You can just smell TV pilot season swirling in the air, and a couple of well-known sci-fi dignitaries—Sarah Connor producer Josh Friedman and Doctor Who's David Tennant—have jumped into the mix with hopes of exploring new frontiers and, no doubt, gaining employment.

Remember those incredibly loud, sexy, silly Charlie's Angel movies that were also huge hits? Well, Drew Barrymore, who starred in and produced the films, is back at it, with her eye on a television remake. Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles producer Josh Friedman, has signed on to write and executive-produce, with Barrymore and Leonard Goldberg also producing. They are very close to getting a pilot deal with ABC, according to Variety.

Josh Friedman

There have been two prior television attempts to bring the Kelly Garrett, Jill Munroe and Sabrina Duncan adventure back together, but they've failed to take flight. Creator Aaron Spelling tried to remake the series first, with Angels 88, and then, in 2004, Lost executive producer Carlton Cuse wrote a pre-Lost script that never made it to pilot.

This time things are looking brighter for the updated Angels, which will be geared for today's audience while still winking at the past. If you look back in our rear-view mirror at the sad remakes Knight Rider and Bionic Woman, you've got to wonder if ABC is fearless or just in need of ideas. Still, we're glad to see the talented Friedman working at something involving kick-ass women, even if it isn't Sarah Connor.

And speaking of a character we'll miss, Doctor Who's Tennant has officially moved on from his BBC series, even though we haven't seen his final work as the Doctor yet. Tennant has moved across the pond to NBC to play the lead in the pilot Rex Is Not Your Lawyer, a non-sci-fi hourlong comedy about a lawyer who suffers panic attacks, which forces him to give up lawyering. Instead he begins coaching his clients to represent themselves in court.

The wonderful Jeffrey Tambor has been cast as Rex's psychiatrist, who knows more than a little something about anxiety disorders because he has them. He's also dating Rex's mother, which is likely to make Rex even more anxiety-ridden. And Abigail Spencer (Mad Men) will play an ambitious lawyer at Rex's firm, who also happens to be his fiancée.

David Semel directs from a script by Andrew Leeds and David Lampson. Apparently the role was destined to be Tennant's. NBC green-lighted the project during the summer, and then had been having trouble finding a lead until they grabbed up our favorite Doctor.

Unfortunately, that means people who are absolutely certain that Tennant's popular incarnation of the Time Lord will somehow manage to avoid regenerating into Matt Smith will be disappointed. Smith is set to take over for Tennant after his final appearance in the upcoming Doctor Who two-parter The End of Time.

Are you ready for Friedman and Tennant to move on? And are you ready for talk of television pilots for fall 2010?