It’s being reported that cable network TNT, which found its original-programming stride in 2005 with the blockbuster Kyra Sedgwick series “The Closer” (currently airing its seventh and final season), has put in script orders for five new dramas, including police procedural “H.I.K.E.”, being co-written by Oscar-winning actor Forest Whitaker and “Law & Order: SVU” scribe Amanda Green. The project will center on a female cop who runs the Home Invasion Kidnapping Enforcement (H.I.K.E.) team in Phoenix, AZ (apparently the “kidnapping capital” of the U.S.).
Following are brief descriptions of the four remaining projects:
• “The Order”, based on an Israeli series about an archaeology professor who participates in digs around Israel that explore questions surrounding faith and meaning. Joel Fields is writing the Dreamworks TV project.
• “Perfect Set”, co-written by Nina Colman and Steven Pearl. Billed as a “present-day ‘Hart to Hart'”, it centers on a brother and sister who solve crimes.
• “Rush”, a hospital drama from Sony Pictures TV and Jamie Tarses, Kevin Falls and scribe Allan McDonald.
• “Island Time”, about a woman who abandons her corporate career after winning a Pacific island bar. Joe Field and Josh Brand co-writing.
Also in the mix is a new Mark Burnett reality competition series entitled “Fortune Hunters”, which follows several contestants as they – you guessed it – go hunting for treasure. TNT has ordered a pilot episode for that project, which if greenlit would be the first full-fledged reality show to air on the network.
Other recent orders for the cable network include a script order for Jerry Bruckheimer-produced P.I. drama “Bishop to Pawn”, a pilot order for period Western “Gateway”, and 10-episode orders for three series: a modern-day continuation of primetime soap “Dallas”; “Major Crimes”, a “Closer” spinoff starring Mary McDonnell; and crime drama “Perception”, with Eric McCormack and Rachael Leigh Cook toplining. All are slotted to premiere in the summer of 2012.