NBC Picks Up John Wells-Produced Drama Pilot 'Bad Girls'

ER, Third Watch and Southland executive producer John Wells is back at NBC with a new drama. The network has handed out a pilot pickup to Bad Girls, written by Nancy Pimental and executive produced by Wells. The project, based on the long-running UK hit series of the same name, follows the ins-and-outs of a group of unlikely women in a federal prison: a scandalous female warden, her new protégé and a host of inmates — some mothers, some friends — who struggle with loyalties to people on the inside and the outside. Wells and Pimental are executive producing with John Wells Prods’ Andrew Stearn and original series’ producer Shed Media. The Warner Bros TV project reunites Wells with NBC topper Robert Greenblatt, who picked up another Wells-backed drama based on a British format while at Showtime, Shameless, on which Pimental serves as writer-producer. This marks Wells’ first pilot at NBC since the network’s previous regime abruptly canceled his cop drama Southland, which has since found a second life at TNT.