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[09/20/10 - 06:13 PM]
Development Update: Monday, September 20
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!
AGAINST THE WALL (Lifetime) - Australian actress Rachael Carpani ("McLeod's Daughters") has scored the lead role on the pilot, a drama set in Chicago about a policewoman who causes a rift with her three cop brothers when she decides to join the department's Internal Affairs division. She'll play said woman, Abby Kowalski, in the project, which Dean Parisot has signed on to direct from a script by Annie Brunner. Universal Cable Productions is the studio attached.
THE AMANDA KNOX STORY (Lifetime, New!) - Hayden Panettiere ("Heroes") is set to topline a new docudrama at the cable channel from Pilgrim Films and Television based on the true story of Amanda Knox, a U.S. exchange student convicted by an Italian trial jury of brutally murdering her roommate. 20-year-old Knox, her boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito, and Ivory Coast native Rudy Guede were arrested in November 2007 and ultimately convicted for the killing of 21-year-old Meredith Kercher. The salacious details about Knox and company made headlines in the U.S. with Senator Maria Cantwell of Knox's home state of Washington decrying the verdict as the result of anti-Americanism in Italy. Robert Dornhelm is directing the project from a script by Wendy Battles while Craig Piligian, Battles, Trevor Walton and Craig Anderson executive producing and Randy Sutter producing.
EXTREME MAKEOVER: WEIGHT LOSS EDITION (A.K.A. OBESE) (ABC) - The Alphabet has rebranded the upcoming series "Obese" as "Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition." 3 Ball Productions is behind the hour-long series, which "follows morbidly obese individuals through a year of their life as they work to lose at least half of their body weight." It's understood casting is already underway for a second six-episode cycle due to the lengthy lead time needed to produce the series while the show itself may expand to two hours as a result of the abundant footage available. J.D. Roth and Todd A. Nelson are the executive producers while Chris Powell (TLC's "The 650-Pound Virgin") serves "as their coach, moving into their homes with their families."
HOMELAND (A.K.A. PATRIOTS) (Showtime, New!) - Howard Gordon's drama, an import of the Israeli series "Prisoners of War," has found a home at Showtime with Ben Affleck ("The Town") in talks to direct. The "24" alum co-wrote the pilot alongside Alex Gansa and Gideon Raff, the creator of the original series. Said hour will revolve around an American solider who's rescued after going missing 10 years ago in Iraq and a female CIA operative who investigates the circumstances surrounding his return, after receiving a tip he may actually be part of an upcoming terror plot. Gordon, Gansa and Raff are executive producing with Avi Nir and Ron Telem for Fox 21 and the Keshet Broadcasting Group.
LAW & ORDER: LOS ANGELES (NBC) - Peter Coyote ("FlashForward") has been tapped as the District Attorney on the upcoming spin-off. He'll serve as the supervisor to Alfred Molina and Terrence Howard's characters, both ADAs who will alternate their services each week. Skeet Ulrich, Corey Stoll, Megan Boone, Regina Hall and Rachel Ticotin also star in the hour, which launches next week.
LEGENDS (NBC, New!) - Howard Gordon ("24") has booked his third project this development cycle, about a "CIA operative with an uncanny gift for 'legends' - aka false identities - who is sent on a variety of missions, while simultaneously coping with the possibility that his own identity may be a 'legend' itself." The project, which has a put pilot commitment, is based on a book by Robert Littell. Mark Bomback ("Live Free or Die Hard") is penning the hour and executive producing alongside Gordon and Jonathan Levin for 20th Century Fox Television.
NECESSARY ROUGHNESS (USA) - Callie Thorne ("Rescue Me") has been cast in the lead role on the drama pilot, about "a tough, sexy Long Island divorcee (Thorne) who, to make ends meet, becomes the therapist for a professional football team and quickly becomes sought after by other athletes, musicians, politicians and those living in the spotlight." Elizabeth Kruger and Craig Shapiro co-wrote the 90-minute pilot, production of which was casting said role. Sony Pictures Television is behind the project with Kruger and Shapiro executive producing alongside Donna Dannenfesler, Joe Sabatino and Kevin Dowling, the latter of which will direct.
PAN AM (ABC, New!) - Jack Orman ("Men of a Certain Age") and Thomas Schlamme ("Mr. Sunshine") are set to team for a potential new drama about the defunct air carrier. Said hour, which comes from Sony Pictures Television and has a pilot commitment, will be set in the mid-1960s and focus on "the pilots and flight attendants who once made Pan Am the most glamorous way to fly." Schlamme will direct the project from a script by Orman with Nancy Ganis executive producing alongside the duo. Sid Ganis is also attached as a co-executive producer. Pan Am formally closed in 1991 following a much-ballyhooed bankruptcy.
SHARK TANK (ABC) - Mark Cuban, owner of the NBA's Dallas Mavericks and chairman of cable channel HDNet, is the latest addition to the show's second season. He'll appear in three episodes as a guest venture capitalist. Cuban joins Jeff Foxworthy, who's likewise set to appear in three installments during the upcoming sophomore run. Cuban previously was the centerpiece of the Alphabet's short-lived reality competition "The Benefactor" in 2004.
UNTITLED MO MANDEL PROJECT (NBC, New!) - Comedian Mo Mandel ("Chelsea Lately") has set up a new comedy at the Peacock which "chronicles what a group of 20 somethings do in the last five years of their lives before the Earth is destroyed by a meteor." Mandel is writing the half-hour and may co-star in the pilot, should it move forward. 3 Arts Entertainment is producing.
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[08/15/17 - 01:14 PM]
Showtime Sports(R) to Chronicle the 2017 United States Naval Academy Football Team with Weekly Docu-Series "A Season with Navy Football"
After chronicling The Notre Dame Fighting Irish and Florida State Seminoles in its first two seasons, the original franchise returns to reveal a vastly different picture of student-athlete life.
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[08/15/17 - 11:21 AM]
Hallmark Movies & Mysteries' Newest "Garage Sale Mystery Month" Premiere Scores as Highest-Rated and Most-Watched Telecast in Network History
The Hallmark Channel spins the numbers for the week of August 7-13.
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[08/15/17 - 11:20 AM]
Video: Netflix Announces the Launch Date and Debuts Trailer for Original Documentary Short "Resurface"
The film premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival where it won a Special Jury Mention and will launch globally on Netflix on September 1.
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[08/15/17 - 10:44 AM]
Smithsonian Channel(TM) Calls All Aboard with "Mighty Cruise Ships" and "Mighty Trains"
Look for both series back-to-back beginning Sunday, September 3 at 8:00/7:00c.
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[08/15/17 - 10:31 AM]
2017 "NFL on CBS" Broadcast Pairings Feature Five New Teams Led by New Lead Announce Team of Jim Nantz, Tony Romo and Tracy Wolfson
Beth Mowins will become the first woman to ever call play-by-play for the network's NFL games when she teams with new game analyst Jay Feely to call Cleveland-Indianapolis on September 24.
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[08/15/17 - 10:08 AM]
Patrick Dempsey, Ben Schnetzer, Damon Wayans Jr and Virginia Madsen Star in the MGM Television, Eagle Pictures and Barbary Films New Television Series Based on the Worldwide Best-Selling Novel "The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair"
The project takes place in coastal Maine and focuses on Marcus Goldman who is visiting Harry Quebert's home to find a cure for his writer's block as his publisher's deadline looms.
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[08/15/17 - 10:06 AM]
Netflix Renews "Ozark" for a Second Season
The Jason Bateman/Laura Linney-led drama will return for 10 new episodes.
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[08/15/17 - 10:02 AM]
"Younger" Continues to Break All-Time Series Records with Highest-Rated and Most-Watched Episode Ever
TV Land further spins the numbers for Wednesday, August 9.
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[08/15/17 - 10:01 AM]
"Project Runway" Gets Accessorized with Launch of Three New Digital Series from A+E Networks' 45th & Dean
Fan favorite digital series "Project Sammy's Way," which debuted with season 15, also returns this year.
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[08/15/17 - 09:15 AM]
"Mysteries of the Abandoned: Chernobyl's Deadly Secrets" Premieres Thursday, August 31 at 9 PM on Science Channel
For the past seven years, engineer Philip Grossman's obsession has been the abandoned landscape that has developed out of the infamous nuclear disaster at Chernobyl.
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[08/15/17 - 08:28 AM]
Monday's Broadcast Ratings: ABC, "Bachelor in Paradise" Win Demo Crown
The Alphabet narrowly edges NBC and "American Ninja Warrior" among adults 18-49.
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[08/15/17 - 08:01 AM]
Video: "The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected)" Teaser Released
Adam Sandler, Ben Stiller, Elizabeth Marvel and Dustin Hoffman star in Noah Baumbach's Netflix film.
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[08/15/17 - 07:21 AM]
FOX Sports Unveils Broadcast Teams for 2017 NFL Season
Three-time Super Bowl Champion Mark Schlereth spends his first season in the booth alongside play-by-play announcer Dick Stockton and sideline reporter Shannon Spake.
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[08/15/17 - 07:18 AM]
Investigation Discovery (ID) Partners with the Southern Poverty Law Center to Develop New Special about the White Supremacy Movement
The cable channel will also encore its special "Hate in America: The Klan on Trial" this Thursday at 8:00/7:00c.
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[08/15/17 - 07:07 AM]
Discovery Explores the Disturbing Story of a Young Man Who Was Found Inside a Deadly Snake in "Man-Eating Python" Premiering August 25 at 10PM ET/PT
Hosted by Rob Nelson, the all-new special reveals the science behind these remarkable python attacks and how we as humans could be contributing to the rise in them.
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