With so many new pilots being green-lit, 79 if my math is correct, it is difficult to know where to start looking for new shows to watch. Instead of going overboard and giving each one its own in-depth article, I’ve decided to make a list of the most talked about pilots and the ones that have caught my eye hitting the small screen in the upcoming year. Come on guys, lists are fun! Check the break for details.

1. Hallelujah (ABC)

Terry O’Quinn from LOST returns to ABC in Marc Cherry‘s musical drama pilot Hallelujah. The show is set in the town Hallelujah, Tenn., which is being torn apart by the forces of good and evil. The fortune of the town changes when a stranger comes around, bringing justice, peace and restoring faith to the Hallelujah citizens. I’m not sure exactly how the musical element will fit into the show, but being a LOST fanatic,I’ll be checking in on my favorite knife totting box man to find out.

The plot seems a bit cheesy and reminds me a bit of that old school musical The Music Man about the mysterious swindler who tricks a town and hits the road once the con is finished. O’Quinn will play the main villain of the story, Del, a corrupt millionaire who basically owns the town.

Hallelujah will also star Jesse L. Martin, Frances O’Connor, Donal Logue, Zoey Deutch, and Arielle Kebbel. Cherry will write and act as executive producer of the pilot while Michael Apted will direct.

2. 17th Precinct (NBC)

This is the show I am most looking forward to. Not only because it consists of half the cast of Battlestar Galactica, but because  of my weird fascination for all things Sci-Fi/Fantasy. On top of that, it keeps being referred to as “Harry Potter for grown ups;” the shows concept alone makes me giddy like a school girl.

17th Precinct is a supernatural cop-drama taking place in a futuristic San Fransisco-type city known as Excelsior. Instead of science being the foundation for all things real, magic rules the world. The show is basically a dark and gritty cop show fused with the magic of Harry Potter. James Callis and Jamie Bamber play detectives for the 17th Precinct and the latter uses a more magical forensic investigator approach. Also reuniting with her former Battlestar alums, Tricia Helfer (Six) will be playing Morgana, a necromancer who acts as the medical examiner. Kristin Kruek of Smallville fame has also recently joined the cast as Bamber’s wife.

17th Precinct is being prepared by Sci-Fi superstar Ronald D. Moore and will more than likely hit the small screen sometime this summer.

3. Playboy (NBC)

Set in the 1960′s, Playboy centers around a group of  Bunnies and a highly skilled attorney, Nick Dalton (Eddie Cibrian), in the exclusive Chicago club. This period drama seems to be set on the backdrop of political and moral issues that evolved in the 60′s. While not much is known of the pilot yet, some tid-bits floating around describe Dalton as “the ultimate playboy,” and he holds a key to the exclusive Playboy club. Dalton has shady ties to the mob and is known as a “fixer.” This show seems like it may have potential, following the formula set out by the series Mad Men. While I myself don’t have much interest in a show like this, it could turn around and surprise us all.

The show also co-stars Laura Benanti, Jenna Dewan-Tatum, David Krumholtz, Naturi Naughton, Amber Heard, Leah Renee, and Wes Ramsey. The pilot will be directed by Alan Taylor who is known for directing such shows as Boardwalk Empire, The Sopranos, and Mad Men. His talents could give the show a realistic spin which will help bring in the audiences.

4. Person of Interest (CBS)

From the genius mind that brought us LOST and the Star Trek reboot, J.J. Abrams along with Jonah Nolan (Christopher Nolan’s equally talented brother) brings us Person of Interest.  The synopsis for Person of Interest (via Deadline) is:

A crime drama centered on a CIA agent, presumed dead, who is recruited by a reclusive billionaire to wage war against violent criminals in New York City.

Person of Interest features the man we love to hate and hate to love, leader of “The Others” on LOST, the most physically abused character in television history, the talented Michael Emerson. Emerson will be playing the aforementioned reclusive billionaire who teams up with the “deceased” CIA agent played by James Caviezel. While I’m not a huge fan of the cop dramas, this features two AMAZINGLY talented co-creators as well as Michael Emerson, so, I’ll give it a shot.

Person of Interest also co-stars the Academy Award Winner Taraji P. Henson. Keep an eye out for Person of Interest sometime this summer.

5. Grimm (NBC)

The new NBC pilot Grimm has a cool concept to be adapted for television audiences. Grimm is a eerie fantasy styled cop drama set in a world where the characters of Grimm’s Fairy Tales actually exist. Grimm centers around a slick detective named Nick Burckhardt (David Giuntoli) who begins to see certain humans as beasts and soon finds out that he is part of a legacy that has helped protect humans from these creatures. I’m not exactly sure how that works. Are these creatures disguised as humans and only he can see their true nature or is it something completely different? I guess we will have to tune in to find out for sure.

Grimm was created by David Greenwalt and writer Jim Kouf. The show also features Silas Weir Mitchell, who will be playing a reformed big bad wolf. The show also co-stars Russell Hornsby and Bitsie Tulloch.

6. Locke & Key (Fox)

Locke & Key is a graphic novel Fox picked up the rights to adapt for the small screen instead of the movie that it was originally planned for. While the concept might have been better suited for a big screen adaption, the series is also being co-produced by Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci. Steven Spielberg is also attached to this project as a producer/developer — what role he will play in the long run is yet to be seen. Spielberg is currently working on Terra Nova for Fox as well, which was recently pushed back to a Fall 2011 release. Here is a brief description of what Locke & Key will entail:

Locke & Key tells the story of Nina Locke and her three children, Tyler, Kinsey, and Bode, who survive an unspeakable horror and attempt to rebuild their lives at Keyhouse, their family home in Lovecraft, Massachusetts. It is a mysterious New England mansion, with fantastic and transformative keys hidden inside its walls that are also being sought by a hate-filled and relentless creature with ties to the Locke family’s past who will stop at nothing to accomplish his sinister goals.

Locke & Key stars Miranda Otto, Sarah Bolger, Skylar Gaertner, and singer turned actor Jesse McCartney.

7. Wonder Woman (NBC)

Another attempted superhero drama for NBC? After the cancellation of the short lived series The Cape, one would think they’d try to stay far away from superheros for a while. At least with Wonder Woman we are given a legitimate hero who already has years and years of mythos to draw from. This new take on Wonder Woman is said to be:

A reinvention of the iconic D.C. comic in which Wonder Woman — aka Diana Prince — is a vigilante crime fighter in L.A. but also a successful corporate executive and a modern woman trying to balance all of the elements of her extraordinary life.

Wonder Woman will star Adrianne Palicki as the Amazing Amazon herself and also feature Cary Elwes, Elizabeth Hurley, and Pedro Pascal. Watch for Wonder Woman sometime this year on NBC.

8. Pan Am (ABC)

Pan Am is another series set in the 1960′s, but instead of Playboy bunnies the show centers on pilots and flight attendants at the once dominant airline. This ABC late night soap drama is being directed by Thomas Schlamme and written/executive produced by Jack Orman. Like Playboy, Pan Am is hoping to take on that realistic period piece mantel of shows like Mad Men and Boardwalk Empire.

Pan Am is set to star Christina Ricci as the lead, as well as Kelli Garner, Jonah Lotan, and Michael Mosley.

This pilot season seems to be shaping up as a Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Period Piece season, but like I said, these are just a few of the more talked about pilots currently being made. Some I look forward to more than others, but as an avid fan of television programs, I see good things for many of the shows on the list. I’ll continue to keep an eye out, and you updated, with more news on all these pilots and others as the news breaks.

What do you think? Which do you think have the potential to make it into a full season production?