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[02/25/13 - 11:56 PM]
Development Update: Monday, February 25
By The Futon Critic Staff (TFC)

LOS ANGELES (thefutoncritic.com) -- The latest development news, culled from recent wire reports:

Looking to keep track of all the various projects in development? Click here to visit our signature "Devwatch" section. There visitors can view our listings by network, genre, studio and even development stage (ordered to pilot, cast-contingent, script, etc.). It's updated every day!


ABOUT A BOY (NBC) - Anjelah N. Johnson has boarded the comedy pilot, based on Nick Hornby's book-turned-film of the same name about the relationship between Will (David Walton), a bachelor man-child and Marcus (yet to be cast), the young boy who moves in next-door with his kooky single mother (Minnie Driver). She'll play Laurie, a public relations executive "with the edge of a thousand moms" who's married to Andy, Will's best friend (also yet to be cast). Universal Television is behind the single-camera project, from writer Jason Katims and director Jon Favreau. (Deadline.com)


ALPHA HOUSE (Amazon) - Clark Johnson and Alicia Sable have both landed roles on the comedy pilot, which follows four senators (John Goodman, Matt Malloy, Mark Consuelos and Johnson) who live together in a rented house in Washington, D.C. He'll round out said quartet as Pennsylvania Senator Robert Bettencourt, "a power player who came from nothing, went to an elite college and watched carefully to learn the game of big-city politics." Sable then is set as Tammy Stackhouse, the chief to Goodman's Gil John Biggs. Garry Trudeau is behind the project, which is being produced by Amazon Studios. (Deadline.com)


BEVERLY HILLS COP (CBS) - Christine Lahti ("Hawaii Five-0") will round out the cast of the drama pilot, which continues the film franchise with Axel Foley's (Eddie Murphy) son Aaron (Brandon T. Jackson) following in his father's footsteps, taking down the criminal elements of the rich and famous in Beverly Hills. She'll play Helen Chernick ("an iron fist in a velvet glove; wise, political, maternal, nostalgic, selfless"), the Captain of the Beverly Hills Police Department. Writer Shawn Ryan and director Barry Sonnenfeld are behind the Sony Pictures Television-based hour, which also stars David Denman, Kevin Pollak and Sheila Vand. (Deadline.com)


CAMP (NBC) - Australian actors Tom Green, Tim Pocock and Rachel Griffiths have all been cast in the upcoming drama, about Little Hawk Family Camp, where parents decompress with gin while teenagers make gleeful mischief and fall in and out of love. She'll play Mackenzie Greenfield ("fit, pretty, and relentlessly positive"), the camp's director; while Green is set as Kip Wampler, who's billed as an "adorable loner, lover of coffee, indie music, and documentary films, hater of people." Pocock then is set as Robbie Eisenberg ("a high-achiever, boy next-door cute"), the head of activities. Liz Heldens and Peter Elkoff are behind the hour, which is being produced by BermanBraun and Matchbox Pictures. (Deadline.com)


CRAZY ONES, THE (CBS) - Hamish Linklater ("The New Adventures of Old Christine") is the latest addition to the single-camera comedy pilot, about the brilliant - but slightly out of his mind - head of an advertising agency (Robin Williams) and his daughter/creative director (Sarah Michelle Gellar) who's tasked with keeping him in check. He'll play Andrew Kennedy, the company's neurotic, nebbishy art director. James Wolk also stars in the 20th Century Fox Television-based half-hour, from director Jason Winer and writer David E. Kelley. (Deadline.com)


DELIRIUM (FOX) - Daren Kagasoff ("The Secret Life of the American Teenager") has booked the male lead on the drama pilot, which is based on Lauren Oliver's book trilogy about a world where love - a.k.a. deliria - is deemed illegal and eradicated with a special procedure upon one's 18th birthday. He'll play Alex ("attractive in a subversive way; a sense of humor lurks behind a stern facade"), one of the "Regulators" - the police force in charge of tracking those down who resist said efforts - who finds himself intensely attracted to Lena (Emma Roberts), a quintessential good girl about to undergo the procedure. Billy Campbell, Corey Reynolds and Gregg Sulkin also star in the hour, from 20th Century Fox Television and writer Karyn Usher. (Deadline.com)


DOUBT (ABC) - Greg Grunberg ("The Client List") has been cast in the drama pilot, about Vincent J. Calzonetti, a cunning but charming ex-cop who's now a low-rent lawyer that uses his street smarts to work the system for his clients while battling his own demons. He'll play Vince's brother Mark Calzonetti, who's developmentally disabled as a result of a childhood accident. Writer David Shore and director Thomas Schlamme also star in the Sony Pictures Television-based hour, which also stars Rockmond Dunbar. (Deadline.com)


GOTHICA (ABC) - Janet Montgomery ("Made in Jersey") has been tapped for the lead role on the drama pilot, about Grace Van Helsing, a woman who discovers the likes of everyone from Victor Frankenstein (Tom Ellis) to Dorian Gray (Chris Egan) exist in modern-day San Francisco while searching for her own identity. She'll play said woman ("beautiful but with an edge, in looks, style, personality") in the ABC Studios-based hour, from director Anand Tucker and writer Matt Lopez. Raza Jaffrey also stars. (Deadline.com)


HAPPINESS (NBC) - Newcomer Samantha Isler has joined the cast of the multi-camera comedy pilot, about a man (Sean Hayes) who must figure out how to become a full-time dad to his teenage daughter as well as navigate his temperamental new boss (Thomas Lennon) at work. She'll play said daughter Ellie ("cool, calm, and quick-witted"), who sees her primary role as teaching him how to parent her. James Burrows is helming the Universal Television-based project form a script by Victor Fresco. (Deadline.com)


HATFIELDS & MCCOYS, THE (NBC) - Patrick Flueger ("The 4400") has scored a role on the drama pilot, in which a startling death re-ignites the feud between the legendary families in present day Pittsburgh. He'll play Jack, one of the McCoy boys, who's shrewd, tough, more street than his brother Patrick (Jesse Lee Soffer). Virginia Madsen also stars in the ABC Studios-based hour, from director Michael Mayer and writer John Glenn. (THR.com)


HOSTAGES (CBS) - Billy Brown ("The Following") is the latest to board the drama pilot, about Ellen Sanders (Toni Collette), a successful surgeon who is selected to operate on the President, only to be told she must kill him after her family is taken hostage. He's been cast as Archer Petit ("wiry and quick-tempered"), one of the kidnappers. Dylan McDermott, Mateus Ward, Quinn Shephard, Rhys Coiro, Sandrine Holt and Tate Donovan also star in the Warner Bros. Television-based hour, from writer/director Jeffrey Nachmanoff. (Deadline.com)


HR (LIFETIME) - Alicia Silverstone ("Suburgatory") has been tapped for the lead role in the long-in-the-works drama pilot, about Ellen Bell, the uptight Director of Human Resources for a global company who - after a head injury - throws standard corporate practices out the window and inspires the business to strive for new ambitions and profits. Glenn Porter penned the hour and serves as a co-executive producer alongside Michael Lohmann for Aaron Kaplan's Kapital Entertainment. (Deadline.com)


IRONSIDE (NBC) - Brent Sexton ("The Killing") has joined the cast of Michael Caleo's reboot of the 1967-1975 series, about a San Francisco police detective (Blair Underwood) who's forced to find new ways of fighting crime after being paralyzed by a gunshot. He'll play Gary Stanton, Ironside's ex-partner who blames himself for the shooting and struggles to move on with his life. Universal Television is producing. (Deadline.com)


KEEP CALM AND KAREY ON (ABC) - Majandra Delfino and Jane Seymour have both snagged roles on the comedy pilot, about Karey (yet to be cast), the clean-nosed black sheep in a family of petty thieves, drug addicts and narcissists who decides to raise her prison-bound brother's kids along with her adopted black son and give them the normal lives they deserve. She'll play Karey's Lena Dunham-esque sister Penny, an aspiring singer, with Seymour as their Joanna Lumley-esque, self-centered mother Dotty. Andrea Abbate is behind the single-camera project, which Gail Mancuso is directing for 20th Century Fox Television. (Deadline.com)


ONION PRESENTS, THE: THE NEWS (Amazon) - Chris Masterson ("Malcolm in the Middle") has snagged a role on the comedy pilot, set behind the scenes of The Onion News Network that shows just how far journalists will go to stay at the top of their game. He'll play rookie reporter Scott West, "who joins the team full of hope and idealism but quickly learns from the demented ONN ensemble that the world of network news is more about selling soda and sunscreen and kidnapping cute white girls to get ratings, than uncovering actual news." Aja Naomi King, Cheyenne Jackson and Jeffrey Tambor also star in the half-hour, from director Todd Strauss-Schulson and co-writers Dan Mirk and Will Graham. (Deadline.com)


ORDAINED, THE (CBS) - Jorge Garcia ("Once Upon a Time") has been cast in the drama pilot, about Tom Reilly (Charlie Cox), the son of a Kennedy-esque family who leaves the priesthood and becomes a lawyer to prevent his politician sister from being assassinated. He's set as Carlos (looks "like a guy who works with his hands - and not typing depositions"), the staff investigator for Tom's firm. Nestor Serrano also stars in the CBS Television Studios-based hour, which R.J. Cutler is directing from a script by Lisa Takeuchi Cullen. (Deadline.com)


OXYGEN (The CW) - Grey Damon ("The Secret Circle") has been cast in the pilot, a sci-fi drama about a high school pilot program in which humans and a select group of aliens are desegregated. He'll play Grayson ("chiseled and crush-worthy"), a jock who lost his brother during the Orion Invasion. Aimee Teegarden, Malese Jow and Titus Makin Jr. also star in the CBS Television Studios-based hour, from director Gary Fleder and writer Meredith Averill. (Deadline.com)


RETURNED, THE (ABC) - Devin Kelley ("The Chicago Code") has booked a role on the pilot, a drama about a worldwide event in which loved ones return from the dead exactly as they last were in life. She'll play Gail Garland ("tough, attractive, smart with an inquistive nature"), a small town physician whose latest patient appears to be an eight-year-old boy who died 30 years ago. Matt Craven also stars in the ABC Studios-based hour, based on Jason Mott's book of the same name. Charles McDougall is directing from a script by Aaron Zelman. (Deadline.com)


SIXTH GUN, THE (NBC) - Laura Ramsey, W. Earl Brown, Graham McTavish and Aldis Hodge have all been cast in the drama pilot, about six pistols of otherworldly power in the Old West, the most dangerous of which falls into the hands of an innocent girl named Becky Montcrief who - alongside shadowy gunfighter Drake Sinclair - must battle vile men thought long dead that have set their sights on retrieving the gun. Ramsey is on board as the aforementioned Becky while Brown will play Oliander Bedford Hume ("speaks with the affectation of a Southern gentleman"), a seemingly immortal Confederate War General obsessed with acquiring the sixth - and most powerful - of the guns. McTavish then is set as his loyal lieutenant, Silas Hedgepeth ("tall and narrow," looks like an undertaker"); with Hodge as Mercer, a Special Agent with the Pinkerton Detective Agency searching for the aforementioned gunfighter, Drake Sinclair (yet to be cast). Ryan Condal penned the Universal Television-based hour, to be directed by Jeffrey Reiner and executive produced by Carlton Cuse. (Deadline.com)


SPY (ABC) - Comedian Moshe Kasher has landed a role on the single-camera comedy pilot, based on Simeon Goulden's U.K. series about Tim (Rob Corddry), a hapless single father who tries to impress his precocious 10-year-old son Marcus (Mason Cook) by joining the CIA. He'll play Tim's best friend Chris, who openly dislikes Marcus. Ken Jeong and Paget Brewster also star in the ABC Studios-based half-hour, to be directed by Alex Hardcastle. (Deadline.com)


SURGEON GENERAL, THE (CBS) - Katherine McNamara ("New Year's Eve") has joined the cast of the Jason Isaacs-led drama, about a fictional Surgeon General of the United States and the Public Health Service Commissioned Corps. She'll presumably play one of his daughters: either Juliet ("a uniformed Annapolis Cadet, the dutiful firstborn") or Lily ("plucky, a free spirit"). CBS Television Studios is behind the hour, which Rod Lurie is directing from a script by Samuel Baum. (Deadline.com)


TURN (AMC) - Jamie Bell ("Jumper") has snagged the lead role on the period drama pilot, about New York farmer Abe Woodhull, who bands together with a group of childhood friends to form The Culper Ring, an unlikely group of spies who turn the tide in America's fight for independence. He'll play said fellow, who is pressed into spying for the Patriot cause after trying to sell his cabbage crop on the black market. Burn Gorman, Daniel Henshall, Meegan Warner and Seth Numrich also star in the hour which is based on the book "Washington's Spies" by Alexander Rose. Rupert Wyatt is directing from a script by Craig Silverstein. (Deadline.com)


TWO WRONGS (FOX) - Kelli Garner ("Pan Am") has snagged a lead role on the comedy pilot, about a couple whose friends and family don't think they are right for each other. She'll play the "lovely and luminous" Jenny Tuscadero, one half of the aforementioned couple, who's planning to get married to Nick Meyer (yet to be cast), the same guy she left at the altar eight years ago. Michelle Morgan penned the single-camera project, which is set up at 20th Century Fox Television. (Deadline.com)


UNAUTHORIZED GREG GARCIA PILOT, THE (CBS) - J.B. Smoove ("Curb Your Enthusiasm") has snagged a role on the multi-camera comedy pilot, about Jack, a recently divorced TV reporter whose life is complicated when his parents (Margo Martindale, TBA) decide to move in with him. He's set as Deweyne Thompson, his good friend/cameraman who's looking to get him back in the dating game. James Burrows is helming the CBS Television Studios-based half-hour from a script by Greg Garcia. (Deadline.com)


UNTITLED CRAIG ROBINSON PROJECT (NBC) - Larenz Tate ("House of Lies") has boarded the comedy pilot, about an impulsive, good-hearted musician (Craig Robinson) who adjusts to his new life as a music teacher in a big-city middle school. He'll play Craig's slick brother and the guitar player in their funk band, the Filthy Gentlemen. Amanda Lund also stars in the project, which Owen Ellickson penned for Greg Daniels's Universal Television-based Deedle-Dee Productions. (Deadline.com)


UNTITLED GOOR & SCHUR PROJECT (FOX) - Joe Lo Truglio ("Free Agents") will round out the cast of the comedy pilot, about a diverse group of detectives in New York's 191st Precinct. He's on board as Charles ("looks like he has bad allergies"), one of said group, alongside Andre Braugher, Andy Samberg, Melissa Fumero, Stephanie Beatriz and Terry Crews. Chris Miller and Phil Lord are helming the Universal Television-based project from a script by Dan Goor and Michael Schur. (Deadline.com)


UNTITLED RAND RAVICH PROJECT (NBC) - Gillian Anderson ("The X-Files"), Rachael Taylor ("666 Park Avenue") and Stevie Lynn Jones have all boarded the drama pilot, about Marcus Finley (yet to be cast), "an idealistic Secret Service agent who finds himself at the epicenter of an international crisis on his first day on the job as the President's son's protection when the son, along with several of his schoolmates, are kidnapped." Taylor will play Susie Dunn, the FBI agent in charge of the investigation; with Anderson as her estranged sister Meg Fitch, the dynamic CEO of a multi-conglomerate, whose daughter was one of the abductees; and Jones as Beth Ann Gibson ("a tough girl"), one of said students. Far Shariat and Rand Ravich are behind the hour, which is set up at 20th Century Fox Television. (Deadline.com)


UNTITLED ROBERT PADNICK PROJECT (NBC) - Adhir Kalyan ("Rules of Engagement") is likewise the first to be cast in the comedy pilot, about four hopeful city-dwellers as they step through the endless mine field of their romantic entanglements. He'll play one of said quartet, Arthur, "an incurable romantic, self-styled Renaissance man, wears vests without irony," a role which is in second position to the CBS comedy. Robert Padnick penned the single-camera project for Greg Daniels's Universal Television-based Deedle Dee Productions (Deadline.com)


AND IN OTHER NEWS... - Misha Collins will be once again upped to series regular on the recently ordered ninth season of "Supernatural" (@MishaCollins); the Goo Goo Dolls will perform on the May 6 episode of "90210" while Prince Michael Jackson will make his acting debut in the season finale (EW.com, THR.com); Jamey Sheridan has been cast as Timothy McGee's father, Admiral John McGee, on "NCIS" (TVLine.com); Alan Ritchson will drop by "Hawaii Five-0" as a Navy SEAL who came up with McGarrett (Zap2It.com); and Shaquille O'Neal will make an appearance on "Southland" as a police officer who knows Cooper (Michael Cudlitz) from the academy (AccessHollywood.com).






  [march 2024]  
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· 4400, THE (USA)
· 90210 (CW)
· ABOUT A BOY (NBC)
· ADOPTED (ABC)
· ADOPTED (ABC)
· ALPHA HOUSE (AMAZON)
· BEVERLY HILLS COP (CBS)
· BROOKLYN NINE-NINE (NBC)
· CAMP (NBC)
· CHICAGO CODE, THE (FOX)
· CLIENT LIST, THE (LIFETIME)
· CRAZY ONES, THE (CBS)
· CRISIS (NBC)
· CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM (HBO)
· DELIRIUM (FOX)
· DEVELOPMENT UPDATE (TFC)
· DOUBT (ABC)
· FOLLOWING, THE (FOX)
· FREE AGENTS (NBC)
· GOTHICA (ABC)
· HATFIELDS & MCCOYS, THE (NBC)
· HAWAII FIVE-0 (CBS)
· HOSTAGES (CBS)
· HOUSE OF LIES (SHOWTIME)
· HR (LIFETIME)
· IRONSIDE (NBC)
· KILLING, THE (NETFLIX)
· MADE IN JERSEY (CBS)
· MALCOLM IN THE MIDDLE (FOX)
· MILLERS, THE (CBS)
· MR ROBINSON (NBC)
· NCIS (CBS)
· NEW ADVENTURES OF OLD CHRISTINE, THE (CBS)
· ONCE UPON A TIME (ABC)
· ONION NEWS EMPIRE (AMAZON)
· ORDAINED, THE (CBS)
· PAN AM (ABC)
· RESURRECTION (ABC)
· RULES OF ENGAGEMENT (CBS)
· SEAN SAVES THE WORLD (NBC)
· SECRET CIRCLE, THE (CW)
· SECRET LIFE OF THE AMERICAN TEENAGER, THE (ABC FAMILY)
· SIXTH GUN, THE (NBC)
· SOUTHLAND (TNT)
· SPY (ABC)
· STAR-CROSSED (CW)
· SUBURGATORY (ABC)
· SUPERNATURAL (CW)
· SURGEON GENERAL, THE (CBS)
· TURN: WASHINGTON'S SPIES (AMC)
· TWO WRONGS (FOX)
· UNTITLED ROBERT PADNICK PROJECT (NBC)
· X-FILES, THE (FOX)





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