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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) - Rachael Taylor ("Charlie's Angels") has scored the female lead on the drama pilot, about a young couple who accept an offer to manage one of the most historic apartment buildings in New York City where they begin to experience supernatural occurrences. She'll play Jane Van Veen, one half of the aforementioned couple, joining the previously cast Dave Annable as her boyfriend Henry Martin and Terry O'Quinn as the building's owner Gavin Doran. Alex Graves is helming the Warner Bros. Television-based hour off a script by David Wilcox. (THR.com)
ANTICHRIST (ABC) - Linus Roache ("Law & Order") has joined the cast of the drama pilot, about Carter Henderson (Max Thieriot), an astrophysics grad student who learns that he is the chosen one to destroy the forces of evil. He's on board as John Daniel Teras, a New York Senator who's the target of an assassination attempt. Gabriella Wilde, Martin Landau and Yaya DaCosta co-star in the ABC Studios-based hour, from co-creators Harald Kloser and Roland Emmerich. (Deadline.com)
BAD GIRLS (NBC) - John Dahl ("Shameless") has signed on to direct the pilot, a drama which follows the ins and outs of a group of unlikely women at a federal correctional institute. He'll work from a script by Nancy Pimental for the Warner Bros. Television-based John Wells Productions. Jurnee Smollett, Rick Gonzalez and Zoe Boyle co-star in the ensemble. (THR.com)
EL JEFE (FOX) - Ana Nogueira and Victor Rasuk have both landed roles on the comedy pilot, about Josh Turkus (Ryan Hansen), a rich layabout who gets booted out of his parents' house and moves in with Delmi Rodriguez, his longtime housekeeper, and her family. They'll play Delmi's kids - the neglected Maria ("no matter how hard this fiercely competitive doctor-in-residence tries to impress her mother, it always falls short") and the golden child Al ("a 30-year-old gardener who now owns and runs his deceased father's landscaping business"). Director Michael Patrick Jann and co-creators David Guarascio and Moses Port are behind the Sony Pictures Television-based half-hour. (Deadline.com)
GO ON (NBC) - Suzy Nakamura ("Men of a Certain Age") is the latest addition to the comedy pilot, about Ryan King (yet to be cast), an irreverent yet charming sportscaster who finds surprising solace from the members of his mandatory group therapy sessions. She'll play one of them, "a Mercury-in-retrograde-announcing bummer, and sycophant to the group leader's Lauren; here because parents are getting a divorce." Julie White also stars in the Universal Television-based half-hour, from writer Scott Silveri and director Todd Holland. (Deadline.com)
GOTHAM (ABC) - British actor Barry Sloane has been tapped as the male lead on the drama pilot, about Annie Travers (yet to be cast), a cop who, after pursuing a seemingly unsolvable case, discovers a magical world that exists within New York City. He'll play Boyo ("unkempt but clean; no stranger to a fight - as winner or loser; an Old World feel about him"), her guide through said world. Director Francis Lawrence and writer Michael Green are behind the hour, which is set up at 20th Century Fox Television. (Deadline.com)
LADYFRIENDS (NBC) - Josh Hopkins ("Cougar Town") and Tymberlee Hill ("Grey's Anatomy") have both been cast in the comedy pilot, about two longtime female friends who are living very different lives - Nicole (Andrea Anders) has a loving husband and family, Jen (yet to be cast) not so much - but couldn't live without each other. Hopkins - whose casting is in second position to the ABC comedy - will play Nicole's husband Rob ("smart, handsome and a good sport, but there's a limit"), while Hill will play Nicole's friend, a mother of three. Danny Comden and Rachel Dratch also star in the Warner Bros. Television-based half-hour, to be directed by Scott Ellis. (Deadline.com)
LAST RESORT (ABC) - Bruce Davison, Omid Abtahi, Max Adler and Matt Gerald have all been cast in the drama pilot, about the crew of a nuclear submarine, who, after disobeying a suspicious order become fugitives and declare themselves an independent nuclear nation. Davison is believed to be playing Admiral Arthur Shepard ("the old warhorse now working in the Pentagon; an excellent moral compass to go with the guts of a burglar"), a friend and mentor to Captain Marcus Chaplin (Andre Braugher) and the father of Lieutenant Grace Shepard (Daisy Betts). The other roles weren't specified. Autumn Reeser, Camille de Pazzis, Daniel Lissing, Dichen Lachman, Robert Patrick, Sahr Ngaujah and Scott Speedman also star. Martin Campbell is directing from a script by Shawn Ryan and Karl Gajdusek for Sony Pictures Television. (@ShawnRyanTV)
LIKE FATHER... (FOX) - Erin Daniels ("The L Word") has been cast in the comedy pilot, about Van Lyons (Colin Ferguson), a bombastic dad who, after his wife dies, moves into his son Will's (yet to be cast) campus apartment. She'll play Ali Miller ("goofy, self-deprecating"), Van's wife's best friend. Kevin Michael Martin and Phill Lewis also star in the Warner Bros. Television-based half-hour, from writer/director Bill Lawrence. (Deadline.com)
NED FOX IS MY MANNY (FOX) - Actor/Oscar-winnng writer Nat Faxon ("The Descendants") has booked the title role on the comedy pilot, about Kate (Abby Elliott), an uptight single mom whose aimless brother Ned (formerly Ben) moves in to help her raise her five-year-old daughter, Maddie (Maggie Jones). Echo Kellum and Lucy Punch also star in the 20th Century Fox Television-based half-hour, from writer Dana Fox and director Jake Kasdan. (Deadline.com)
NOTORIOUS (NBC) - Victor Garber ("Eli Stone") is the first to be cast in the drama pilot, about a female detective who returns undercover to the wealthy family she grew up in - as the maid's daughter - to solve the murder of the notorious heiress who was once her closest friend. He's set as Robert Lawson ("expects immediate obedience from everyone within his circle of family and friends"), the spectacularly wealthy patriarch of the family and CEO of Lawson Pharmaceuticals. Liz Heldens is behind the hour, which comes from the Universal Television-BermanBraun. (Deadline.com)
PRODIGY/BULLY (FOX) - Missi Pyle, Hayley Holmes, Cody Sullivan and Ysa Penajero have all joined the cast of the comedy pilot, about Audie Murphy (yet to be cast), a young boy genius who uses his brains and brawn to get whatever he wants. Pyle will play Audie's mother Celeste ("38, thin, intense, buxom") with Holmes as his sister Jackie ("a 15-year-old girl with no interest in school and biceps bigger than her breasts"). Sullivan then is set as Colby Collins ("a clean-cut and confident cross between JFK and Mickey Mantle"), a fellow gifted student; while Penajero is on board as Heather Kwitkowski-Welch ("pretty, cheerful, poised"), the girl of his dreams. Mike O'Malley also stars as Audie's father Tommy while Peter Segal is directing for Warner Bros. Television. (Deadline.com)
REBOUNDING (FOX) - Matt L. Jones ("Breaking Bad") is the latest to be cast in the comedy pilot, about Danny Markle (yet to be cast), a man recovering from the death of his fiance with help from friends on his pick-up basketball team. He'll play one of said crew, Eli Kaplan ("27, an overweight musician with a Jew-fro, he's sweet, awkward, undyingly loyal"), joining the previously cast Hayes MacArthur and Malcolm Barrett. Jason Winer, Joe Port and Joe Wiseman are all behind the hour, which his set up at 20th Century Fox Television. (Deadline.com)
THE SELECTION (The CW) - Sean Patrick Thomas ("Ringer") has booked a role on the pilot, a drama set 300 years in the future about a poor woman (Aimee Teegarden) who is chosen by lottery to compete to become the next queen of a war-torn nation. He'll play Sylvan Santos, a close advisor to Queen Amberly (yet to be cast) and an expert in all things related to Royal etiquette. Elizabeth Craft and Sarah Fain are behind the Warner Bros. Television-based hour, which also stars Ethan Peck. Mark Piznarski is directing. (THR.com)
UNTITLED JOE KEENAN/SCOTT ELLIS PROJECT (TV Land, New!) - Writer Joe Keenan and director Scott Ellis ("Desperate Housewives") are developing a new comedy at the cable channel about "two adult identical twin brothers, one gay and one straight, who return home and help their mother raise their deceased sister's child." Said half-hour, which Ellis would direct from a script by the duo, is based on personal experience: both Keenan and Ellis are gay and have identical twin brothers who are straight. (Deadline.com)
UNTITLED JOSH BERMAN/ROB WRIGHT PROJECT (FOX) - Jordana Spiro and Jaime Lee Kirchner have both landed roles on the drama pilot, about Grace Devlin, one of Chicago's top young cardiothoracic surgeons who, to save her gambling-indebted brother (Jesse Lee Soffer), is forced to moonlight as a mob doctor. Spiro will play said woman ("street-wise, self-assured, and headstrong") with Kirchner as Olivia Watson ("classically pretty, poised, and a chip on her shoulder"), a fifth year resident at Grace's hospital. (Deadline.com)
UNTITLED KEVIN WILLIAMSON PROJECT (FOX) - Nico Tortorella ("Make It or Break It") has landed a role on the drama pilot, about Joe Carroll (James Purefoy), a diabolical serial killer who uses technology to create a cult of serial killers, and Ryan Hardy (Kevin Bacon), the FBI agent who finds himself in the middle of it. He's set as Will Wilson, a friend and confidant of Sarah Fuller, Carroll's last victim. Marcos Siega is helming the Warner Bros. Television-based hour, which also stars Jeananne Goossen, Shawn Ashmore and Valorie Curry. (Deadline.com)
AND IN OTHER NEWS... - The CW has acquired the U.S. broadcast rights to two episodes of the U.K.'s "Perez Hilton Superfan," in which the celebrity blogger interviews Lady Gaga and Katy Perry, respectively (Deadline.com); Trevor Donovan's Teddy Montgomery will return to "90210" this spring following his exit earlier this season (Zap2It.com); Jordan Belfi and Ashley Jones will guest on "Bones" as the actors playing Booth and Brennan in a big-screen adaptation of their lives (TVLine.com); Brett Tucker is bound for "Castle" as "a devilishly handsome detective from Scotland Yard" (TVLine.com); Marin Ireland will drop by "The Killing" as the hardscrabble sister to Joel Kinnaman's Holder (TVLine.com); Scott Bakula will visit "Desperate Housewives" as Bree's "conservative, high-powered, straight-arrow attorney" (TVLine.com); and Rachel G. Fox will guest on "Private Practice" in the 19th episode of the season (THR.com).
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