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[01/25/08 - 06:37 PM]
Development Update: Week of January 21-25
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!
FRINGE (FOX) - John Noble ("The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King") and Lance Reddick ("The Wire") have landed two of the principal roles on the drama pilot, about a young female FBI agent who is forced to confront the spread of unexplained phenomena and work with an institutionalized scientist whose work might be at the center of the coming storm. Noble is set as Dr. Walter Bishop, said scientist, with Reddick as Phillip Broyles, a special agent for Homeland Security who heads the special Fringe division. They join the previously cast Kirk Acevedo and Mark Valley. Production on the two-hour pilot is set to begin shortly with Alex Graves helming from a script by J.J. Abrams, Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci. The quartet also serve as executive producers alongside Bad Robot's Bryan Burk for Warner Bros. Television.
KATH & KIM (NBC) - Selma Blair is in talks to star opposite Molly Shannon in the comedy pilot, about the dysfunctional relationship between a mother (Shannon) and her daughter (Blair). Blair's character, Kim Day Fattibene, is further detailed in the casting notice as follows: "26-32, any ethnicity. Also attractive, but not on the same healthy path as her mother, Kim is oblivious to needing any fitness or life plan whatsoever. Although loveable and endearing, she is a drama queen, tends to sit on the couch a lot, self absorbed and a little spoiled. She carries a few extra pounds but still thinks she's the hottest thing around and resists her mother's advice on pulling her life together. She's just left her perfectly nice husband, Dennis, not for the first time, just because he shushed her at a ballgame. Kim - after moving back home - now fully expects her mom and best friend Debbie to drop everything and attend to her and is horrified to learn that her Mom has a boyfriend and a sex life." Michelle Nader is behind the Universal Media Studios/Reveille-based half-hour, which Paul Feig is directing. Nader and Rick McKenna also serve as executive producers alongside original Aussie creators Gina Riley and Jane Turner.
LEGALLY BLONDE (MTV, New!) - The cable channel is casting a potential new "Grease: You're the One That I Want"-esque series in which women ages 18 and older with vocal, acting and dancing skills compete for the role of Elle Woods in the Broadway production of the film franchise. Laura Bell Bundy plays said role in the current production, which opened in April and has grossed a little over $30.8 million to date, a performance of which was broadcast on MTV on October 13. Casting calls are set for the coming weeks in Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, Nashville and Orlando. No production details however have been confirmed.
S.I.S. (Spike TV) - Keith David ("First Sunday") has scored the lead role in the two-hour backdoor pilot, about a five-man elite secretive police unit within the LAPD that tackles major crimes and major criminals. He'll play Assistant Chief Joseph Armstrong who's detailed in the casting notice as: "50's-60's. The head of the S.I.S. unit, Armstrong is a righteous man with a crisp military bearing. A devout Mormon, Armstrong prides himself on believing in men who have lost belief in themselves, and Billy Beckett is his latest "adoptee". Believing that Billy is a great detective who has lost his confidence, Armstrong is willing to buck official disapproval in order to get another great detective on his squad, no matter the price. A tough-minded man who has to stop his determined squad members from using their covert status to execute assassinations, Armstrong is the moral center of the S.I.S. team." Omari Hardwick, Matt Nable, Peter Stebbings and Colleen Porch also star in the project, which comes from Sony Pictures Television and Neal Moritz's Original Film. John Herzfeld will direct the pilot from his own script as well as executive produce alongside Moritz and Vivian Cannon.
A VERY MERRY DAUGHTER OF THE BRIDE (Lifetime, New!) - Luke Perry, JoAnna Garcia, Helen Shaver and Kenneth Welsh are set to star in a Christmas-themed movie at the cable channel. The project, due in December, centers on Roxanne (Garcia), a twentysomething wedding planner who conspires with Charlie (Perry), the son of her mother Rose's (Shaver) new beau Jack (Welsh), to break up their parents' impending nuptials but an unexpected romantic development forces Roxanne to re-examine her feelings. Actor/director Leslie Hope ("24") is helming the project from a script by Scott Eastlick and Nadine Van Der Veld. Chad Oakes and Mike Frislev are producing for Nomadic Pictures.
Sources: Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, Reuters
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[12/16/25 - 02:30 PM]
CBS News Will Air a Special Report for President Donald J. Trump's Live Primetime Address to the Nation from the White House, Wednesday, Dec. 17 at 9:00 PM, ET
The "Survivor" finale (starting at 8:00 PM, ET/PT) will resume where it left off immediately following the president's address for Eastern and Central Time Zone viewers on the CBS Television Network and air in its entirety.
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[12/16/25 - 02:15 PM]
FOX NFL Week 15 Scores 19.4 Million Viewers for "America's Game of the Week"
Season-to-date, the NFL on FOX is averaging 20,055,000 viewers; up +8% over last year's average (18,630,000) and its best since 2015.
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[12/16/25 - 02:15 PM]
"CBS News Presents: A Town Hall with Erika Kirk" Boosts CBS' Time Period Performance in Viewers, Adults 25-54 and Adults 18-49
The special delivered 1.9 million viewers with 265,000 in the adults 25-54 demographic on Saturday, December 13.
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[12/16/25 - 01:57 PM]
ESPN's Signature MegaCast Presentation Returns for College Football Playoff First Round Presented by Allstate
ESPN will present more than a dozen total offerings during the two First Round games of the 12-team College Football Playoff on Friday, December 19 and Saturday, December 20.
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[12/16/25 - 01:33 PM]
Next on Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN - January 2026
Highlights include new seasons of "Tell Me Lies" and "A Thousand Blows" plus the premieres of "The Beauty" and "Wonder Man."
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[12/16/25 - 01:04 PM]
FX's "Seven Sisters" Ordered to Series on Hulu
Elizabeth Olsen, Cristin Milioti and J. Smith-Cameron lead the new family drama featuring Anthony Edwards, Meredith Hagner, Odessa Young, Zoë Winters, Bridget Brown, Carolyn Kettig, Philip Ettinger, and Ryan Eggold.
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[12/16/25 - 12:02 PM]
Video: "Evil Influencer: The Jodi Hildebrandt Story" - Official Trailer - Netflix
People sought her guidance - then came her child abuse arrest with mom influencer Ruby Franke. Unpack the chilling case of therapist Jodi Hildebrandt.
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[12/16/25 - 12:01 PM]
Netflix Top 10: Week of December 8 - "Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery" Cracks the Case at No. 1 in the Top 10
New comedy series "Man vs. Baby" took No. 1 on the English TV list with 19.1 million views, with the Rowan Atkinson vehicle eliciting laughs over the bumbling Trevor Bingley trying to earn money house-sitting for millionaires while a lost baby keeps him on his toes.
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[12/16/25 - 11:01 AM]
Video: Trailer & Key Art - Hulu Original Series "The Artful Dodger" Season 2
The comedy-adventure series starring Thomas Brodie-Sangster, David Thewlis and Maia Mitchell returns for season two on February 10 on Hulu and Disney+.
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[12/16/25 - 10:01 AM]
Snoop Dogg to Headline Lions-Vikings with "Snoop's Holiday Halftime Party" During NFL Christmas Gameday Live on Netflix
Snoop Dogg takes the reins at halftime, promising chart-topping tracks, plenty of holiday spirit, and special guests, making for what is sure to be an unforgettable performance.
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[12/16/25 - 09:52 AM]
Video: "The Life of Chuck" - Trailer - Hulu
From author Stephen King and director Mike Flanagan, the film - starring Tom Hiddleston, Jacob Tremblay, Chiwetel Ejiofor, and Karen Gillan - streams December 26.
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[12/16/25 - 09:08 AM]
MGM+ Greenlights Series Adaptation of Iconic Western "The Magnificent Seven"
After a peaceful Quaker village is massacred by mercenaries working for a greedy and ruthless land baron trying to force them off the land he covets, seven gifted but flawed mercenaries are hired by the community to protect them from the land baron's hired guns.
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[12/16/25 - 09:01 AM]
"Miss Austen" Returns for Season 2 on "Masterpiece"
This newest season is largely based on Gill Hornby's latest novel, "The Elopement," which further delves into the family life of Jane and Cassandra Austen.
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[12/16/25 - 09:00 AM]
Meet the 11 New Survivalists and the Families Who Hold Their Fate as FOX's Survival Competition Series "Extracted" Returns for Season Two
Only one competitor and their family will endure it all and walk away with a life-changing quarter million dollar grand prize!
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[12/16/25 - 09:00 AM]
CBS Announces "Christina Aguilera: Christmas in Paris," A New Holiday Special Airing Monday, Dec. 22 on CBS and Paramount+
Filmed in front of an intimate audience above the Musée du Quai Branly, Aguilera performs both holiday classics and her career hits against the backdrop of the Eiffel Tower, fashioned into a shimmering Christmas tree.
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