Fox picks up heavy-sounding drama pilots from Antoine Fuqua and Up In The Air writer

According to Deadline, Fox has picked up two heavy-sounding drama pilots. The first is Controversy, an “investigative thriller” from Up In The Air co-writer Sheldon Turner that’s about a Junior Counsel working for a “prestigious Illinois university” who must try to hold back an “out-of-control scandal when a young co-ed accuses several star football players of sexual assault.” Presumably, the investigation angle comes from trying to determine whether or not the allegations are true, with football coaches and influential boosters facing off against “a university administration under siege.”

The second pilot is The Resident, which is based on an idea originally created by Antoine Fuqua. The project was in development at Showtime in August (under the awfully generic title The City), and it was being pitched as “The Shield, but for medical dramas.” Fuqua is an executive producer on this new incarnation of the show, and it sounds like the way they’re going to achieve that Shield comparison is by making The Resident as bleak and heartbreaking as possible.

Deadline says it’s about “an idealistic young doctor” who starts his first day by working under “a tough, brilliant senior resident who pulls the curtain back on all of the good and evil in modern day medicine.” That makes it sound a bit like a dramatic version of Scrubs, but instead of John C. McGinley occasionally peppering his insults at Zach Braff with genuine kindness, the older doctor will do what he can to shatter the young doctor’s spirit. It seems unlikely, but hopefully The Resident will still be just as fun as Scrubs was.