TNT's "Heartland," a Pittsburgh-set drama pilot about a transplant surgeon played by Treat Williams ("Everwood"), has been given a green light for series production. The show was created by Pittsburgh native David Hollander, executive producer of CBS's 2001-2004 Pittsburgh-set drama "The Guardian." "Heartland" is expected to premiere next summer, airing at 10 p.m. Monday after the TNT hit "The Closer."

TNT canceled the paramedic drama "Saved."

Produced by Warner Horizon, a new division of Warner Bros. that makes lower budget cable series, the "Heartland" pilot was written, directed and executive produced by Hollander. It was shot in Los Angeles, where the series will also be filmed. Hollander said the pilot uses exterior establishing shots of Pittsburgh just as "The Guardian" did, but trips back to Pittsburgh with the cast, as "The Guardian" routinely made, are unlikely.

"That's pretty much impossible," Hollander said by phone from Los Angeles yesterday. "My budget is so small. I may come by myself and shoot some exteriors as I've done in the past."

Production on the series is expected to begin in March with between 10 and 13 episodes in the show's first season.

Set at the fictional St. Jude's Regional Transplant Center, "Heartland" centers on Williams' lung and heart transplant surgeon and his ex-wife (Kari Matchett, "Invasion"), who is the regional coordinator for an organ recovery center.

"The pilot examines their relationship as much as it examines the world of transplant surgery," Hollander said. "The thesis of the show for me was to look at bringing people together and coming apart and coming together again. We'll look at it through an emotional, familial, romantic lens."

Other regular characters include a head ICU nurse (Danielle Nicolet, "Second Time Around"), a surgical nurse (Morena Baccarin, "Firefly") and another transplant surgeon (Chris Martin, "Stone Undercover").

"Guardian" star Dabney Coleman has a role in the "Heartland" pilot as Williams' boss. Coleman may or may not appear in subsequent episodes.

"To me there are amazing ways to tell stories that have to do with donors and recipients," Hollander said. "I love being able to tell stories that cross over an entire community. Not unlike 'The Guardian,' transplant stories touch, potentially, every socio-economic place everywhere in the city."

According to The Hollywood Reporter, TNT has also ordered "Grace," a drama starring Holly Hunter as a dispirited Oklahoma City police detective "who is visited by an irascible angel and offered an opportunity to redeem her life."