[09/09/11 - 10:46 PM] Development Update: Friday, September 9 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!
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST (ABC, New!) - Jonathan E. Steinberg ("Human Target") is developing "an epic fantasy re-imagining of the classic Beauty and the Beast tale" at the Alphabet. Said hour comes from ABC Studios with Gary Fleder and Mary Beth Basile of Mojo Films also serving as executive producers. Linda Hamilton and Ron Perlman toplined the cult 1987-1990 series of the same name at CBS while former executive producers Tony Thomas and Paul Junger Witt spearheaded a potential revival at UPN back in 2001. (Deadline.com)HAUNTED (ABC, New!) - Freature writer Cory Goodman ("The Priest") and director Jon Turteltaub ("National Treasure") are set to team for a new drama about Jessica Garrity, "a paranormal investigator who each week helps the living move on from a spirit that can't let go." Said hour comes from Turteltaub's ABC Studios-based Junction Entertainment and Adam Goldworm's Aperture Entertainment, which manages Goodman. Turteltaub then will direct and executive produce from a script by Goodman should it move forward. (Deadline.com)THE LOCKHARTS (ABC, New!) - Michael Gans and Richard Register ("Make It or Break It") have booked a period drama at the Alphabet about the Lockharts, a musically gifted, seemingly ideal family that lands its own variety show on a national network in the 1970s. Laurie Zaks and ABC Studios are likewise behind the hour, which will be "framed by a slowly evolving present-day mystery involving the scandalous disappearance of the family's matriarch." (Deadline.com)MALIBU COUNTRY (ABC, New!) - Reba McEntire has snagged a put pilot order for a new multi-camera comedy at the Alphabet about a woman who divorces her broke, cheating rock star husband and "moves her family from Nashville to the only asset she has left - a little house in Malibu. There she'll try to reignite her own singing career and keep herself and her three kids from being corrupted by the materialistic and rarefied Malibu world she now calls home." Kevin Abbott ("Reba") is penning the half-hour with the ABC Studios-based Mindy Schultheis and Michael Hanel also executive producing alongside McEntire, Dave Stewart, McEntire's manager Narvel Blackstock and Laura Ziskin Productions' Pam Williams. (Deadline.com)UNTITLED JOHN GLENN PROJECT (NBC, New!) - Feature writer John Glenn ("Eagle Eye") has sold a potential drama to the Peacock about "a young NYPD beat cop who, along with his family and friends, embarks upon the greatest treasure hunt in history." Sony Pictures Television is behind the hour with the studio-based Maria Grasso and Deborah Spera also executive producing alongside Glenn. (Deadline.com)UNTITLED PORTIA DE ROSSI PROJECT (NBC, New!) - Portia de Rossi is set to topline a new multi-camera comedy at the Peacock about "dueling sisters, one of them played by de Rossi." Don Todd ("Samantha Who?") is penning the half-hour, which is set up at de Rossi's wife Ellen DeGeneres's Warner Bros. Television-based A Very Good Production. Todd, DeGeneres and the latter's development chief Lauren Corrao are executive producing. NBC has given a put pilot order to the project. (Deadline.com)AND IN OTHER NEWS... - Sarah Chalke is set to recur as a new love interest for Brian Van Holt's Bobby on "Cougar Town"(Deadline.com); Larry Cedar will play dad to Chevy Chase's Pierce on "Community" while Jerry Minor is set to return as Cedar, the school's custodian (TVLine.com); plus David Keith is bound for "Nikita" as the titular character's birth father with newcomer Lyndie Greenwood also set as a beautiful new hacker-type (TVLine.com).
