or


[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


· BESTIES (ABC)
· BODY POLITIC, THE (CW)
· CHOCOLATE NEWS (COMEDY CENTRAL)
· COUGAR TOWN (TBS)
· DANCING WITH THE STARS (ABC)
· DEVELOPMENT UPDATE (TFC)
· DIARY OF A MANHATTAN CALL GIRL (HBO)
· GOSSIP GIRL (CW)
· HUMAN TARGET (FOX)
· IMPACT (ABC)
· LAW, THE (ABC)
· LIPSTICK JUNGLE (NBC)
· MAGGIE HILL (FOX)
· NIGHT STALKER (ABC)
· PARENTHOOD (NBC)
· PUSHING DAISIES (ABC)
· RITA ROCKS (LIFETIME)
· SEX AND THE CITY (HBO)
· SIX DEGREES (ABC)
· SWINGTOWN (CBS)
· UNTITLED GOSSIP GIRL SPIN-OFF PROJECT (CW)
· WEST WING, THE (NBC)





[07/15/25 - 02:06 PM]
Viewership for 2025 T-Mobile Home Run Derby Exclusively on ESPN Platforms Up Five Percent From Last Year
An average audience of 5,729,000 viewers watched the event, compared to 5,451,000 viewers in 2024.

[07/15/25 - 01:04 PM]
ABC News' "Nightline" Ranks No. 1 in Total Viewers and Adults 18-49 vs. CBS' "After Midnight" and NBC's "Late Night with Seth Meyers" for 2nd Consecutive Week
"Nightline" posted Total Viewer gains both week to week and year to year.

[07/15/25 - 12:31 PM]
ESPN and ABC Present AT&T WNBA All-Star 2025, July 18-19
Saturday's All-Star Game will feature many of the league's biggest stars, including Captains Caitlin Clark and Napheesa Collier as well as Aliyah Boston, Paige Bueckers, Sabrina Ionescu, Kelsey Mitchell, Kelsey Plum, Angel Reese, Breanna Stewart and A'ja Wilson.

[07/15/25 - 12:05 PM]
The Walt Disney Company Earns 137 Emmy Award Nominations
Disney's FX garnered 35 nominations, of which five are for Outstanding Program - Comedy Series (two), Limited Series, Documentary Series and Unstructured Reality Series.

[07/15/25 - 12:01 PM]
Netflix Top 10 Week of July 7: "KPop Demon Hunters" Spends Another Golden Week at No. 1 in This Week's Top 10
"The Sandman's" second season entered the Top 10 in 89 countries last week, while claiming the No. 1 spot in English TV with 5.9 million views.

[07/15/25 - 11:46 AM]
NBCUniversal Receives 72 Emmy Award Nominations, Including a Record-Setting 31 Nominations for the "Saturday Night Live" Franchise As It Extends Its Lead As Most Nominated Show Ever
Universal Studio Group (USG) garnered 56 nominations, including 15 for the critically acclaimed "Hacks," which earned noms for Outstanding Comedy Series and Jean Smart for Lead Actress in a Comedy Series.

[07/15/25 - 11:35 AM]
The Search for America's Ultimate Physique Is on with "Physical 100 USA"
In the original Korean series, elite athletes, bodybuilders, and military professionals face off in grueling quests that test raw strength and endurance.

[07/15/25 - 11:00 AM]
Video: We TV and ALLBLK Release Trailer and Key Art for the Hit Music Competition Series "Deb's House"
The series is set to premiere Friday, August 22 at 9:30pm ET exclusively on We TV and streaming on ALLBLK and AMC+.

[07/15/25 - 10:29 AM]
Lionsgate Scores Record 23 Emmy Nominations for the Acclaimed Seth Rogen/Evan Goldberg Comedy Series "The Studio" on Apple TV+
Lionsgate's hit series "The Rookie" on ABC also earned two Emmy nominations, bringing the Company's total to 25 Emmy nominations.

[07/15/25 - 10:14 AM]
Warner Bros. TV Group Tops All Studios with 60 Emmy Nominations
This includes an Outstanding Drama Series nomination for Warner Bros. Television's "The Pitt," Comedy Series nods for WBTV's "Abbott Elementary" and "Shrinking," and Limited/Anthology Series honors for WBTV's "The Penguin."

[07/15/25 - 09:38 AM]
HBO Max Receives the Most Emmy Nominations with 142 Nods, Setting a New Record for the Platform
"These Emmy nominations highlight the exceptional craftsmanship and storytelling that define HBO Max," said Casey Bloys, Chairman & CEO, HBO & HBO Max Content.

[07/15/25 - 09:04 AM]
ABC Airs Another of Its Most-Watched WNBA Games Ever: Dallas Wings vs Indiana Fever Averaged 2.1 Million Viewers, Up 69% from Last Year's ABC Average
Said audience peaked with 2.5 million viewers.

[07/15/25 - 09:01 AM]
Video: "Red Eye" - Season 1 Official Trailer - Hulu
A red eye flight from London to Beijing becomes a thrilling journey after Dr. Matthew Nolan (Richard Armitage) is arrested and accused of murdering a woman.

[07/15/25 - 09:00 AM]
77th Emmy Awards Complete Nominations List
"Andor," "The Diplomat," "The Last of Us," "Paradise," "The Pitt," "Severance," "Slow Horses," and "The White Lotus" will compete for Outstanding Drama Series.

[07/15/25 - 07:15 AM]
Video: Official Trailer Released for New Adult Swim Stop-Motion Series "Women Wearing Shoulder Pads"
Created by Gonzalo Cordova and produced in partnership with Mexico City-based studio Cinema Fantasma, the stop-motion series follows Marioneta, a proud wealthy Spaniard living in 1980s Quito, Ecuador.