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[03/06/09 - 06:31 PM]
Development Update: Friday, March 6
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!
THE BODY POLITIC (The CW) - "The West Wing" alum Tim Matheson has joined the cast of the drama pilot, about young staffers in Washington. He'll play a charming, JFK-type senator. Bill Robinson and Jason Rothenberg are behind the CBS Paramount Network Television-based hour, which Scott Winant is attached to direct.
CHOCOLATE NEWS (Comedy Central) - David Alan Grier has confirmed the series won't be returning for a second season. In the March 13 issue of Entertainment Weekly, Grier, talking about his turn on "Dancing With the Stars," remarked: "They asked me before and [I said] no. But then my show, Chocolate News, didn't get picked up by Comedy Central. I said, 'Get Dancing With the Stars on the phone!'"
COUGAR TOWN (ABC) - Josh Hopkins ("Swingtown") and Ian Gomez ("Rita Rocks") have both joined the cast of the comedy pilot, about a 40-year-old newly single mom (Courteney Cox) with a teen son. They'll play neighbors of Cox's character. Bill Lawrence and Kevin Biegel co-created the half-hour, which is set up at ABC Studios.
DIARY OF A MANHATTAN CALL GIRL (HBO) - "Sex and the City" creator Darren Star is returning to the pay channel, inking a two-year, first-look deal with the network. The pact gives HBO first crack at the prolific writer/producer's output, either from himself or other writers he's supervising. Star had previously set up "Diary of a Manhattan Call Girl" at the channel, which didn't move forward to pilot.
GOSSIP GIRL (The CW) - Andrew McCarthy is the latest "Lipstick Jungle" alum to join the cast of the potential spin-off, about Lily's (Brittany Snow) wild teen years in 1980s Los Angeles. Also reportedly close to signing on: Cynthia Watros and Ryan Hansen. McCarthy and Watros are on track to play Lily's parents, Celia and Rick Rhodes, with Hansen as Shep, the best friend of the previously cast Shilo Fernandez, who's got a crush on Lily's sister Carol (Krysten Ritter).
HUMAN TARGET (FOX) - Chi McBride ("Pushing Daisies") and Jackie Earle Haley ("Watchmen") have joined the cast of the drama pilot, about a mysterious freelancer (Mark Valley) who takes on a different identity each week to help those in need. They'll play two of the man's associates - Winston, his business partner, and Guerrero, his information gatherer, respectively. Simon West is helming the hour from a script by Jon Steinberg.
IMPACT (ABC, New!) - The Alphabet has acquired the domestic rights to a new mini-series about a meteor that strikes the moon and sends it on a collision course with Earth. David James Elliott, Natasha Henstridge, Steven Culp and James Cromwell topline the $14 million production, which comes from Tandem Communications, Jaffe/Braunstein Entertainment and Muse Entertainment. It's understood that the Alphabet will air the Michael Rohl-directed project as a limited series this summer with a second window on Sci Fi and a DVD release from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment shortly thereafter.
THE LAW (ABC) - Madchen Amick and Ryan Devlin have both joined the cast of the Cedric the Entertainer-led comedy pilot, about reserve police officers. They'll play two of them - a soccer mom-turned-reservist and a rookie reservist, respectively. Cedric co-created the ABC Studios-based project alongside Bob Fisher.
MAGGIE HILL (FOX) - Stuart Townsend ("Night Stalker") has joined the cast of the pilot, a drama about a brilliant surgeon with schizophrenia (Christina Cole). He'll play her imaginary boyfriend in the hour, which comes from 20th Century Fox Television, creator Ian Biederman and director Stephen Hopkins.
PARENTHOOD (NBC) - Erika Christensen ("Six Degrees") is the first to be cast in the drama pilot, an update of Ron Howard's 1989 feature of the same name. She'll play Julia Braverman, "a go-getting corporate attorney having trouble jumping off the fast track and becoming more involved with her family." Jason Katims is behind the hour, which is based at Universal Media Studios and Imagine Television.
PULLING (ABC, New!) - Rob Hanning has booked a last-minute pilot order for a new comedy about three single women who move in together after one breaks off her engagement the day before her wedding. The project, which is based on Sharon Horgan and Dennis Kelly's U.K. series of the same name, is set up at ABC Studios with Elliot Hegarty directing. Hanning, Horgan and Kelly then will executive produce the single-camera half-hour alongside showrunner Stacy Traub and Francie Calfo.
Sources: Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, Reuters
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[03/23/26 - 01:17 PM]
Sky Katz and Case Walker to Headline New Tubi Original YA Romantic Comedy Film "Game On"
The film will be a highlighted topic at Tubi's IAB Newfronts presentation on Tuesday, March 24 alongside other breaking news.
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[03/23/26 - 01:16 PM]
Mahershala Ali Joins "Task" Season 2
Welcome to Delco.
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[03/23/26 - 01:04 PM]
Simon Williams and Trevor Slattery Will Return for Marvel Television's "Wonder Man" Season 2
Co-created by Destin Daniel Cretton and Andrew Guest, the new season is coming to Disney+.
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[03/23/26 - 11:16 AM]
Emmy Award-Winning "Baby Reindeer" Creator Richard Gadd Stars Alongside Jamie Bell in the New Limited Series "Half Man," Premiering April 23 on HBO Max
Some bonds may break you.
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[03/23/26 - 11:08 AM]
ESPN Announces MLB Game of the Day Schedule Through May
The Game of the Day schedule is an out of market offering and is subject to local blackout restrictions.
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[03/23/26 - 11:00 AM]
Survival Icon Bear Grylls Takes Eight Celebrities on the Journey of a Lifetime on "Bear Grylls Is Running Wild"
Elizabeth Banks, Rhys Darby, Colman Domingo, Tiffany Haddish, Matthew McConaughey, MGK, Michelle Monaghan, and Uma Thurman are featured in the series, due April 21 on FOX.
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[03/23/26 - 10:01 AM]
Love Returns to the Lake: Prime Video's "Every Year After" Reveals First Look at a Story of Second Chances
The series will debut all episodes on June 10 with an eight-episode season and will premiere exclusively on Prime Video in more than 240 countries and territories around the world.
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[03/23/26 - 09:30 AM]
CBS Renews "CIA" for Second Season
The series premiere on February 23 was seen by 8.4 million multiplatform viewers within seven days.
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[03/23/26 - 09:30 AM]
Prime Video Announces April 16 Premiere Date and Releases Key Art for "Jerry West: The Logo"
The feature-length documentary, from Propagate and Khalabo Ink Society, traces the life and career of NBA icon Jerry West, whose lifelong pursuit of winning was paved in sacrifice and loss.
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[03/23/26 - 09:04 AM]
AMC Networks' April Highlights Include "The Audacity," "The Brokenwood Mysteries," Shudder's "Halfway to Halloween" and HIDIVE's Exclusive Simulcasts
Other premieres include IFC's "SisterS"; Shudder's "Night Patrol"; and Sundance Now's "Original Gangsters with Sean Bean."
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[03/23/26 - 09:01 AM]
"Hacks" Returns for Its Fifth and Final Season April 9 on HBO Max
The 10-episode season will debut new episodes weekly, with two new episodes on April 30 and May 7, leading up to the series finale on Thursday, May 28.
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[03/23/26 - 08:16 AM]
Tubi Serves Up Scares with the First Look at "Hive," A New Thriller Starring Xochitl Gomez and Aaron Dominguez, Premiering Friday April 17th
The horror-thriller is about a strict, anxious teenager (Xochitl Gomez) who loses the child she's babysitting and must brave a sinister force hiding in plain sight among the children in the playground.
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[03/23/26 - 08:01 AM]
Video: "Dutton Ranch" Premieres May 15 on Paramount+ - Your First Look Is Here
As Beth and Rip fight to build a future together - far from the ghosts of Yellowstone - they collide with brutal new realities and a ruthless rival ranch that will stop at nothing to protect its empire.
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[03/23/26 - 08:00 AM]
New Season of "America Says" Hosted by John Michael Higgins - Premieres Monday April 13 at 6 PM EST on Game Show Network
The fast-paced studio game show features two teams of friends and family facing off to guess America's responses to fill-in-the-blank survey questions covering every topic under the sun.
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[03/23/26 - 07:30 AM]
Madelyn Burke Joins ESPN as a "SportsCenter" Anchor
For nearly a decade, Burke has been a multi-platform host and on-air talent covering the New York Giants, most recently with MSG Network and Giants.com, while also hosting for CBS Sports HQ.
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