When the Fall TV season launches, every network jostles to have its pilots seen by audiences and hopefully hook them into the action. Last year saw the first time the networks used the Internet as a platform for trying to reach an audience with various shows making their pilots available to watch or download online not just after their premiere, but in one or two cases before.

Now in a move that one isn't sure whether to call clever ground roots promotion or a security leak, five of the Fall season's big pilots have landed online across various torrenting networks - "The Class", "Shark" and "Jericho" from CBS, and "The Nine" and "Traveler" from ABC. The shows in question are also said to be DVD quality full screen versions, indicating these are likely DVD preview screeners that have ended up online.

"The Class" is a new sitcom from "Friends" creator David Crane follows a group of twenty-somethings who were third-grade classmates and are reunited at a surprise party 20 years later.

"Shark" follows James Woods as a highly successful Los Angeles defense lawyer who ends up working for the district attorney's office where he teaches a bunch of new recruits his effective but ethically questionable methods to win at all costs.

"Jericho" follows the events in a small mid-west town after what seems like a major nuclear terrorist attack has wiped out the major US cities. Skeet Ulrich stars as a young man who has returned home to the town just before the crisis took place.

"The Nine" follows nine people who are all linked together by some unknown force, be it fate, destiny, or chance. They are caught together when a bank robbery goes wrong, which is followed by a 52 hour standoff. As the episodes progress, we learn about what happened during the robbery.

"Traveler" is a fast chase/action show about two young guys (Matthew Bomer & Logan Marshall Green) framed for a terrorist explosion of a New York museum by their friend and roommate of the past two years. As they try to avoid capture by the cops, they struggle to figure out why their friend would do this and what other powers are in play to frame them.

Sadly whilst they're not other high profile potentials like "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip", "Heroes", "30 Rock", "Vanished", "Six Degrees" or "Friday Night Lights", the five released are still amongst some of the more interesting (and anticipated) pilots from the networks.

Whether deliberate or not, the leak has gotten people talking about these pilots and in particular has been a boon for both "Shark", considered the strongest of those leaked, and "Traveler" which many didn't expect to get much promotion from home network ABC.