or


[10/30/09 - 06:09 PM]
Development Update: Friday, October 30
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!


AIRPLANE REPO (Discovery) - Craig Piligian ("Dirty Jobs") has booked yet another series at the cable channel in which repossessor Nick Popovich and his team re-acquires jets and helicopters from delinquent owners around the world, including Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Finland. Eight episodes are set to roll out early next year from Piligian's Pilgrim Films & Television banner. Popovich and Bill Rancic ("The Apprentice") are executive producing alongside Piligan.


APOSTLE PROJECTS (Various, New!) - Denis Leary and Jim Serpico's Sony Pictures Television-based Apostle Films has lined up a half-dozen series projects around town. At CBS, the company is redeveloping its Michael Rapaport-led drama about "a social worker who's good at helping others with their problems, but not necessarily his own." Peter Ocko ("Pushing Daisies") is taking over scripting duties from Bryan Goluboff. Over at FOX, Apostle continues to shepherd "Extended Family" from John Beck and Ron Hart ("According to Jim"). The multi-camera comedy is based on Beck's experiences growing up in a family that also made room for foster kids.

Newly revealed are an untitled hour for FX set in the world of televangelists. David Folwell ("Medium") is writing the project, which is set up at FX Productions. At Spike TV there's "The Rebel League," loosely based on Ed Willes's book of the same name (subtitled "The Short and Unruly Life of the World Hockey"), about "the startup of a contemporary hockey league and its out-of-control managers and players." Stephen Engel ("The Big Bang Theory") is writing the half-hour. Meanwhile, USA is developing "Partners in Crime" from Janine Sherman-Barrois and "Scales of Justice," from New York playwright Joe Sutton. The former revolves around ex-husband and wife private eyes while the latter is a New Orleans-set drama about "an overweight ex-cop who enlists his overeaters support group to fight crime." Lastly, the company is looking to bring the feature film "Gattica" to the small screen. Gil Grant ("NCIS: LA") is penning the hour, a police procedural set in the future, which will go out to networks soon.


COUGAR TOWN (ABC) - "The Unit" alum Scott Foley has landed a three-episode arc on the freshman comedy, Entertainment Weekly reports. He'll play a client of Courteney Cox's realtor character whom she begins dating. It's not clear when his first episode will air.


THE FOLLOWER (HBO, New!) - Jason Starr's novel of the same name is set to be the focus of a potential new drama at the pay channel. Said hour, which is set up at Lionsgate Television, is "described as a dark social satire chronicling the dating lives of a group of twentysomething New Yorkers as seen through the eyes of a stalker." Bret Easton Ellis ("American Psycho") is penning the adaptation with Jason Blum ("Paranormal Activity") and Vertigo Films partners Doug Davison and Roy Lee and Media Talent Group's Geyer Kosinski also executive producing. Vertigo's Gabriel Mason is likewise attached as a co-executive producer with Steven Schneider serving as an associate producer. Vertigo has a first-look deal with Lionsgate.


JOSH HEALD PROJECTS (Various, New!) - Feature writer Josh Heald (the upcoming "Mardi Gras" and "Hot Tub Time Machine") has sold a pair of projects, multi-camera comedies at NBC and FOX. The Peacock effort, "Sausagefest," is about "two very different twentysomething best friends whose lives are complicated by their clingy dads, one a thrice-divorced misogynist who means well and the other a gentle widower." Norm Macdonald is already attached as the former dad. The FOX project, "Sequestered," then revolves around "12 strangers forced to live together when they are sequestered for a lengthy jury trial." BermanBraun's Gail Berman and Lloyd Braun are executive producing the Universal Media Studios-based "Sausagesfest" while The Chernin Co.'s Peter Chernin and Katherine Pope are likewise executive producing the 20th Century Fox Television-based "Sequestered."


NCIS (CBS) - Rena Sofer ("Heroes") is set to appear on an upcoming episode of the veteran CBS drama. She'll play a no-nonsense attorney with mysterious motives, a role which is potentially recurring.


RIZZOLI (TNT) - Sasha Alexander, Bruce McGill, Jordan Bridges and Lee Thompson Young have all joined the cast of the drama pilot, based on Tess Gerritsen's popular Jane Rizzoli mystery novels about the crime-solving team of Boston police detective Rizzoli (Angie Harmon) and medical examiner Maura Isles. Alexander will play the latter role with McGill as "the gruff but lovable Detective Vince Korsak, Jane's former partner who is a bit hurt that she had taken the likable but green Barry Frost (Young), as her new partner." Bridges then is set as Franke Rizzoli Jr., "Jane's younger brother, a Boston patrol officer who worships her and hopes to make detective someday." Janet Tamaro penned the hour and is executive producing alongside Bill Haber.


Sources: Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, Reuters





  [october 2009]  
S
M
T
W
T
F
S
    


· ACCORDING TO JIM (ABC)
· AIRPLANE REPO (DISCOVERY)
· APPRENTICE, THE (NBC)
· BIG BANG THEORY, THE (CBS)
· COUGAR TOWN (TBS)
· DEVELOPMENT UPDATE (TFC)
· DIRTY JOBS (DISCOVERY)
· EXTENDED FAMILY (FOX)
· FOLLOWER, THE (HBO)
· HEROES (NBC)
· MEDIUM (CBS)
· NCIS (CBS)
· NCIS: LOS ANGELES (CBS)
· PARTNERS IN CRIME (USA)
· PUSHING DAISIES (ABC)
· REBEL LEAGUE, THE (SPIKE TV)
· RIZZOLI & ISLES (TNT)
· SAUSAGEFEST (NBC)
· SCALES OF JUSTICE (USA)
· SEQUESTERED (FOX)
· UNIT, THE (CBS)
· UNTITLED DAVID FOLWELL PROJECT (FX)
· UNTITLED MICHAEL RAPAPORT PROJECT (CBS)





[08/24/26 - 12:01 PM]
Tubi Drops First Look Photos and Premiere Date for New Original Horror-Comedy Film "Buzzkill"
When a group of sorority sisters find themselves trapped with a vengeful killer, party-girl Nora (Siena Agudong) knows that the drunker she gets, the more her tipsy memories start revealing clues about who's murdering her friends.

[08/24/26 - 11:01 AM]
Video: "The Simpsons: Yellow Mirror" - Exclusive Episode on Disney+ - Trailer
Anything can happen in the Yellow Mirror.

[08/24/26 - 09:28 AM]
Video: First-Look at the Wild New Season of "Special Forces: World's Toughest Test"
The fifth season of FOX's ultimate celebrity social experiment enlists a new troop of household names to endure some of the harshest, most grueling challenges from the playbook of the actual Special Forces selection process.

[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.