Looking beyond the espionage antics of Alias, producer J.J. Abrams is all at sea with his next project, Lost. Developed with Damon Lindelof, writer and co-producer on NBC’s forensic drama Crossing Jordan, and based on the previously pitched Aaron Spelling drama Nowhere which went nowhere, Lost follows the survivors of a plane crash forced to build a new society on a remote Pacific island.

Over at NBC, Mark Burnett, the executive producer of reality shows such as The Apprentice and Survivor has a script commitment for his own castaway drama Eden. Pitched as a limited 13 episode series that could evolve into a ongoing show, Eden centres on a group of youths from diverse backgrounds, brought together on a summer study cruise, who find themselves marooned after being shipwrecked during a storm.

Abrams' second new project for ABC, the bounty hunter drama The Catch starring Greg Grunberg who appears as CIA Agent Eric Weiss in Alias and a female bounty hunter lead still to be cast, is expected to be considered for midseason 2005 to allow Abrams to get Lost up and running.

The catch is, CBS are considering their own as yet untitled pilot focusing on bounty hunters. Written and produced by Terri Hughes and Ron Milbauer, Robert Forster, fresh from playing the retired Marshal Sisco in ABC's short-lived Karen Sisco, has been lined up to play a gruff and imposing bounty hunters whose two sons join the family business.