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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!
666 PARK AVENUE (ABC) - Alex Graves ("Terra Nova") is set to helm the drama pilot, about "a historic apartment building in New York City and centers on a young couple who become its managers who unwittingly begin to experience supernatural occurrences, which complicate and endanger the lives of everyone in the residence." He'll work from a script by David Wilcox, which is based on Gabriella Pierce's book of the same name. Alloy Entertainment's Gina Girolamo and Leslie Morgenstein are also executive producing for Warner Bros. Television. (Deadline.com)
AMERICANA (ABC) - Phillip Noyce ("Revenge") is on board to direct and executive produce the drama pilot, "a soap set around a legendary fashion designer and his family and business." He'll work from a script by Michael Seitzman, who's likewise executive producing alongside Mark Gordon and Nicholas Pepper for ABC Studios. (Deadline.com)
ANIMAL KINGDOM (NBC) - Anthony and Joe Russo ("Community") have signed on to helm and executive produce the comedy pilot, about a veterinarian who loves animals but usually hates their owners. Brian Gatewood and Alex Tanaka penned the Universal Television-based half-hour, which is also executive produced by American Work's Ravi Nandan and Scot Armstrong. (Deadline.com)
BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE (NBC) - David Conrad ("Ghost Whisperer") and Tovah Feldshuh ("Law & Order") have both landed roles on the pilot, an imaginative and thematically rich ensemble "what if" drama set 10 minutes in the future where families of mechanical human beings exist to service the human population -- that is until some of the mechanicals begin to "awaken." He'll play Jerry, the head of Universal Kinematics and husband of Andrea Parker's Roberta, "a Steve Jobs-type of entrepreneurial genius, expert at both high-level design and higher-level marketing of sophisticated Mechanical servants." Feldshuh then is set as Lynch, a police department captain who is determined to keep Mechanicals a cowed, servile underclass. Cody Christian, Frances Conroy, James Murray, Jud Tylor, Madisen Beaty, Megalyn Echikunwoke and Patrick Heusinger also star in the ABC Studios/Universal Television-based hour, from writer Michael McDonald and director Stephen Hopkins. (Deadline.com)
BEN FOX IS MY MANNY (FOX) - Maggie Jones ("We Bought a Zoo") has joined the cast while Jake Kasdan ("New Girl") is set to direct the comedy pilot, about "an uptight single mother whose aimless brother moves in to help raise her daughter." She'll play said daughter, Maddie, in the half-hour, which Dana Fox penned and is executive producing for the 20th Century Fox Television-based Chernin Entertainment. (Deadline.com)
CHELSEA GENERAL (TNT) - Jennifer Finnigan ("Better with You") is the first to be cast in the drama pilot, about the lives of five surgeons as they push the limits of their abilities and confront their personal and professional failings. She'll play one of them, Tina Ridgeway, a neurosurgeon who has a fling with a fellow neurosurgeon. Bill D'Elia is directing the hour from a script by David E. Kelley, which is turn is based on Sanjay Gupta's book "Monday Mornings." (Deadline.com)
DO NO HARM (NBC) - Michael Mayer ("Smash") is set to direct the drama pilot, about "a brilliant neurosurgeon who wrestles with his dangerous alter-ego that threatens to wreak havoc on his personal and professional life." He'll work from a script by David Schulner, who's executive producing alongside Peter Traugott and Rachel Kaplan for Universal Television. (Deadline.com)
HOUSE OF CARDS (Netflix) - Kate Mara ("American Horror Story") and Kristen Connolly ("The Cabin in the Woods") have both been cast in the Kevin Spacey-led drama, a satirical tale of power, corruption and lies based on the book and acclaimed BBC mini-series of the same name. The former will play Zoe Barnes, "a reporter for a top Washington newspaper who, desperate for a break, makes a deal with Underwood for a scoop that could cost her soul," while the latter will recur as "the headstrong executive assistant of another Congressman." Robin Wright also stars in the project, from David Fincher and fellow executive producer Spacey. (Deadline.com)
LAST RESORT (ABC) - Daniel Lissing (David Gould's upcoming "The Cure") is the first to be cast in the drama pilot, about "the crew of the U.S.S. Nevada, a nuclear submarine, who, after disobeying a suspicious order, become fugitives and take over a NATO Listening Station, ultimately declaring themselves an independent nuclear nation." He'll play SEAL Officer James King ("Longtime Navy SEAL. A lethal killer. Ex-wife, ex-children, ex-life. No ties back home.") in the Sony Pictures Television-based hour, which comes from director Martin Campbell and co-creators Karl Gajdusek and Shawn Ryan. (Deadline.com)
MALIBU COUNTRY (ABC) - The Reba McEntire-led comedy, 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, has been ordered to pilot by the Alphabet. ABC Studios is behind the multi-camera project with McEntire, Mindy Schultheis, Michael Hanel, Narvel Blackstock, Dave Stewart, Pam Williams and creator Kevin Abbott. (Deadline.com)
PRAIRIE DOGS (ABC, New!) - Jackie and Jeff Filgo have scored a pilot commitment for a new comedy about "an uncool cubicle worker at one of the coolest companies in the world, who becomes the victim of identity theft. When he discovers the thief has created a much more fulfilling, kick ass life with his identity than he ever has, he engages the charismatic conman to help him change his life." Said half-hour is set up at ABC Studios with the duo executive producing. (Deadline.com)
UNTITLED KEVIN WILLIAMSON PROJECT (FOX) - Kevin Bacon has snagged the lead role on the drama pilot, "an edge-of-the-seat thriller about a diabolical serial killer who uses technology to create a cult of serial killers, and a retired FBI profiler who finds himself in the middle of it." He'll play said agent, Ryan Hardy, who's tired and textured by life... and lots of booze. It's understood that Bacon's deal is for 15 episodes per season rather than the standard 22. Marcos Siega is directing the hour for Williamson's Warner Bros. Television-based Outerbanks Entertainment. (Deadline.com)
AND IN OTHER NEWS... - Tia Mowry will join Tori Spelling in the ABC Family original movie "Mistletones" (THR.com); Jason Bateman's Aggregate Films has inked a two-year first-look deal with Universal Television (Deadline.com); Chris Klein and Paul Schulze will guest in an upcoming episode of "Franklin & Bash" (EW.com); Rachel Miner will reprise her role as demon Meg Masters on "Supernatural" (TVLine.com); and Bryan Cranston is nearing a deal to direct an episode of ABC's "Modern Family" (TVLine.com).
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