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[09/30/10 - 06:15 PM]
Development Update: Thursday, September 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!


THE BOSS IS COMING TO DINNER (NBC, New!) - The Peacock has given a pilot order to a new reality series in which "a group of job applicants must invite their prospective employer to their home and throw a dinner party," which he or she uses to make a final hiring decision. Zodiak USA, formerly RDF USA, is behind the project, incarnations of which also air in the U.K. and Australia. The company's Grant Mansfield, Natalka Znak and Claire O'Donohoe are the executive producers.


CONFESSIONS OF A BACK-UP DANCER (The CW)/UNKNOWN (FOX, New!) - Feature writer Sascha Penn is developing a pair of dramas at The CW and FOX. At the latter there's "Unknown," "an action series in the vein of 'The Fugitive' that follows a man on a journey to discover who he really is." Brett Ratner, Martha Haight and Bert Salke are executive producing for Fox 21 and Rat Television. Penn, who wrote the hour on spec, will serve as a co-executive producer. Then there's "Back-Up Dancer" at The CW. Said hour, based on Tucker Shaw's novel of the same, revolves around "the glamorous and gritty behind-the-scenes world of a major pop tour from the point of view of the star's troupe of backing dancers." Ilene Chaiken took a stab at the property last season which ultimately didn't move forward. Alloy Entertainment's Les Morgenstein and Gina Girolamo are executive producing alongside Penn and Marcos Siega ("The Vampire Diaries"), who's attached to direct, for Warner Bros. Television.


CONNECTED (FOX, New!) - Nahnatchka Khan ("American Dad!") has landed a put pilot order from the network for a single-camera comedy about "two families linked by their teens' romantic relationship." R.J. Cutler and Mosaic's Ann Blanchard are executive producing the 20th Century Fox Television-based half-hour alongside Khan, who's based at the studio.


COUGAR TOWN (ABC) - Collette Wolfe ("100 Questions") has booked a recurring role on the show's sophomore season. She'll play "a grad student who gets romantically involved with college freshman Travis (Dan Byrd)." Said run is set to begin in November.


THE FRAME (The CW, New!) - The netlet is developing a "Truman Show" reality competition series "in which teams of two are isolated in small rooms, with their life broadcast on TV and the net as they compete against each other." As for specifics, said effort, from production company Armoza, is based on an Israeli format in which the teams are confined into a small space (potentially as little as ten feet by ten feet) for weeks at a time (minus the necessary bathroom/grooming breaks) where they must stay in "the frame" while competing in unspecified challenges, with the viewing audience having some control over who stays and goes.


HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER (CBS) - Kyle MacLachlan ("Desperate Housewives") has been cast in a multi-episode arc on the veteran comedy. He'll play the ex-husband of Jennifer Morrison's character - Ted's (Josh Radnor's) latest love interest - in at least two episodes this season.


MEET JANE (Lifetime, New!) - Andi Bushell ("Criminal Minds") has snagged a pilot order from the cable channel for a new drama about Jane Bilinksi, "whose stale life as an unhappily married mother of two daughters in the Washington, DC area is suddenly re-energized and empowered when the FBI enlists her to spy on her husband, a computer technician the government suspects is selling top-secret information to Russia." Bushell penned the hour for Warner Horizon Television and is executive producing alongside Mark Pedowitz and his Pine Street Entertainment.


UNTITLED BRAD GARRETT PROJECT (TLC, New!) - The cable channel has given a six-episode order to a new "Kids Say the Darndest Things"-esque series in which Brad Garrett interviews "youngsters in a combination of in-studio and field segments as well as user-generated content." Ryan Seacrest Productions is behind the project, with Seacrest, Garrett, Glenn Robbins and Doug Wald executive producing.






  [september 2010]  
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· 100 QUESTIONS (NBC)
· AMERICAN DAD (FOX)
· BOSS IS COMING TO DINNER, THE (NBC)
· CONFESSIONS OF A BACKUP DANCER (CW)
· CONNECTED (FOX)
· COUGAR TOWN (TBS)
· CRIMINAL MINDS (CBS)
· DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES (ABC)
· DEVELOPMENT UPDATE (TFC)
· FRAME, THE (CW)
· HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER (CBS)
· I KID WITH BRAD GARRETT (TLC)
· MEET JANE (LIFETIME)
· UNKNOWN (FOX)
· VAMPIRE DIARIES, THE (CW)





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