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[08/07/08 - 07:01 PM]
Development Update: Thursday, August 7
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!
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
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[03/04/21 - 07:31 AM]
Celebrate "90's Week" on Hulu with "Blossom," "Felicity" and "My So Called Life" Premieres
Said stunt is timed with the premiere of Soleil Moon Frye's documentary "kid 90" on Friday, March 12.
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[03/04/21 - 07:21 AM]
Video: "La Templanza" - Official Trailer - Prime Video Spain
Leonor Watling, Rafael Novoa, Emilio Gutiérrez Caba and Juana Acosta star in the series, due on March 26.
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[03/04/21 - 06:46 AM]
Video: "The Serpent" - Official Trailer - Netflix
In the 1970s, merciless killer Charles Sobhraj preys on travelers exploring the "hippie trail" of South Asia. Based on shocking true events.
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[03/04/21 - 05:03 AM]
Paramount+ Launches Today with Live Sports, Breaking News, and a Mountain of Entertainment
Featuring more than 30,000 episodes and countless films from ViacomCBS' family of world-renowned brands and production studios, including BET, CBS, Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon, Paramount Pictures and the Smithsonian Channel, Paramount+ is home to premium entertainment for the whole family.
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[03/04/21 - 03:31 AM]
Nickelodeon Greenlights "The Patrick Star Show," Original Animated "SpongeBob SquarePants" Spinoff, Slated to Air This Summer
The series follows a younger Patrick Star living at home with his family, where he hosts his own show for the neighborhood from his television-turned-bedroom.
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[03/04/21 - 02:01 AM]
Video: "The Innocent" - Date Announcement - Netflix
An accidental killing leads a man down a dark hole of intrigue and murder. Just as he finds love and freedom, one phone call brings back the nightmare.
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[03/04/21 - 01:01 AM]
Video: "Summertime 2" - Official Teaser - Netflix
This summer let's go back to the Riviera: the story of Summer, Ale, Edo, Sofia e Dario is yet to be told.
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[03/03/21 - 03:46 PM]
Season Two of E!'s "True Hollywood Story" Returns Monday, March 15 at 10PM ET/PT
From stories of resounding success to unfathomable loss and the darker side of fame, these specials offer exclusive interviews with new insights and never-before-heard details from the celebrities, family members, journalists and industry executives with first-hand experience.
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[03/03/21 - 02:00 PM]
Apple Orders International Series "Dr. Brain" from Visionary Filmmaker Kim Jee-Woon and Starring Lee Sun-Kyun
The series marks the first Korean-language project for Apple TV+.
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[03/03/21 - 01:49 PM]
Seven Bucks Productions & FlynnPictureCo.'s "Teddy and the Guardians of the Night" Lands at Netflix
In the film, stuffed teddy bears from around the world secretly come to life in order to protect children everywhere from all the things that go bump in the night.
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[03/03/21 - 01:49 PM]
Apple's Animated Feature "Wolfwalkers" Earns 10 Annie Award Nominations
In addition, "Stillwater" landed a nomination for Best Preschool Series.
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[03/03/21 - 01:06 PM]
A&E Network Greenlights Documentary Programming Events "Right to Offend: The Black Comedy Revolution" (wt) and "Secret Origins of Hip Hop" Featuring Busta Rhymes, Eve, Fat Joe, Grandmaster Flash, Ice-T and More
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[03/03/21 - 01:05 PM]
The History(R) Channel Greenlights "Fight the Power: The Protests That Changed America" from Executive Producers Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Deborah Morales
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[03/03/21 - 01:04 PM]
The History(R) Channel Announces Slate of Premium Historical Programming Extending Its Hit "That Built" Franchise Exploring the Fascinating History Behind America's Biggest Entrepreneurial Titans and Rivalries
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[03/03/21 - 01:03 PM]
Lifetime Welcomes Reba McEntire to the Family with Two Picture Deal
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