A busy day on the pilot-casting front has landed a number of well-known actors, including Chi McBride, Ving Rhames and Samaire Armstrong, in ABC drama projects.

McBride, coming off "The Nine" at ABC, will star with Lee Pace in the offbeat drama "Pushing Daisies," according to The Hollywood Reporter. Rhames has joined the cast of "Football Wives," and Armstrong ("The O.C.," "Entourage") and Zoe McLellan will get some "Dirty Sexy Money."

The CW, meanwhile, has cast Ryan Devlin, Hank Harris and Ryan Merriman in two of its drama pilots.

"Pushing Daisies" follows a guy (Pace) whose touch can revive the dead. McBride, whose TV resume includes "Boston Public" and "Killer Instinct," will play a private eye who partners up with Pace's character.

Rhames ("Pulp Fiction," "Mission: Impossible III") will play the general manager of the team at the center of "Football Wives," an Americanized version of the British show "Footballers Wives." He starred in The CW's "Mercy Reef"/Aquaman pilot last year and played the title role in USA's "Kojak" remake.

In "Dirty Sexy Money," a drama about a wealthy New York family and their harried lawyer (Peter Krause), Armstrong will play a wild-child heiress. In addition to her recurring part on "The O.C.," Armstrong has appeared on "Entourage" and in the film "Just My Luck." McLellan ("JAG") will play Krause's wife.

Also at ABC, Bailee Madison ("Bridge to Terabithia") has joined the cast of "Judy's Got a Gun."

At The CW, Devlin ("Veronica Mars") and Harris ("Popular") will star in an untitled pilot from writer Tom Wheeler ("Empire") about a pair of smart-aleck grad students who solve crimes. Merriman ("Taken," "The Pretender") has been cast in "Gravity," about rookie cops in Los Angeles.