'Friday Night Lights' star is bullish on ABC's 'Matadors' pilot

Zach Gilford and Jason Ritter among those landing pilot roles

By HitFix Staff Monday, Feb 8, 2010 1:26 PM

Zach Gilford of 'Friday Night Lights'

Credit: NBC

"Friday Night Lights" veteran Zach Gilford leads a round of TV pilot buzz that includes a slew of familiar faces looking for work in new places.

Also landing pilot gigs are Jason Ritter ("The Class"), Todd Williams ("In Plain Sight") and Aisha Hinds ("True Blood").

Gilford, quarterback Matt Saracen on NBC's "Friday Night Lights," will take one of the leads in ABC's legal drama "Matadors," about a pair of feuding families on different sides of the Chicago legal world. Most recently spotted on the big screen (by two or three people) in "Post Grad," Gilford will play a third-generation defense attorney.

Also at ABC, Hinds is set to play what The Hollywood Reporter describes as "an overworked and underpaid lieutenant" in the police pilot "187 Detroit," about a documentary crew following a homicide division.

Ritter will play the lead role in NBC's drama "The Event," which the trade only says focuses on a regular guy trying to unravel a larger conspiracy, told from multiple points of view.

Over on FOX, Williams will play a police officer in "Ridealong," a 20th Century Fox TV production about a tough Chicago cop out to clean up corruption in The Loop."