CBS has acquired the rights to Stephen King's short story The Things They Left Behind, handing out a put pilot order for the project. A put pilot order almost guarantees that the show will be picked up, since the network will have to pay a penalty if they do not air the first episode. The project was acquired in a competitive bidding situation, although it isn't clear what other networks were vying for the rights.

The Things They Left Behind was initially published in Stephen King's Transgressions: Volume Two collection, centering on a guilt-plagued 9/11 survivor who suddenly starts receiving items that belonged to his deceased co-workers at his house. He enlists the help of a neighbor to return all of these objects to their rightful families. The TV series will offer a different take, following two investigators who start taking care of unfinished business left behind by the deceased.

Seth Grahame-Smith wrote the pilot episode and he will executive produce with his KatzSmith partner David Katzenberg, alongside Greg Berlanti and Sara Schechter. The short story has already been adapted into two short films by Pablo Macho Maysonet IV and the filmmaking team of Guillaume Heulard and Stéphane Valette.

We reported earlier today that Greg Berlanti is also developing a Supergirl TV series, on top of producing The CW's Arrow and The Flash. Seth Grahame-Smith and David Katzenberg co-created the MTV series The Hard Times of RJ Berger, and they are also writing the big-screen sequel Beetlejuice 2.