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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!
COOPER BARRETT'S GUIDE TO SURVIVING LIFE (FOX, New!) - Jay Lacopo has scored a pilot order from the network for a new single-camera comedy. 20th Century Fox Television is behind the half-hour with Gail Berman of The Jackal Group likewise serving as an executive producer. FOX's logline is as follows: "COOPER BARRETT'S GUIDE TO SURVIVING LIFE is a single camera comedy that celebrates the mistakes and misadventures we all make during the years after college, before settling down."
CORDON (The CW, New!) - Writer Julie Plec and director David Nutter are set to team for a new drama pilot at the netlet about "when a deadly epidemic breaks out in Atlanta, a large city quarantine is quickly enforced, leaving those stuck on the inside to fight for their lives. Loved ones are tragically torn apart, and the society that grows inside the cordon reveals both the devolution of humanity and the birth of unlikely heroes." Plec's Warner Bros. Television-based My So-Called Company is behind the hour, which is based on a Belgian series created by Carl Joos for Eyeworks. (Deadline.com)
DEAD PEOPLE (The CW, New!) - Tom Kapinos ("Californication") has landed a pilot commitment from the netlet for a new drama about "a down-on-his-luck, semi-alcoholic but roguishly charming cab driver. After a near-death experience, he suddenly has the ability to interact with ghosts, including his late ex-wife who he has never gotten over." Warner Bros. Television-based Bad Robot is behind the hour with the company's J.J. Abrams and Bryan Burk presumably executive producing alongside Aggressive Mediocrity's Kapinos. (Deadline.com)
FAMILY FORTUNE (A.K.A. UNTITLED FORTUNE FEIMSTER PROJECT) (ABC/Universal; W: Fortune Feimster & Matt Hubbard; D: TBA) - The Fortune Feimster-led comedy has received a pilot commitment from the Alphabet. The multi-camera project centers on "a popular gym teacher in North Carolina (Feimster) who comes out of the closet to her close-knit group of family and friends." Tina Fey and Robert Carlock also serve as executive producers for Universal Television, as will 3 Arts Entertainment's David Miner. (Deadline.com, 2/1/15)
MAMMA DALLAS (HBO; W/D: Mike White) - Augustus Prew (Kick-Ass 2) has been tapped for the lead role on the comedy pilot, which "follows a conservative family in Texas who unwittingly hire a hard-living drag queen, Liberty (Prew), as their live-in nanny. Liberty appears to be an attractive woman with a flirty side - but she's really a drag queen with an upbeat personality. On a path that leads to jail or prostitution or both, Liberty (also known as Albert) sees a future that will destroy his basically optimistic spirit and re-invents himself to get a job as a nanny to three children of a conservative, Texan family." Mike White wrote and will direct the half-hour as well as executive produce alongside Dede Gardner. (Deadline.com)
QUALITY TIME (TBS; W: Erik Stolhanske, Kevin Heffernan, Paul Soter & Steve Lemme; D: TBA) - Gillian Vigman, Alexie Gilmore and Jessica Meraz have joined the cast of the comedy pilot, about four college buddies who kept their sophomoric ways in suspended animation throughout their 20s and are now succumbing to reproduction. Vigman will play Kevin's (Kevin Heffernan) wife Samantha, "OBGYN and Chair of the Department at her hospital who is sensible, grounded, and endlessly patient"; with Gilmore as Paul's (Paul Soter) wife Lizzie, "a successful software/App developer"; and Meraz as Steve's (Steve Lemme) wife Nicole, "who is younger than the other wives by 10 years and wears the pants in running their Amusement Center business." Erik Stolhanske rounds out the cast as the Dutch, who "is recently divorced and re-entering the dating pool." (Deadline.com)
TALES FROM THE DARKSIDE (The CW/CBSP; W: Joe Hill; D: TBA) - Joe Hill's revival of George A. Romero's 1980s genre anthology series has been ordered to pilot at the netlet. Alex Kurtzman, Robert Orci, Heather Kadin, Mitch Galin and Jerry Golod will also serve as executive producers for the former's CBS Television Studios-based K.O. Paper Products banner. Originally conceived as a half-hour series, the project will now be piloted as an hour-long offering. (Deadline.com)
UNCLE BUCK (ABC/ABCS/Universal; W: Steven Cragg & Brian Bradley; D: TBA) - Steven Cragg and Brian Bradley's small screen take on the 1989 film - about "a childish man who learns how to be an adult by taking care of his brother's kids in a very childish way" - has likewise heading to pilot at the Alphabet. Will Packer of Will Packer Productions also serve as an executive producer, with Korin Huggins as a co-executive producer, for Universal Television and the newly added ABC Studios. (Deadline.com, 2/1/15)
UNTITLED JILL SOLOWAY PROJECT (MTV, New!) - Jill Soloway ("Transparent") has sold a new comedy to the cable channel about "two young girls who meet at summer camp and bond over their passion for second-wave feminism. During a wild night in the forest both girls are struck by lightning and their friendship, power and destiny is fatefully sealed. Now, 10 years later, they romp around town hell-bent on saving all of womankind (if only they could save themselves first)." Brillstein Entertainment Partners' Robin Schwartz will also executive produce the half-hour with Lyle Friedman and Ashley Skidmore ("Younger") serving as co-executive producers and potential co-stars. (Deadline.com)
AND IN OTHER NEWS... - Newcomer Billie Lourd is the latest addition to FOX's new anthology series "Scream Queens" (Deadline.com); Michael Offer has signed on to helm ABC's drama pilot "Runner," succeeding Peter Horton from its previous incarnation at FOX (Deadline.com); Niels Arden Oplev is set to direct and executive produce NBC's drama pilot "Game of Silence" (Deadline.com); James Cromwell will recur on "Halt & Catch Fire" as a "self made Texas millionaire and energy company CEO who is looking to expand his corporate reach" (Deadline.com); Sarah Carter has joined the cast of DirecTV's "Rogue" as Harper Deakins, "a mid-level DEA agent who doesn't always know when to shut up" (Deadline.com); Richard Gunn has scored a role on Netflix's "Hemlock Grove" as Aitor Quantic, "a mysterious stranger who comes to town" (Deadline.com);
The Weinstein Company has acquired TV rights to Nicholas Irving's "The Reaper: Autobiography of One of the Deadliest Special Ops Snipers" (Deadline.com); Sandra Bernhard has booked an arc on "2 Broke Girls" as "a chic, sharp, mercurial lesbian manager of a new restaurant who hires Max (Kat Dennings) to be a pastry chef and Caroline (Beth Behrs) to be the hostess" (THR.com); Garret Dillahunt will drop by "Brooklyn Nine-Nine" as an "ace detective who will become a potential love interest for Amy, bringing out Jake's jealous side" (THR.com); and Amanda Plummer is bound for "The Blacklist" as "a very unexpected, small, fringe person who has her own very, very dark impulses" (TVGuide.com).
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