The ABC Studios production is being shopped to other networks
ABC has chosen not to move forward with the new Reba McEntire drama pilot, Red Blooded, that was filmed in Georgia back in March. However, ABC Studios is said to be shopping the show to other networks in hopes it gets picked up to series.
Deadline reports that the Marc Cherry produced pilot, described as a “Southern Gothic soap opera,” could land at Lifetime or a network like CMT, although the show’s premise wouldn’t be in line with CMT’s more music-centric shows like Nashville. In 2012, ABC passed on Cherry’s Devious Maids which it sold to Lifetime and lasted four seasons. Cherry created the smash Desperate Housewives that aired on ABC from 2004-2012.
In Red Blooded, McEntire plays the local sheriff in the small town of Oxblood, Kentucky where a suspected act of terrorism happens at a 4th of July parade. A cocky FBI agent of Middle Eastern descent is sent to investigate in which the pair uncover secrets “far darker than either could have ever imagined.”
The series marks McEntire’s first dramatic TV role. She previously starred as Reba Hart in Reba from 2001-2007 on The WB/The CW and played Reba MacKenzie in the short lived ABC sitcom, Malibu Country in 2012.
“I’m a dark character, Ruby Adair,” McEntire tells CMT After MidNite host Cody Alan back in March. “I’ve got a lot of flaws and demons, and I’m having a lot of problems in my personal life. My town is being disrupted and I’m having to deal with it all. I’m under a lot of stress.”
We will have more details should they become available.
