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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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[03/13/26 - 08:01 AM]
Video: "Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen" - Official Trailer - Netflix
A bride has a feeling that something horrifying will happen at her wedding - and the closer to the altar she gets, the worse it becomes.
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[03/13/26 - 08:01 AM]
Video: Hot Out the Oven - Hulu's "Pizza Movie" Trailer & Key Art
A shy college student and his reckless roommate set out on a simple mission to grab pizza, but after a strange dose of a mind-bending experimental drug, they're thrust into a chaotic night of absurd encounters, wild hallucinations, and unexpected revelations that could change their lives forever.
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[03/13/26 - 07:13 AM]
FOX Sports, Imagine Documentaries & Delirio Films Announce "Summer of '94" Premiering May 23 on FOX
The film highlights the wild journey of the 1994 USMNT, a unique group of players led by an unlikely coach who endured a grueling two-year training camp, with no professional league and no roadmap, hoping simply not to embarrass their nation at the first-ever modern World Cup hosted on American soil.
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[03/13/26 - 05:01 AM]
Video: "Temptation Island" Season 2 - Official Trailer - Netflix
Four couples at a crossroads test their bond by splitting up and sharing a villa with alluring singles looking for love in this steamy reality series.
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[03/12/26 - 09:01 PM]
"The Vampire Lestat" Set to Debut Sunday, June 7 on AMC and AMC+
Plus: Lestat de Lioncourt (Sam Reid) is back pleasing fledglings and fans worldwide with the debut of "All Fall Down," the second official rock single from the series.
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[03/12/26 - 03:18 PM]
FOX Sports Scores All-Time High Team USA World Baseball Classic Viewership
3,171,000 viewers on average watched the four Team USA World Baseball Classic Pool play games across FOX, FS1 and FOX Deportes.
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[03/12/26 - 03:01 PM]
CBS Midseason Premiere Week Tops Broadcast and Streaming Rankings in Live + 7-Day Multiplatform Viewership
The network scored three of the top four and 12 of the top 20 most-watched series among all broadcast and streaming competition.
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[03/12/26 - 01:02 PM]
Video: Paramount+ Releases Official Trailer for Season Eight of "FBI True"
All 10 episodes of the new season will be available to stream at launch on on Tuesday, March 31.
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[03/12/26 - 01:01 PM]
Paramount+ and CBS Partner to Air UFC 327: Prochazka vs. Ulberg Live on Paramount+ and CBS Television Network
CBS will simulcast select fights from both the prelims and the main card in primetime from 8:00-10:00 PM ET.
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[03/12/26 - 12:31 PM]
BET Expands Daytime Lineup with AFRO TV's "The Sisaundra Show" and "Point of View," Celebrating Community, Culture and Connection on BET Her
The agreement brings the AFRO TV-produced live shows to BET Her's weekday lineup, premiering March 16.
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[03/12/26 - 12:01 PM]
NBC's Unscripted Summer Celebration Arrives and Delivers the Hits
Following up on last year's phenomenal docuseries "The Americas," NBC will present "Surviving Earth," a landmark series showcasing how life not only survived but thrived through Earth's most catastrophic environmental crises.
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[03/12/26 - 11:30 AM]
CBS Renews "Marshals" for Second Season
Its premiere episode (March 1 from 8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT) was watched by 20.6 million multiplatform viewers within seven days, marking the most-watched network original series premiere without a football lead in since 2017.
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[03/12/26 - 10:31 AM]
Vox Creative, Verizon, and Roku to Premiere "Soccer Meets America" Ahead of World Cup
The three-part documentary series will premiere on The Roku Channel in May.
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[03/12/26 - 10:02 AM]
Awards Season on Hulu: Oscar-Nominated Films Now Streaming
Also joining the lineup is the heartfelt family drama "Sentimental Value," coming to Hulu on March 23.
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[03/12/26 - 09:46 AM]
Roku Launches NCAA March Madness Zone for 2026 Tournament
Available throughout the four weeks of March Madness, the zone also allows fans to set game reminders for their must-see match-ups and check final scores with the new score-strip row.
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