot on that network; the only way he can get more is to invade other stations.

Is there any kind of demand among the adult generation of today for the return of thirtysomething? That was just the boring show our parents had on while we played with blocks in the other room. It was a hit with Boomers because Boomers loved staring at themselves (a trait that hasn't diminished over time). In 2020, there is zero buzz for this. But I have a feeling we're going to get this show whether we want it or not.

This one's premise is so strange that it's actually gotten some press outside of this site. It sounds pretty by-the-numbers up until we get to the part where it's a stealth remake of The Goonies under the premise of three kids trying to remake the movie in exact detail. You could maybe do this as a film, but how does one stretch it out into a 22-episode broadcast TV season? And what's her heavy secret?

The fact that kids are doing this isn't the crazy part. There are some kids out there who spent seven years remaking Toy Story 3 shot-for-shot with their action figures. Maybe we can get a show about them.

No, the craziest part is they still have no idea what to call this show. This feels like a no-brainer....just pluck one of the many catch-phrases from The Goonies and use it as the title. "Truffle-Shuffle," "Never Say Die," "I've Been Saved By My Pinchers Of Peril," "Here's Where We Keep The Sexual Torture Devices."

CBS's 2020 pilot slate is, for the most part, safe and drab. Something about doctors, something about lawyers, something about a single parent raising a kid...The exception is this one, and we'll be surprised if it breaks through. Also, it's a single-cam comedy, a distinction it will share with Young Sheldon and nothing else. If there isn't a laugh track, how will the typical viewer of this network know when to laugh?

By contrast, NBC's pilot lineup this year is totally Wacky Wild Kool-Aid Style. Supernatural and sci-fi stories abound. You might have noticed the premise of this one is the exact same as the 1960s Saturday Morning staple Land of the Lost, enough to make me wonder if the Krofft estate is getting residuals.

The truth is, NBC hasn't had much luck with sci-fi, mainly because they promote all those shows as Lost knockoffs. They will undoubtedly do the same here, just as they're doing with the soon-to-be-cancelled Manifest right now.

IT'S BACK, BABY! You thought Republic of Sarah was done for after it never showed up on CBS....well, for once, they did the smart thing and handed it off to their more eccentric cousin. Now the roadblock to success will be the fact that there are no superheroes in it.

I laughed out loud when I first got wind of this one. It is so, so NBC to be chasing those sweet DaVinci Code dollars in the year 2020.

The comparisons to Quantum Leap are obvious, but at least, for once, they aren't just leaning on a brand by billing this under the Quantum Leap name.

And of course, it's not completely the same. These guys actually get to return home.

ABC has a pilot for a comedy series called "Home Economics" that follows the lives of three siblings who are upper, middle and lower class. The three versions of Joe are very likely to be the same.

KELLY RIPA AND RYAN SEACREST SHARE DEODORANT??? Now I have to walk around with that image in my head!

Sure hope there's more to it than this.

Read it a second time. It's not based on a book, a movie, a graphic novel or even a podcast...the inspiration is a news article, hence the weird title that was intended to attract clicks. Inspiration can come from anywhere, but in this case I'm not sure why you would openly admit it in the description, as if it adds any status.

Gee, I wonder where they got the idea for this one.

I'm obviously talking about the fact that this same creative team was just behind the Hulu series Runaways, based on a comic with nearly this exact premise (except with superheroes instead of politicians). In the comic, which was excellent, a gang ot teenagers discovers their parents are supervillains and runs away to fight against them. In the show, the teens discover their parents are....kinda sorta evil but not entirely, and waffle on whether or not they should run for an entire season, then kind of do it, but stay in touch with their parents more or less throughout the series, until the end when they all have to team up and the parents reform completely.

As miffed as I am about the thrilling premise of Runaways being watered down and botched, you can imagine my rage right now at seeing Schwartz and Savage using the ACTUAL premise of the comic for a completely different show. WHY COULDN'T THEY DO IT THE FIRST TIME???

See, it's like Young Sheldon, only with the Jumanji guy.

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