 |
 |
[03/06/09 - 06:31 PM]
Development Update: Friday, March 6
By The Futon Critic Staff (TFC) |
|
|
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
|
|
|
 [march 2009]  |
S |
M |
T |
W |
T |
F |
S |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
|
[08/24/26 - 07:01 AM]
Video: Netflix Confirms Renewals for UK Fan Favourites and Debuts Trailer for "The Gentlemen" Season 2
"Black Doves," "Supacell," "Black Mirror," "At Home With The Fury," "Love Is Blind: UK," "Formula 1: Drive to Survive," "Being Gordon Ramsay," "House of Guinness," and "Legends" are also due back.
|
[08/24/26 - 07:01 AM]
BritBox Announces Casting as Filming Begins on New Detective Drama "The Detection Club"
The series stars Bryony Hannah as Agatha Christie, Miles Jupp as G.K. Chesterton and Cara Theobold as Dorothy L. Sayers.
|
[08/24/26 - 06:01 AM]
Video: "City of Blood" - Official Trailer - Hulu
It's the future and Berlin is collapsing. While privieged elite live beneath a climate-controlled dome, those outside struggle to survive in a world ravaged by heat, corruption, and crime.
|
[08/24/26 - 04:01 AM]
Video: "The Grand Tour" - Official Trailer - Prime Video
James, Francis, and Thomas are officially in the driving seat.
|
[08/24/26 - 03:01 AM]
Video: "Call My Agent! The Movie" - Official Trailer - Netflix
Five years after ASK Agency closed, debut director Andréa loses her lead actor just days before filming and reunites her old team - for better or worse.
|
[08/23/26 - 05:01 PM]
Video: "Kian's Bizarre B&B" Season 2 - Official Teaser - Netflix
Kian84's absurd architectural dreams come to life to host another B&B with Kim Yeon-koung, Lee Jun-ho, and Kazuha.
|
[08/23/26 - 04:01 AM]
Netflix Adds Four to "One Piece: The Battle of Alabasta"
Emilio Sakraya, Omid Abtahi, Jamie Ward, and Nabeel Khan are all bound for the show's third season.
|
[08/22/26 - 12:01 AM]
Video: "Sparks of Tomorrow" - New Episodes Trailer - Netflix
In an alternate past, an unlikely duo team up to look for a missing catalog that could bring electricity to the smoke-filled streets of Kyoto.
|
[08/21/26 - 01:01 PM]
ABC News Ranks No. 1 in Total Viewers Across Friday Night and Late-Night
"20/20" turned in double-digit gains year to year in all key target demos.
|
[08/21/26 - 10:46 AM]
HBO Max Orders New Comedy Series "The People v. Gorilla Grodd"
The series stars Skyler Gisondo as Jimmy Olsen, Jimmy Tatro as Gorilla Grodd, and "Superman" actors Beck Bennett as Steve Lombard, Mikaela Hoover as Cat Grant, and Wendell Pierce as Perry White.
|
[08/21/26 - 08:01 AM]
Video: HBO Max Releases Official Season 3 Teaser and First Look Images for the Max Original Drama Series "The Pitt"
The critically acclaimed series, which earned 26 Emmy Award nominations for season 2, will return for its third season in January 2027.
|
[08/21/26 - 08:01 AM]
BritBox Reveals First Look of Edward Bluemel as Hercule Poirot in "Hercule," Now in Production
The series, which has commenced filming in Liverpool, is an intimate study of Hercule Poirot, the man and an epic portrait of Britain between the wars.
|
[08/21/26 - 06:33 AM]
Video: "Masterpiece" Fall 2026 Preview
New seasons of "The Marlow Murder Club," "Maigret," and "The Gold," plus the premiere of "Marble Hall Murders" are all coming this fall.
|
[08/20/26 - 10:31 PM]
A Mother's Fight Against All Odds: Netflix's Gripping Thriller "Gandhari" Premieres September 3, 2026
The emotionally charged action-thriller led by Taapsee Pannu explores the extraordinary lengths one woman will go to when everything she loves is at stake.
|
[08/20/26 - 07:15 PM]
ESPN Schedule Update: Little League Baseball World Series Coverage Revised for Friday, Aug. 21
The changes are a result of weather-related postponements.
|
|
|
|
