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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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[03/11/14 - 01:02 PM]
"48 Hours: The Blue River Murder" Is Saturday's #1 Program with Adults 25-54
CBS spins the numbers for Saturday, March 8.
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[03/11/14 - 01:01 PM]
TBS Wins the Week as Basic Cable's #1 Network in Primetime Among Adults 18-49
Turner spins the numbers for the week of March 3-9.
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[03/11/14 - 12:27 PM]
E!'s "Fashion Police" Runs the Court with "Fash Fabness"
DeSean Jackson of the Philadelphia Eagles and Victor Cruz of the New York Giants are among the show's upcoming guests.
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[03/11/14 - 12:20 PM]
Sunday's Cable Ratings & Broadcast Finals: "Resurrection," "Walking Dead" Top Both Viewers, Demos
Plus: numbers for Bravo's "Online Dating Rituals of the American Male," History's "No Man's Land" and Spike TV's "Catch a Contractor."
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[03/11/14 - 12:15 PM]
Saturday's Cable Ratings & Broadcast Finals: College Basketball Leads Demos, "48 Hours" Tops Viewers
Plus: numbers for Lifetime's "The Trip to Bountiful," Hallmark's "A Ring by Spring" and Spike TV's "Cops."
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[03/11/14 - 12:12 PM]
The Paley Center for Media Announces Verizon Digital Media Services Will Provide Live Streaming Coverage
"Veronica Mars" will kick things off this Thursday, March 13 at 8:00 pm PT / 11:00 pm ET.
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[03/11/14 - 12:04 PM]
After a Successful TV Career Spanning More Than Three Decades, Anne Sweeney Announces Her Departure from The Walt Disney Company in January 2015
Sweeney, who joined the company in 1996, is currently co-chair, Disney Media Networks and president, Disney/ABC Television Group.
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[03/11/14 - 11:37 AM]
Harpo Films Acquires Film Rights to "The Invention of Wings" by Bestselling Author Sue Monk Kidd
An exclusive interview with Oprah and Kidd will be broadcast on the Emmy(R) Award-winning series "Super Soul Sunday" on Sunday, April 13 on OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network.
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[03/11/14 - 11:35 AM]
Original Programming Thrives at Hallmark Channel
The Hallmark Channel spins the numbers for the week of March 3-9.
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[03/11/14 - 11:27 AM]
Oxygen Media Earns Strongest Sunday Prime of the Year with "Snapped" Delivering Season High Ratings Among All Key Demos
Oxygen spins the numbers for Sunday, March 9.
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[03/11/14 - 10:55 AM]
"Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey" Premieres Out of This World, With Total Audience of 40 Million Expected Worldwide
FOX spins the numbers for the week of March 3-9.
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[03/11/14 - 10:55 AM]
Up Year to Year, ABC Marks Its Best Non-Oscar Week Since November
ABC spins the numbers for the week of March 3-9.
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[03/11/14 - 10:28 AM]
NBC Sports Group Begins Extensive 2014 Formula One(TM) Coverage This Sunday with Australian Grand Prix on NBCSN
Coverage of the Australian Grand Prix begins Thursday night at 9 p.m. ET on NBCSN with a live edition of F1 Countdown.
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[03/11/14 - 10:25 AM]
Disney Channel Wins Total Day for the 143rd-Consecutive Week in Kids 6-11 and Tweens, Topping Nickelodeon by Double Digits
Disney Channel spins the numbers for the week of March 3-9.
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[03/11/14 - 10:24 AM]
"Divergent" Stars Shailene Woodley and Theo James to Share Exclusive Clip from the Highly Anticipated Film at the "2014 mtvU Woodie Awards"
The special also features special appearances by Imagine Dragons, Wiz Khalifa, Danny Brown, MGK, Mac Miller, Steve Aoki, Hannibal Buress and the cast of Comedy Central's "Workaholics."
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