[01/25/11 - 10:46 PM] Development Update: Tuesday, January 25 By The Futon Critic Staff (TFC)
LOS ANGELES (thefutoncritic.com) -- The latest development news, culled from recent wire reports:
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THE COUNCIL OF DADS (FOX) - Peter Tolan's half-hour, about "a man who finds out that he's dying and enlists five men from every corner of his life to assist his wife in raising his two children," has snagged a pilot commitment from the network. Sony Pictures Television is behind the single-camera project, which Tolan and Michael Wimer are executive producing via their studio-based Fedora Entertainment. Bruce Feiler, who penned the non-fiction book of the same name, will serve as a consultant.
FAMILY ALBUM (A.K.A. UNTITLED PORT & WISEMAN PROJECT) (FOX) - Joe Port and Joe Wiseman's comedy, about "a headstrong patriarch who, determined to get some quality family time, embarks on a vacation with his extended family," has been ordered to pilot by the network. The single-camera project, each season of which will take place during one summer vacation, is set up at 20th Century Fox Television with Port and Wiseman executive producing.
LOST & FOUND (ABC, New!) - Actress/writer Marisa Coughlan ("Bones") has scored a pilot order from the Alphabet for a new multi-camera comedy about "a New York bartender and party girl who has her life upended when the 18-year-old son she gave up for adoption (and who happens to be conservative) finds his way into her life." Warner Bros. Television is behind the project, which Coughlan penned and will serve as a supervising producer.
PAN AM (ABC) - The period drama, about the pilots and flight attendants who once made Pan Am the most glamorous way to fly in the 1960s, is moving forward to pilot. Jack Orman penned the Sony Pictures Television-based hour, which Thomas Schlamme is attached to direct. They'll also executive produce alongside Nancy Ganis with Sid Ganis serving as a co-executive producer.
POE (ABC, New!) - Chris Hollier ("Kyle XY") has booked a pilot at the Alphabet for a period drama set "in 1840s Boston, where Edgar Allan Poe works as a detective using unusual methods." Hollier, who will serve as a supervising producer, penned the hour for Warner Bros. Television. Dan Lin is also attached to executive produce via his Lin Pictures banner.
S.I.L.A. (NBC, New!) - Oscar-winner Stephen Gaghan ("Traffic") is returning to the small screen, this time for a drama "depicting a complex web of crime, policework and politics" in Los Angeles. The Peacock has given a pilot order to the 20th Century Fox Television-based project, formally known as "Special Investigations Los Angeles," which Gaghan will also direct and executive produce alongside Chernin Entertainment's Peter Chernin and Katherine Pope.
WORK IT (ABC, New!) - Andrew Reich and Ted Cohen have booked a second comedy pilot at the Alphabet. The multi-camera half-hour revolves around "two out-of-work car salesmen - both husbands and fathers - who dress as women by day to get jobs working as pharmaceutical reps." Warner Bros. Television is producing. Earlier this month the duo also got a greenlight from ABC for "Smothered," about "a young couple who find themselves smothered by their two very different sets of parents whose only thing in common is that their children are married to each other."
