Aussies Draw Short Straw In US Upfront Week

Upfront Week, the US TV industry's annual parade of its autumn line-up, the newborn shows that fill it, and the condemned series that they bested for survival, has come to a close for another year. The 2014-2015 viewing landscape is looking ever so slightly different now than it did over the past 12 months, while retaining that warm, comforting familiarity that so effortlessly calls us away from our loved ones and responsibilities to inanimately frolic for hours with our casts of choice.

Surprisingly, despite (or maybe because of) America's recent infatuation with Australian actors and properties, it was a relatively sedate year for Aussie representation on the international small screen. J. Edgar's Damon Herriman will feature in Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan's Battle Creek for CBS – leaving uncertain the fate of his Justified character Dewey – while award-winning actress Jacki Weaver will join the US adaptation of Broadchurch alongside Anna Gunn.

NBC has greenlit an adaptation of Christos Tsolkias' The Slap, and Never Tear Us Apart's Mallory Jansen is set to do us proud in ABC's much-hyped musical comedy fairytale Galavant alongside Sean Pertwee, the son of Doctor Who's Third Doctor, Jon Pertwee, and Psych's outstanding Timothy Omundson.

Meanwhile, Jim Jefferies' FXX comedy Legit joined Rebel Wilson's NBC show Super Fun Night and the axed adaptation of Rake in the networks' trash pile, while the US adaptation of ABC2's The Strange Calls didn't even make it out of the gate.

However, failed Australian drama Secrets & Lies is set to find new life on ABC starring Ryan Phillipe and Juliette Lewis, who will also star in Fox midseason replacement Wayward Pines next year.

The Brits, however, have done well for themselves this year, with the majority of Galavant's cast being sourced from (and the show itself shot in) merry old England, while Hayley Atwell's plucky Agent Carter finally gets the break she deserves – her eponymous show powered past its webisode roots to be picked up by ABC.

Executives showed some rare flashes of wisdom in the choices they made with shows not going ahead this year, the maligned How I Met Your Dad and Supernatural spin-off Bloodlines both mercifully failing to be brought to series by their respective networks. And there's dual good news for fans of Veronica Mars – creator Rob Thomas has had his adaptation of comic-book series iZombie greenlit to series, while the eagerly awaited VM digital spin-off Play It Again, Dick, is also moving forward. As well, brightly coloured live-audience sitcom Mulaney - from SNL writer and stand-up John Mulaney - had its episode order extended from six to 16 off the back of its pitch as "Seinfeld for a new generation".

However, their judgment was far from perfect – the Karen Gillan and John Cho vehicle Selfie – the tale of “Instafamous” Eliza Dooley (oh, yeah, it's a reimagining of My Fair Lady) hashtag something something – somehow made it beyond pilot status and will no doubt annoy millions of people with its obnoxiousness, just like real people who take gratuitous amounts of selfies everywhere they go.