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[08/19/05 - 12:00 AM]
Development Update: August 19
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 newly revamped "Series in Development" charts. Visitors can now filter our listings by network, genre and even development stage (ordered to pilot, cast-contingent, script, etc.). It's updated every day!

BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE (ABC Family) - Grant Show is set to guest star on the show's September 26 season finale. There he'll reunite with his former "Melrose Place" castmate Daphne Zuniga, playing her estranged husband.

BREADWINNERS (ABC Family, New!) - Gale Anne Hurd ("Adventure Inc.") and Steve Tao have scored a pilot order for a new half-hour single-camera comedy about three friends with high-paying careers who are dealing with the issue of whether a successful relationship is possible with men who make less than they do. Christina Chang ("C.S.I.: Miami"), Elizabeth Bogush ("The Mountain") and Amy Laughlin ("Jake in Progress") have been cast in the lead roles of Anne, Elizabeth and Rebecca respectively. Andrew Bowen ("ER") also stars as Anne's husband with Jordan Belfi ("Entourage") as Elizabeth's fianc�. Michael Lange ("The O.C.") will direct the pilot from a script by co-executive producer Julie Sherman Wolfe. "Breadwinners" is one of two comedy projects in the works at ABC Family for a 2006 launch (the other being Carter Covington and Bill Masters's 1980s-set "Just a Phase").

CHRISTMAS IN BOSTON (ABC Family, New!) - Marla Sokolov ("The Practice") is set to topline one of the cable channel's upcoming original movies. The romantic comedy, from MarVista Entertainment's Michael Jacobs, revolves around longtime pen pals who send their best friends in their place for their first-ever meeting. Stephanie Baxendale wrote the script.

CULT (The WB, New!) - "Farscape" creator Rockne S. O'Bannon has received a cast-contingent put pilot commitment from the netlet for a new "Silence of the Lambs"/"Seven"-esque drama series. The project, which O'Bannon wrote on spec, is set up at Warner Bros. Television with casting set to begin shortly. As for specifics, all that's known is that it will track the investigation of a string of mysterious deaths and disappearances surrounding the show-within-a-show entitled "Cult."

DANCING WITH THE STARS (ABC) - The Alphabet has provided some additional scheduling details about its upcoming "Dance Off" special, which was announced yesterday (read the story). The 90-minute special, which is set to air Tuesday, September 20 at 8:30/7:30c, will encore as a shorter 60-minute version on Thursday, September 22 at 8:00/7:00c as a lead-in to the half-hour results show at 9:00/8:00c that same night. The addition of "Dancing" will cut "According to Jim's" previously announced one-hour season premiere on September 20 to a single half-hour installment while a special Tuesday edition of "Wife Swap" will follow "Dance Off" at 10:00/9:00c that same night.

FALLEN (ABC Family) - Paul Wesley ("Wolf Lake"), Lisa Lackey ("N.Y.P.D. Blue"), Rick Worthy ("Eyes") and Fernanda Andrade ("For Love or Country: The Arturo Sandoval Story") have all been cast in the ABC Family original, about a teenage orphan who discovers he's actually an angel with supernatural powers. Production is set to begin later this month in Vancouver for a March 2006 premiere.

SAVED (TNT, New!) - David Manson ("Nothing Sacred," "Big Love") has booked a pilot order at the cable channel for a new procedural drama about a troubled twentysomething San Francisco paramedic. Said character is described as a med school dropout with a gambling addiction who's trying to figure out what he wants from life, finding solace only in the breakneck pace of his job. Fox 21 and Imagine Television are behind the project, TNT's second in the works for a potential 2006 bow (the other being Nancy Miller's "Grace").

WANTED (TNT) - 2.5 million viewers tuned into show's most-recent installment, a dip of 32.43% from its July 31 premiere (3.7 million).

Sources: Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, Reuters





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· ACCORDING TO JIM (ABC)
· ADVENTURE, INC. (SYNDICATION)
· BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE (ABC FAMILY)
· BIG LOVE (HBO)
· BREADWINNERS (ABC FAMILY)
· CHRISTMAS IN BOSTON (ABC FAMILY)
· CSI: MIAMI (CBS)
· CULT (CW)
· DANCING WITH THE STARS (ABC)
· ENTOURAGE (HBO)
· ER (NBC)
· EYES (ABC)
· FALLEN (ABC FAMILY)
· FARSCAPE (SCI FI)
· FOR LOVE OR COUNTRY: THE ARTURO SANDOVAL STORY (HBO)
· JAKE IN PROGRESS (ABC)
· JUST A PHASE (ABC FAMILY)
· MOUNTAIN, THE (WB)
· NYPD BLUE (ABC)
· OC, THE (FOX)
· PRACTICE, THE (ABC)
· SAVED (TNT)
· SAVING GRACE (TNT)
· WANTED (TNT)
· WIFE SWAP (PARAMOUNT)
· WOLF LAKE (CBS)





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