 |
 |
[08/07/08 - 07:01 PM]
Development Update: Thursday, August 7
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 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!
ARE YOU SMARTER THAN A 5TH GRADER? (FOX) - The network has ordered nine additional episodes of the series, bringing its third season total to 22 hours. Mark Burnett Productions and Zoo Productions are behind the project, which shifts to Friday nights starting September 5. Jeff Foxworthy hosts.
THE CONVERSATION (AMC) - Francis Ford Coppola's 1974 feature is once again being eyed for the small screen, this time at AMC. Christopher McQuarrie ("The Usual Suspects") and Erik Jendresen ("Band of Brothers") are penning the latest adaptation, following their previous pass for ABC/ABC Studios in 2006. Tony Krantz and Coppola are also returning via their respective companies Flame Ventures and American Zoetrope for Sony Pictures Television. McQuarrie, Jendresen and Heather McQuarrie then will executive produce alongside Krantz. As for specifics, the new incarnation will center on electronic surveillance expert Harry Caul (played by Gene Hackman in the film) as he works as an eavesdropper with a larger, ongoing storyline about who's monitoring him as he hears conversations he shouldn't be privy to. The AMC version will also bet set in the 1970s, unlike the ABC version which was set in present day. Prior to ABC, Krantz sold a version to NBC in 1995 as an agent, with Ron Bass writing and Kyle MacLachlan attached to star.
DROP DEAD DIVA (Lifetime) - Golden Brooks ("Girlfriends") and April Bowlby ("Two and a Half Men") are the latest additions to the drama pilot, about Deb, a dead aspiring actress-model who is reincarnated in the body of Jane (Brooke Elliott), a chubby, brilliant attorney. Brooks is set as Kim Kastle, who's detailed via the casting notice as: "Late 20s-Mid 30s, all ethnicities, in a Michael Kors suit, with a blue Hermes bag. Kim is a partner at the same law firm as Jane. Confident, savvy, manipulative and rather bitchy, she is not as smart as Jane, or as well liked by the clients, but she does know how to play the office politics game. For Kim, "everything's a competition. Every woman, a threat. Every man, a conquest"." And Bowlby then is playing Stacy Punt: "Early 20s, all ethnicities, "Sports Illustrated swimsuit sexy," a vapid but sweet young woman. She is Deb's best friend. Shallow, but with a gushy, fun personality, she is offended when Deb suggests she get a job and tells her, "I'm a model." Later, Stacy is the only person in whom Jane (Deb) confides about her rather unusual situation." Jackson Hurst and Margaret Cho also star in the Sony Pictures Television-based hour, which James Hayman is helming from a script by Josh Berman.
THE INFORMANT (FOX, New!) - Tom Szentgyorgyi ("Journeyman") is developing a domestic take on the Australian series of the same name, about Richard Button, a regular middle-class suburban dad who works as a police informant for an elite federal investigative agency. Greg Haddrick was behind the original version. 20th Century Fox Television and Alchemy Entertainment are co-producing.
LOVELAND (FOX, New!) - The network is reportedly close to importing the upcoming U.K. dating series, in which participants select their dates based on interactions with computer-generated versions of potential suitors. Jo Pine created the format, which comes from Tom Gutteridge's Standing Stone Productions. Antwerp animation house Nazooka is behind the technology used in the show, which is set to roll out on Sky One later this season, as is a web-based version of the format.
SHAWN RYAN PROJECTS (Various, New!) - "The Shield" creator Shawn Ryan has set up three new projects around town - "The Lead Sheet" at A&E, "Millionaires Club" at FOX and an untitled hour at FX. That's in addition to "Confessions of a Contractor" at CBS, which was announced earlier this week. All four stem from his overall deal with 20th Century Fox Television. "Sheet," created by author James Ellroy, chronicles the hunt for the infamous Hillside Strangler - a prolific serial killer who tortured, raped and killed young women in 1977-78 in the hills above Los Angeles. The series then follows three police officers and two DAs as they investigate the killer, with each episode of the crime procedural starting with a tip leading to a violent crime that may or may not be related to the Strangler. Ellroy is penning the hour and executive producing alongside his manager Joel Gotler. As for "Club," the single-camera comedy revolves around a ragtag group of wannabe millionaires who keep coming up with ill-fated plots to get rich. "Semi-Pro" helmer Kent Alterman attached to direct the half-hour from a script by Ryan. And finally, Ryan is teaming with "Ocean's Eleven" writer Ted Griffin for the FX project, which is billed as a comedic drama about a private eye. Ryan is executive producing each via his MiddKid Productions banner with 20th producing the broadcast projects and Fox 21 shepherding the cable projects.
TREME (HBO) - Khandi Alexander ("CSI: Miami") and "The Wire" alums Wendell Pierce and Clarke Peters are the first to be cast in the drama pilot, a post-Katrina-themed drama which chronicles the rebuilding of New Orleans through the eyes of local musicians. David Simon and Eric Overmyer are behind the hour, which is also executive produced by Nina Noble for Simon's Blown Deadline Productions. As for specifics, Pierce will play Antoine Batiste, "an accomplished jazz trombonist who is now scratching for gigs, trying to support a live-in girlfriend and a new baby, while still carrying a torch for a failed marriage to Ladonna Batiste (Alexander), the mother of his two children, who is single-handedly keeping her bar afloat," according to The Hollywood Reporter. Peters then is set as Albert Lambreaux, a big chief of the White Feather Nation trying to bring the tribe's members home.
Sources: Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, Reuters
|
|
|
 [august 2008]  |
S |
M |
T |
W |
T |
F |
S |
| | | | | |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
|
[11/20/19 - 10:01 AM]
"Miracle Workers: Dark Ages" to Premiere on TBS Tuesday, January 28th
This 10-episode installment will feature Daniel Radcliffe, Steve Buscemi, Geraldine Viswanathan, Karan Soni, Jon Bass, and Lolly Adefope returning in new roles and facing new challenges.
|
[11/20/19 - 09:37 AM]
Oxygen Debuts "Snapped: Behind Bars - Sheila Davalloo" Special Premiering Sunday, December 1 at 6PM ET/PT
The special will break down how Sheila stopped at nothing to continue down a path of deceit, and for the first time on "Snapped: Behind Bars" Sheila opens up and tells her side of the story.
|
[11/20/19 - 09:03 AM]
Multi-Award Winner Holly Hunter to Star with Ted Danson in New NBC Comedy Written and Executive Produced by Tina Fey and Robert Carlock
"We're so excited to write for Holly Hunter," said Fey and Carlock. "We're both huge fans and will have to find a way to 'act normal' around her. To have Holly and Ted in the same show, it's now officially an embarrassment of riches."
|
[11/20/19 - 08:17 AM]
HGTV Offers First Look at Blockbuster Reboot of "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" and Announces Series Premiere Date of Sunday, Feb. 16, at 9 P.M. ET/PT
New host Jesse Tyler Ferguson and special guests, including Anthony Anderson, Derek Hough, Ty Pennington, LeAnn Rimes, OWN's Laila Ali, Food Network's Tyler Florence and HGTV stars David Bromstad, Tamara Day, Tarek El Moussa and Jasmine Roth, are all featured in the series.
|
[11/20/19 - 08:10 AM]
Tuesday's Broadcast Ratings: NBC, "This Is Us" Take Home Demo Crown
The Peacock wins the night among adults 18-49 while CBS is the most-watched broadcaster.
|
[11/20/19 - 08:03 AM]
Beloved Paddington Bear Returns to TV in Nickelodeon's Brand-New Animated Preschool Series, "The Adventures of Paddington," Premiering Monday, Jan. 20, at 12:30 P.M. (ET/PT) in the U.S.
In advance of the series debut, Nickelodeon will air a holiday presentation of "Paddington Finds a Pigeon/Paddington and the Chores List," on Friday, Dec. 20, at 12:30 p.m. (ET/PT).
|
[11/20/19 - 08:01 AM]
Highly Anticipated and Explosive Fifth Season of "Better Call Saul" Returns with Two-Night Premiere Event on February 23 and 24
In the 10-epsiode fifth season, Jimmy McGill's (Bob Odenkirk) decision to practice law as "Saul Goodman" creates unexpected and profound waves of change for those in his orbit.
|
[11/20/19 - 07:10 AM]
"Slow Burn" to Premiere on EPIX(R) on February 16, 2020
The six-episode docuseries is based on the hit podcast of the same name.
|
[11/20/19 - 06:34 AM]
TV One Gears Up for the Holidays with a Programming Slate Full of Holiday Cheer Beginning Thanksgiving Day
Kicking off the festive season is a back-to-back marathon of the popular sitcom, "Family Matters," airing on Thursday, November 28, Thanksgiving Day from 6 a.m. ET through Saturday, November 30 until 6 a.m. ET.
|
[11/20/19 - 06:03 AM]
"Steven Universe Future" Premieres Dec. 7 on Cartoon Network
The fan-favorite series returns after the successful release of "Steven Universe The Movie," and continues the show's narrative with additional episodes continuing to debut on Cartoon Network.
|
[11/19/19 - 03:05 PM]
Netflix Announces New Series "Vikings: Valhalla"
The new saga begins 100 years after the original series concludes and dramatizes the adventures of the most famous Vikings who ever lived - Leif Erikson, Freydis, Harald Harada and the Norman King William the Conqueror (also a Viking descendant).
|
[11/19/19 - 02:04 PM]
Nickelodeon Greenlights Second Season of "Blue's Clues & You!" as Series Debuts at Number One
The second season will follow Josh (Josh Dela Cruz) and puppy Blue on brand-new adventures with friends old and new.
|
[11/19/19 - 12:17 PM]
Juliette Lewis and Christina Ricci Join "Yellowjackets" as Showtime(R) Drama Pilot Rounds Out Cast
Also cast in the project are Ella Purnell, Sophie Nélisse, Sammi Hanratty, Sophie Thatcher, Steven Krueger And
Amy Okuda.
|
[11/19/19 - 12:05 PM]
Investigation Discovery Takes Viewers for First Look, Ever, Inside the Witness Room with New Series "The Interrogator"
Throughout his storied career, Det. Fil Waters has made a name for himself as one of Houston's most successful interrogators to date.
|
[11/19/19 - 11:35 AM]
Lifetime Announces 2020 Winter "Ripped from the Headlines" All-Star Line Up
"Stolen by My Mother: The Kamiyah Mobley Story" and "Chris Watts: Confessions of a Killer" are among the featured projects.
|
|
|
|
