USA Networks has order a pilot and five episodes of a new sci-fi series entitled THE 4,400, reported VARIETY. The new program will follow the events that occur when 4,400 people abducted by aliens are returned to Earth. The project will be exec produced by Francis Ford Coppola, Rene Echevarria (DARK ANGEL) and Maira Suro (PLATINUM). Scott Peters (THE OUTER LIMITS) will be writing and producing the hour-long series with Viacom Prods. and Renegade 83 as the production firms.

The series is described as more of a classic sci-fi tale, using a supernatural event to set up dramatic situations. The un-aged abductees remember nothing of their capture and have been gone for varying amounts of time. One premise has a mother gone for 15 years finding her husband has remarried and her daughter is now the same age as her. The pilot will start filming in February with the series debuting in summer 2004.