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[02/19/10 - 12:19 AM]
Development Update: Friday, February 19
By The Futon Critic Staff (TFC) |
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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!
BREAKOUT KINGS (FOX) - Peter Chernin and Katherine Pope have come aboard as executive producers on the project, a drama pilot about ex-fugitives who are recruited to work as U.S. Marshals. Laz Alonso is toplining the hour, which comes from director Gavin Hood and co-creators Matt Olmstead and Nick Santora. Chernin and Pope then will executive produce via their 20th Century Fox Television-based Chernin Entertainment.
THE CAPE (NBC) - Simon West ("Human Target") has signed on to helm the drama pilot, about a former cop who becomes a masked super hero. He'll work from a script by creator Tom Wheeler. Gail Berman and Lloyd Braun also serve as executive producers on the project via their Universal Media Studios-based BermanBraun banner.
CUTTHROAT (ABC) - Roselyn Sanchez ("Without a Trace") has scored the lead role on the drama pilot, about "an upscale Beverly Hills widow and soccer mom who runs an international drug cartel." She'll play said character, the "drop dead gorgeous" Nina Cabrera. In addition, Bronwen Hughes ("White Collar") has been tapped to helm the hour, which comes from co-creators Michele Fazekas and Tara Butters. 20th Century Fox Television is producing.
DEFENDERS (CBS) - Carol Mendelsohn ("CSI: Crime Scene Investigation") has joined the drama pilot, about two charismatic and fiery Las Vegas defense attorneys who go to the mat for their clients, as an executive producer. She'll presumably supervise co-creators Kevin Kennedy and Niels Mueller on the hour, which comes from CBS Television Studios. Harry and Joe Gantz also serve as executive producers alongside the trio.
EDGAR FLOATS (ABC) - Jace Alexander ("Royal Pains") is set to helm the drama pilot, about a police psychologist who becomes a bounty hunter. Rand Ravich penned the Warner Bros. Television-based hour, which he's executive producing alongside Far Shariat.
KINDREDS (NBC) - Bill D'Elia ("Boston Legal") will reteam with David E. Kelley on the drama pilot, about "a curmudgeonly ex-patent lawyer and his group of misfit associates as their lives come together to form an unconventional kind of law practice." He'll direct the Kelley-penned hour, which is set up at Warner Bros. Television.
MATADORS (ABC) - Yves Simoneau ("V") is on board to direct the drama pilot, which centers on two long-feuding families, one of which populates the Chicago District Attorney's office and the other in the city's most influential private law firm. Jack Orman penned the Sony Pictures Television-based hour, which stars David Strathairn, Jonathan Scarfe, Michelle Borth and Zach Gilford.
NIKITA (The CW) - Maggie Q ("Live Free or Die Hard") is in negotiations to topline the drama pilot, an update of Luc Besson's "La Femme Nikita" franchise. She'll play the title character, a spy who goes rogue. Said hour then tracks both Nikita and Alex, a troubled 19-year-old girl who's recruited to bring her in. Anne Parillaud, Bridget Fonda and Peta Wilson played Nikita in its previous incarnations. Craig Silverstein is behind the Warner Bros. Television-based hour, which Danny Cannon is attached to direct. McG and Peter Johnson also serve as executive producers.
THE ODDS (CBS) - Ian Biederman ("Shark") has joined the drama pilot as an executive producer. He'll supervise creator Jeff Wadlow and serve as showrunner should it move forward to series. Said hour, which stars Donald Faison and Sullivan Stapleton, revolves around cops in Las Vegas who are just as outrageous as the crimes they solve. In addition, Kenneth Fink ("Miami Medical") has signed on as the pilot's director, where he'll work from Wadlow's script.
OFF THE MAP (ABC) - Caroline Dhavernas ("Wonderfalls") has booked a lead role on the drama pilot, about three doctors, each anxious for a fresh start, who leave the comfort of the States to work at an isolated tropical clinic, where they face both exotic and unusual medical challenges as well as personal ones. She'll play one of them, Lily Brenner, "twenties, pretty, a bit of an underdog but fights against it... her outlook is positive, determined, but there's something haunted behind her eyes." Enrique Murciano and Martin Henderson co-star in the ABC Studios-based hour, which comes from creator Jenna Bans.
ROUGH JUSTICE (NBC) - Terry George ("Hotel Rwanda") is returning to the small screen as "The District" creator is set to helm the drama pilot, about an ex-Supreme Court justice who quits the court to start his own legal practice. John Eisendrath is behind the Universal Media Studios-based hour, which also comes from fellow executive producers Conan O'Brien, David Kissinger and Jeff Ross.
THE STRIP (NBC) - Carrie Wiita is the latest "Reno 911!" alum to score a role on the comedy pilot, about "a former child star turned Hooters-style bar owner on the outskirts of Las Vegas." She's believed to be playing Ashley, a "perky and cute-as-a-button" waitress at Bubba Jr's, said establishment. Also signing on is Andrea Savage ("Dog Bites Man") as Ashley's "kinda hot, in a trailer park way" roommate Jackie, who applies to work at the bar. Cedric Yarbrough, Dave Holmes, Natasha Leggero and co-creators Robert Ben Garant and Thomas Lennon also star in the half-hour, which is set up at Universal Media Studios.
UNTITLED MEDICAL PROJECT (CBS) - Rachelle Lefevre ("Swingtown") is the latest addition to the drama pilot, about a roaming medical team that travels the country helping those less fortunate get through life-or-death medical crises. She's understood to be playing Katy, "a confident young doctor more comfortable in the field than in the office." Amy Smart also stars in the Hannah Shakespeare-penned hour, which comes from John Wells Productions and Warner Bros. Television.
Sources: Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, Reuters
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