[10/29/10 - 07:39 PM] Development Update: Friday, October 29 By The Futon Critic Staff (TFC)
LOS ANGELES (thefutoncritic.com) -- The latest development news, culled from recent wire reports:
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GREY'S ANATOMY (ABC) - Scott Foley is set to recur on the veteran medical drama. He'll play "a patient and potential love interest for Kim Raver's Iraqi veteran Dr. Teddy Altman." No other details however were given, nor a start date for his arc.
MATCH (ABC, New!) - Kiersten Van Horne ("Pretty Little Mistakes") and Cara Haycak ("Red Palms") are developing a new drama at the Alphabet "centering on the ethically complex world of adoption." Taye Diggs's O'Taye Productions is behind the hour, about "a Los Angeles-based team of lawyers, doctors and caseworkers [who] struggle to make dreams come true." Abe Hoch, Jennifer Bozell and Tiggs then will executive produce with Van Horne and Haycak producing, presumably for ABC Studios.
PRACTICAL MAGIC (ABC Family, New!) - Alice Hoffman's novel-turned-film, starring Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman, is once again being eyed for the small screen, this time by ABC Family. Said effort would once again revolve around the Owens family: "two sisters and their orphaned nieces, who are the latest in a ancestral line of witches [but] if any of the Owens women find true love with a man, he dies tragically." CBS and writer Becky Hartman-Edwards previously took a stab at an adaptation in 2004 with Kim Delaney and Jeri Ryan in the lead roles. Warner Bros. Television is behind the new incarnation however Denise Di Novi's DiNovi Productions and Sandra Bullock's Fortis Films are presumably not involved.
SISTER WIVES (TLC) - The cable channel has commissioned a second season of its real-life polygamist series. 10 new episodes of the Figure 8 Films-produced project will roll out beginning in March. That's in addition to this weekend's "Sister Wives Special" (Sunday, October 31) and next month's "Sister Wives Honeymoon Special" (Sunday, November 21). Bill Hayes, Kirk Streb, Chris Poole and Tim Gibbons are the executive producers.
UNTITLED EUGENE LEVY/MARTIN STARR PROJECT (CBS, New!) - Eugene Levy and Martin Starr are looking to team for a potential new comedy at the Eye. The actors will co-write said half-hour with Anonymous Content's Ben Feigin executive producing alongside Eric and Kim Tannenbaum for CBS Television Studios. No additional specifics were released.
UNTITLED JEFF LOWELL PROJECT (NBC, New!) - Feature writer Jeff Lowell ("Hotel for Dogs") is returning to the small screen for a single-camera comedy at the Peacock billed as "a romantic comedy about a couple from the point of view of the man and the woman whose unspoken thoughts we can hear via voiceover." ABC Studios and Brillstein Entertainment Partners are co-producing the half-hour, to be penned by Lowell (formerly of "Inside Schwartz").
VEEP (HBO, New!) - Julia Louis-Dreyfus ("The New Adventures of Old Christine") is in negotiations to topline the comedy pilot, about "former Senator Selina Meyer who finds being Vice President is nothing like she expected and everything everyone ever warned her about." Armando Iannucci ("The Thick of It," "Time Trumpet") is behind the half-hour, which he'll co-write (alongside Simon Blackwell), direct and executive produce (along with Chris Godsick and Frank Rich).
WHAT WOULD JANE DO (ABC Family) - Erica Dasher (TheWB.com's "The Lake") has been tapped for the title role on the drama pilot, which follows 16-year-old Jane (Dasher), "who lands a job at a hip retail company when they mistake her for an adult. Jane soon finds herself juggling life as a regular teenager in high school and as an assistant to a high powered executive in the cutthroat world of fashion... all while trying to keep her true identity a secret." In addition, Lev L. Spiro ("Blue Mountain State") has signed on to helm the pilot, from creator April Blair ("Lemonade Mouth"). Pariah's Gavin Polone also serves as an executive producer.
