[08/26/11 - 10:57 PM] Development Update: Friday, August 26 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!
AMERICAN HORROR STORY (FX) - The cable channel reportedly has booked a two-part Halloween event for Wednesday, October 26 and Monday, October 31. Said installments will feature "Heroes" alumnus Zachary Quinto as Chad, "the gay former owner of the house who becomes friends with [Connie Britton's] Vivien." He'll also appear in two other episodes, pending the closing of his deal. Other notable guest stars in the newcomer, premiering October 5, include Eric Close, Jamie Harris, Lily Rabe and Michael Graziadei. (Deadline.com)AND THEN THERE WAS GORDON (FOX, New!) - "The Proposal" co-stars Ryan Reynolds and Sandra Bullock are on track to re-team for a potential animated comedy at the network. Reynolds himself is co-writing the half-hour, about "an ordinary child surrounded by his prodigy siblings and brilliant, but neurotic mother," alongside his producing partner Allan Loeb. Bullock would potentially voice the mother with Reynolds as an unspecified cast member in the project, which has a pilot presentation order. The trio would also executive produce alongside Steven Pearl and Jonathon Komack Martin via Reynolds and Loeb's DarkFire banner for 20th Century Fox Television. (Deadline.com)BABY BIG SHOT (CBS, New!) - Dana Calvo ("Franklin & Bash") has snagged a script order from the Eye for a new drama about "a working-class woman who uses her street smarts to compete with her more polished colleagues at a Manhattan law firm." Kevin Falls, Jamie Tarses and Julia Franz will executive produce alongside Calvo via Tarses's Sony Pictures Television-based FanFare banner. (Deadline.com)HOW TO CON YOUR KID (ABC, New!) - Prentice Penny ("Happy Endings") has booked a new comedy at the Alphabet based on David Borgenicht and James Grace's parental guide of the same name. Sony Pictures Television is behind the half-hour, which would revolve around "a new father and his dad who get a second chance to fix their relationship now that they're both fathers." Original Film's Neal Moritz and Vivian Cannon will also serve as executive producers. (Deadline.com)LONGMIRE (A&E) - The cable channel has formally commissioned 10 episodes of the series, about Walt Longmire (Robert Taylor), "the charismatic, dedicated and unflappable sheriff of Absaroka County, Wyoming. Widowed only a year, he is a man in psychic repair but buries his pain behind his brave face, unassuming grin and dry wit. With the help of a young, attractive female cop (Katee Sackhoff), Longmire becomes reinvigorated about his job and is committed to run for re-election because he knows what everyone else in his community knows: he's the only man that can get the job done." Bailey Chase, Cassidy Freeman and Lou Diamond Phillips also star in the Warner Horizon Television-based hour, which was co-created by Hunt Baldwin and John Coveny. Greer Shephard and Michael M. Robin also serve as executive producers.
MEN AT WORK (TBS) - The cable channel has greenlit the Breckin Meyer-penned comedy pilot, about "a guy thrust into single life after discovering his girlfriend has been cheating who finds comfort in three best friends who help reinvent his manhood with the promise of sex, alcohol and some serious bromance." Sony Pictures Television is behind the multi-camera project, which is also executive produced by FanFare's Jamie Tarses. (Deadline.com)SUITS (USA) - Creator Aaron Korsh will be upped to executive producer/showrunner for the show's second season. He'll take over the reigns from Sean Jablonski, who was brought in to supervise Korsh for its freshman run. (Deadline.com)STUPID & CONTAGIOUS (NBC, New!) - Caprice Crane ("Melrose Place") is looking to bring her book to the small screen at the Peacock. She'll write and presumably executive produce the half-hour, about "two hate-at-first-sight neighbors navigating their way through life and love in their twenties." No studio or other producing auspices were given. (Deadline.com)YARD DOGS (FOX, New!) - Malcolm Spellman ("Our Family Wedding") has sold a potential drama to the network about "two cops who specialize in getting information from prisoners pertaining to cases that the police can't crack in the outside world." Said hour comes from 20th Century Fox Television and fellow executive producers Brian Koppelman and David Levien, who have a first-look deal with the studio. (Deadline.com)AND IN OTHER NEWS... - Frances Fisher will turn up on "CSI" as the wife of a notorious hit man in an episode set at The Mob Museum (EW.com); real-life spouses Stephen Root and Romy Rosemont will play a married couple on the sixth episode of "Fringe" this season (TVLine.com); Mark Pellegrino's Bishop will return to "Being Human" for at least one installment on its upcoming sophomore run (TVLine.com); Richard Dean Anderson is set to guest on "Raising Hope" as an imposing patriarch who thinks Lucas Neff's Jimmy was hitting on his 13-year-old, played by Anderson's own daughter Wylie (TVLine.com); D.B. Woodside has booked a five-episode arc on "Parenthood" as an Ivy League-educated doctor and potential love interest for Joy Bryant's Jasmine (THR.com); plus Nonso Anozie and Laura Pradelska are bound for "Game of Thrones" as Xaro Xhoan Daxos, the merchant prince of Qarth, and Quaithe, a mysterious priestess from the eastern lands, respectively (Westeros.org, THR.com).
