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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!
BORED TO DEATH (HBO) - Jason Schwartzman ("Rushmore") has been tapped to star in the comedy pilot, about a struggling thirtysomething writer with a drinking problem in Brooklyn who, following a painful breakup with his girlfriend, decides to emulate his Raymond Chandler-esque heroes by pretending to be a private detective. Schwartzman's casting lifts said contingency off the pilot's production. Jonathan Ames penned the pilot based on his novel of the same name. Production is set to begin in September in New York with Dave Becky, Sarah Condon and Stephanie Davis executive producing alongside Ames. Seth Gordon also serves as a consultant.
CRACKER (TNT, New!) - Granada America is once again looking to import the famed U.K. drama, this time at TNT. The series, which revolved around a criminal psychologist with severe addiction problems, ran for three seasons in the mid-1990s with two-hour specials in 1996 and 2006. Robbie Coltrane toplined the British incarnation while the late Robert Pastorelli starred in the short-lived ABC version here in the U.S. Jason Horwitch ("Medical Investigation") is on board to pen and executive produce the TNT version alongside Robert Duvall and Robert Carliner's Butcher's Run banner.
KATH & KIM (NBC) - The Peacock has ordered seven additional episodes of the comedy, bringing its freshman total to 13 installments. Production was recently completed on the pilot, which was ordered straight to series. Molly Shannon, Selma Blair, Michael Higgins and Mikey Day all star in the half-hour, which premieres Thursday, October 9 at 9:30/8:30c. Gina Riley, Jane Turner, Michelle Nader, Paul Feig and Rick McKenna are the executive producers for Universal Media Studios.
INSEPARABLE (FOX) - Malik Yoba and Warren Kole have scored the final principal roles on the drama pilot, about Justin Lamreaux (Lloyd Owen), a partially paralyzed forensic psychiatrist with a split personality whose alter ego Clyde is a charismatic criminal. Yoba is playing Lt. Curtis Corrales, whom the casting notice details as: "Mid 30s-Early 40s, all ethnicities, a cool, grounded, painfully uncomplicated family man, Curtis is the homicide detective who works most closely with Lambreaux. While our series deals in many shades of grey, part of Curtis' charm is that he is always black and white. While somewhat unnerved to see Lambreaux back on the job in a wheelchair, he clearly trusts Lambreaux's instincts and is eager to see him succeed. Oblivious to Lambreaux's double life, Curtis will often get frustrated when Lambreaux disappears for hours at a time, and over the course of our series, he may even begin to wonder if this man he has put so much faith in is in fact one of the city's most notorious criminals." Kole then is set as Ryan Farber: "25-30, all ethnicities. A serious young detective, all spit and polish, freshly promoted, and perhaps a little too eager to move ahead and upstage the more experienced Curtis and Lambreaux. Though Ryan means well, he is lacking for character and will often cut corners, all the while presenting himself as the charming and handsome poster boy for the department. Over time, Lambreaux may come to distrust him, opening the door for Clyde to come in and attempt to bring Ryan to the dark side as an informant." Morgan Turner and Tricia Helfer also star in the ABC Studios-based hour, which comes from creator Shaun Cassidy.
MANIC (HBO, New!) - Terri Cheney's bestselling novel "Manic: A Memoir" is being eyed as a potential drama series at the cable channel. Said project, like the book, would revolve around Cheney's life as a successful attorney who suffers from bipolar illness. Janet Tamaro ("Bones") is attached to write the pilot script, which will track Cheney's efforts to hide her condition from her employer just as it begins to consume her life. She'll also executive produce alongside Gavin Polone ("Tell Me You Love Me") with Cheney herself serving as a consulting producer.
VIRTUALITY (FOX) - Erik Jensen, Jose Pablo Cantillo and Clea DuVall are the latest additions to the drama pilot, about Earth's first starship - the Phaeton - which is on a journey to explore a distant solar system. Jensen will play the Phaeton's navigator with Cantillo as a mathematician and DuVall as the Phaeton's co-pilot and engineer. They join the previously cast James D'Arcy, Jimmi Simpson, Joy Bryant, Kerry Bishe, Nelson Lee, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Omar Metwally, Richie Coster and Sienna Guillory. Peter Berg is helming the two-hour pilot, which comes from Universal Media Studios and co-creators Michael Taylor and Ronald D. Moore.
Sources: Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, Reuters
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