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[12/26/08 - 06:43 PM]
Development Update: Week of December 22-26
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!
BITCHES (FOX, New!) - Feature writer Michael Dougherty ("Superman Returns") has scored a hefty script commitment from the network for a new drama about a quartet of female friends in New York who are werewolves. The project, which has a penalty attached should it not move forward to pilot, is set up at Warner Bros. Television. Writer/producers Gretchen Berg and Aaron Harberts ("Pushing Daisies") have been tapped to supervise Dougherty and executive produce. No other specifics were given.
GILMORE GIRLS (The CW) - One day after filing a lawsuit against CBS over "Two and a Half Men" (see below), Warner Bros. Television itself has been sued by producer Gavin Polone over "Gilmore Girls." The breach-of-contract lawsuit, filed Wednesday in Los Angeles Superior Court, claims the vertically integrated Time Warner companies Warner Bros. Television and The WB "have colluded to defraud the originator of hit 'Gilmore Girls' television series with a scheme that rivals the greed and bravado of any story line defendants could script." Hofflund/Polone, Polone's company with Judy Hofflund, alleges the "modified adjusted gross," the money the show earns after costs are deducted, for "Gilmore's" first six seasons was modified by the studio - through "collusion among defendants to set below-market license fees" and a series of improper charges - which cut into Hofflund/Polone's profits as a result. A third-party audit commissioned by Hofflund/Polone in October 2006 alleges that number was understated by $45.5 million and the company has asked for "tens of millions of dollars" in damages as a result. Warner Bros. has yet to comment on the suit.
LOST & FOUND (NBC) - Australian actor Damon Herriman ("All Saints") has joined the cast of the drama pilot, which centers on Tessa Cooper (Katee Sackhoff), an offbeat LAPD detective who, after butting heads with higher-ups, is sent as punishment to the basement to work on John and Jane Doe cases. He'll play Anthony Yeckel, an oddball civilian consultant to the police's lost-and-found department who has an obsessive love of old detective TV shows. Brian Cox and Josh Cooke also star in the Universal Media Studios/Wolf Films-based hour, which Michael Engler is directing from a script by creator Chris Levinson.
TWO AND A HALF MEN (CBS) - Warner Bros. Television filed a $49 million breach of contract lawsuit against CBS on Tuesday. Said suit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, claims the network owes Warner Bros. additional fees toward the production deficit carried by the studio. The "deficit recoupment" was understood to be tied to "Men" hitting certain ratings milestones as specified by the show's original four-year license agreement signed in 2003. The suit indicates the studio incurred a $61.1 million deficit over the course of the first four years of the show (for instance CBS paid $750,000 per episode during "Men's" first season while Warner Bros. actual cost to produce the show came in at $1.22 million), a cost which CBS would cover should "Men" finish as a top 10 show. Additionally, should "Men" finish in the top five in its fourth season, CBS would pay an additional $650,000 more per episode in the fifth and sixth seasons (with a downward scale from there). "CBS has reaped the benefits of the tremendous success of 'Two and a Half Men" but wants to deny Warner Bros. the right to its agreed-upon share," Warner Bros. said in a statement. CBS countered with simply, "Wow, I wonder what they got the other networks for Christmas."
UGLY BETTY (ABC) - "Dexter" co-star Lauren Velez has booked a multi-episode arc on the Thursday dramedy. She'll play Elena, a nurse that enters the lives of the Suarez family, whom reports speculate will be linked to a major plot development. It's not clear when her first episode will air.
UNTITLED MARIA BELLO PROJECT (HBO, New!) - Maria Bello ("The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor") is set to topline a potential new drama at the pay channel about a woman who's forced into a life of crime to support her three teenage sons after her husband is killed. Gary Lennon ("The Shield") is penning the hour, which sees the woman using her sons as henchmen, leading them all down a destructive road. Bello herself will executive produce alongside Lennon, Gavin Polone and John Carrabino.
Sources: Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, Reuters
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[11/03/25 - 02:01 PM]
Cole Escola Joins Season 3 of Netflix's "One Piece"
A master of performance and precision, Bon Clay is as dangerous as they are dazzling - a theatrical assassin who turns combat into art.
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[11/03/25 - 01:34 PM]
FX Orders "Untitled Snowfall Spinoff" Drama Series
Set in '90s Los Angeles soon after the end of the original series, a recovering addict strives to take West Coast rap mainstream - while gang wars erupt and record labels move to exploit hip hop culture for their own gain.
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[11/03/25 - 11:42 AM]
FOX Sports Unveils 2025-26 College Basketball Schedule Featuring Marquee Matchups Across FOX, FS1 & More
Beginning Saturday, November 8, the "FOX Primetime Hoops" slate begins with an elite non-conference matchup between preseason No. 22 Michigan State and No. 14 Arkansas at 7:00 PM ET on FOX.
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[11/03/25 - 11:00 AM]
CBS Premiere Week Leads Live+7 Multiplatform Viewership with Television's #1 Show "Tracker" and Four of the Top Five Series
The network claimed 10 of the top 20 series, twice as many top 20 shows as the competition.
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[11/03/25 - 10:14 AM]
The Hunt Starts Now - Stream All "Predator" Films on Hulu
Catch up on the franchise collection before the theatrical release of 20th Century Studios' "Predator: Badlands," which is the newest chapter in the "Predator" universe, hitting theaters November 7.
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[11/03/25 - 10:14 AM]
Bravo's "Vanderpump Rules" Returns with an All-New Group of SUR-vers on Tuesday, Dec. 2 at 9 P.M. ET/PT on Bravo
Plus: "Raise Your Glass to 11 Seasons" looks back at over a decade of "Vanderpump Rules'" most iconic moments and never-before-seen footage on Tuesday, November 25 at 9 p.m. ET/PT on Bravo.
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[11/03/25 - 10:03 AM]
CNN Films Announces Broadcast Premiere of "Prime Minister" on Sunday, November 16 at 9pm ET/PT
From award-winning filmmakers Michelle Walshe and Lindsay Utz, the feature documentary is a rare, intimate portrait of the tenure of New Zealand's former prime minister, Jacinda Ardern.
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[11/03/25 - 10:02 AM]
MGM+ Greenlights True-Crime Docuseries "The Hillside Strangler"
The four-part true-crime docuseries explores the infamous murders that gripped Los Angeles in the late 1970s and the exhaustive investigation that followed.
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[11/03/25 - 09:04 AM]
Video: Peacock Debuts Official Trailer and Key Art for Fourth and Final Season of "Bel-Air"
In season four of Peacock's "Bel-Air," Will tries to balance the fun and excitement of senior year with the expectations that have brought him to this moment.
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[11/03/25 - 09:01 AM]
AMC Networks' "Best Christmas Ever" Returns with Month-Long Celebration of the Holidays Beginning November 29
Highlights include "The Last Drive-In: Joe Bob's Cold Cruel Christmas" and "The Boulet Brothers' Dragula Holiday of Horrors."
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[11/03/25 - 09:00 AM]
Video: Let It Bro! "A Very Jonas Christmas Movie" Official Trailer Is Here
The trailer also features the first single from the movie, "Coming Home This Christmas" featuring Kenny G, which is now available on Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Music and YouTube Music.
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[11/03/25 - 08:00 AM]
Video: First Look at Upcoming FOX Series "Best Medicine" Starring Josh Charles, Abigail Spencer, Annie Potts, Josh Segarra & Cree
The series centers on Dr. Martin Best (Josh Charles), a brilliant surgeon who abruptly leaves his illustrious career in Boston to become the general practitioner in a quaint East Coast fishing village where he spent summers as a child with his Aunt Sarah (Annie Potts).
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[11/03/25 - 07:15 AM]
Erika Kirk to Receive Inaugural "Charlie Kirk Legacy Award" at 2025 FOX Nation Patriot Awards on Thursday, November 6th
Beginning at 8 PM/ET, The Patriot Awards will stream live on FOX Nation with an encore presentation to air on FNC at a later date.
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[11/03/25 - 07:01 AM]
Video: "Is It Cake? Holiday" - Season 2 Official Trailer - Netflix
Three "Is It Cake" alum and three baking heavy hitters try to fool celebrity judges with their incredible hyper-realistic cakes.
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[11/03/25 - 06:31 AM]
Video: "Sesame Street" Is Coming to Netflix - Official Trailer - Netflix
This freshly reimagined "Sesame Street" series features characters you love, fan-favorite segments - and new ways to play!
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