That's not entirely unwelcome in the business, particularly when the economy is bad. Pilots can cost millions of dollars to produce, and the shows may never make it on the air. Even the shows that do make it on the air are much more likely to fail than succeed.

It doesn't take an MBA to identify this as an area to save money.

This could be a wave of the future — unless, of course, the series developed without pilots fail miserably. Then there would be pressure to go back to the old way.

Pinched development also gives a real advantage to ideas and creators with proven track records, said Jeffrey Stepakoff, author of "Billion Dollar Kiss: The Kiss That Saved Dawson's Creek and Other Adventures in TV Writing."

Familiar names like Joss Whedon ("Dollhouse" on Fox), Brian Grazer ("Lie to Me" on Fox), Jerry Bruckheimer ("Eleventh Hour" on CBS) and David E. Kelley ("Life on Mars" on ABC) have projects with good chances of making it on the air next season.

Networks are also pursuing an unusually large number of adaptations of series that have succeeded overseas, Adgate said. "Life on Mars," with Kelley remaking a BBC series, hits both buttons.

"It's not smart to develop by throwing darts on a wall," said Stepakoff, who's written for several prime-time series over the past decade. "Similarly, it's not good to develop with just A-list writers. Some of the greatest television in history, even in the modern age, came from totally unexpected sources."

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