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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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[07/03/25 - 08:01 AM] Nat Geo's Nine-Time Emmy Award-Winning Series "Trafficked with Mariana van Zeller" Returns with Powerful New Season Exploring the World's Deadliest Underground Markets The new season kicks off with a groundbreaking look into the operations of Mexican cartels inside the United States.
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[07/03/25 - 06:12 AM] Video: "The Idaho Student Murders" - Official Trailer - Peacock Original A feature documentary focuses its lens on the pre-trial case against Bryan Kohberger, a young criminology student accused of brutally stabbing to death four University of Idaho coeds.
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[07/03/25 - 02:01 AM] Video: "The Assassin" Sets Premiere Date in the UK and Ireland with Explosive New Trailer Retired assassin Julie (Keeley Hawes) is reunited with her estranged son, Edward (Freddie Highmore), but her dangerous past begins to catch up with them.
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[07/03/25 - 01:01 AM] Video: "Catalog" - Official Trailer - Netflix A recently widowed workaholic clumsily navigates life with his kids, guided by his late wife's online tips. Can he ace this crash course in parenthood?
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[07/03/25 - 12:01 AM] Video: "Diary of a Ditched Girl" - Meet the Cast - Netflix Here they are: the boys of Malmö. Watch "Diary of a Ditched Girl" September 11 to see if she manages to get a second date with one of them.
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[07/02/25 - 07:01 PM] Video: "The Nice Guy" - Teaser Trailer - Disney+ Lee Dongwook is back and this time, it's romantic.
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[07/02/25 - 05:01 PM] Video: "Wall to Wall" - Official Trailer - Netflix A man who poured his life savings into a new apartment discovers its walls are full of disturbing noises, hostile neighbors and unsettling secrets.
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[07/02/25 - 03:04 PM] ABC News Announces "Verdict: The Diddy Trial," Airing Wednesday, July 2, at 10 P.M. on ABC, Streaming Next Day on Hulu A verdict has been reached in the trial of Sean "Diddy" Combs, who has been found guilty on two of five counts.
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[07/02/25 - 02:38 PM] Hallmark Channel Earns #1 Most-Watched Network on Weekends Throughout June with "Passport to Love" Programming Event "Passport to Love" helped elevate Hallmark Channel to be the #1 most-watched network on weekends throughout the month of June.
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[07/02/25 - 11:52 AM] ESPN "Sunday Night Baseball Presented by Capital One" Schedule Update: American League Leading Detroit Tigers to Visit Texas Rangers on July 20 Through 14 games, "Sunday Night Baseball" is averaging 1,750,000 million viewers, up 11 percent from last year.
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[07/02/25 - 10:01 AM] Video: "Trainwreck: Storm Area 51" - Official Teaser - Netflix The stranger-than-fiction story of the greatest meme ever made.
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[07/02/25 - 10:00 AM] First Look - "Big Brother: A Summer of Mystery" Unlocks a Season of Secrets When Houseguests Enter "The Hotel Mystere" In a season full of surprises, the premiere will be filled with unexpected twists and turns including a masked visitor, a secret accomplice and the shocking arrival of a "Mystery Houseguest" whose identity will remain under wraps... at least for now.
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[07/02/25 - 09:00 AM] "The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder" Season Three Drops August 6 on Disney+ Ahead of the summer debut, the series has also been renewed for a fourth season, coming to Disney+ in 2026.
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[07/02/25 - 08:12 AM] ESPN Original Series "The Fight Life" Returns for Season Two on July 7 After each episode's debut, "The Fight Life" will also air across ESPN's linear platforms.
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[07/02/25 - 07:09 AM] Apple's Sci-Fi Drama "Invasion" to Return for Season Three on August 22 The 10-episode third season will make its global return on Friday, August 22 on Apple TV+ with one episode, followed by one new episode weekly, every Friday through October 24.
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