NBC’s surprising return to a traditional pilot season might give some TV insiders a sense of nostalgia. But despite the desire to turn back the clock to a more fruitful time in network TV history, this is not an exact replica of pilot seasons past.

The Peacock network has so far ordered six pilots in 2026 – five dramas and one comedy – with sources indicating more orders are on the way. Even with the six already on the slate, that is the most pilots NBC has commissioned since the days before COVID and double what they ordered in 2025.

But actors, don’t book that pilot season apartment at the Burbank Oakwood just yet. First, there is no indication that NBC or any of the other broadcast networks are going to totally abandon the year-round development model they have adopted in favor of a normal pilot season. Until the streaming revolution, the Big Four broadcasters would order, staff, cast and shoot in excess of 50 pilots over the course of several months leading into upfronts in May. That’s not coming back entirely, but NBC is keen on working within the usual pilot window going forward.

According to an NBC executive who spoke with Variety, the network wants to return more to the pilot season model. This is simply the first year in some time that outside factors – like COVID and the double strike of 2023 – have not impacted their ability to pick up pilots in the traditional timeframe.

“The process worked so well for a long time for a reason, and we are really still very enthusiastic about it,” the NBC exec said.

Nearly all of the pilots NBC has ordered this winter have a police procedural bent. That even includes NBC’s lone comedy pilot, an untitled PI single-cam from “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” alums Dan Goor and Luke Del Tredici.

NBC’s drama pilots include a reboot of “The Rockford Files;” “What the Dead Know,” about a death investigator that hails from Dick Wolf’s Wolf Entertainment; and “Puzzled,” about a star athlete who suffers a brain injury that makes him a wiz at solving crimes.

Even the one (slight) outlier — “Protection,” from writers Josh Safran & Jenna Bush Hager – follows a law enforcement family targeted by a mysterious assassin.

Case-of-the-week hours have been in high demand lately, as appetites for high-budget, heavily serialized fare has soured in the past couple of years. NBC’s current lineup is dominated by procedurals, including two “Law & Order” shows and the “One Chicago” dramas.

On the enduring power of procedurals, the NBC exec said, “You can dip in and watch something that has a really satisfying beginning, middle and end… and it’s very appealing. Or you could also watch five seasons in a row and never leave your couch and it’s very appealing.”

NBC is also not alone in picking up pilots under traditional pre-upfronts calendar. ABC has a spinoff of “The Rookie” in the works, starring Jay Ellis, as well as a comedy from Rachel Bloom. CBS has the comedies “Eternally Yours” from the “Ghosts” team and “Regency” from Tara Hernandez. (Fox is still avoiding pilot season as we knew it).

Like so many other aspects of the TV biz that were unfairly maligned in the streaming era, series pilots can be an invaluable tool for assessing the potential for a TV series. As everyone started chasing the Netflix model of “order first, figure out details later,” pilots largely fell by the wayside.

But now, even streamers are relying more on pilots. Hulu (and mostly John Landgraf’s FX team) have commissioned several pilots recently, while HBO Max is deep into the pilot game with the cop drama “American Blue” and the family drama “How To Survive Without Me” from Greg Berlanti, Bash Doran, and Robbie Rogers.

Then there’s Netflix, the streamer that helped blow up the network playbook as we knew it. Netflix has mostly avoided pilots in its development process. But it recently picked up the “A Different World” sequel series after ordering a pilot for it in early 2025. In TV, perhaps it’s not such a different world after all.