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[08/13/12 - 11:03 PM]
Development Update: Monday, August 13
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!


ANGIE'S BODY (Showtime, New!) - Rob Fresco ("Touch") has sold a new drama to the pay channel about "a shrewd, sexy and, when necessary, lethal woman who runs a family-based crime syndicate." Jodie Foster is on board to direct and executive produce the hour alongside Fresco and Russ Krasnoff for Sony Pictures Television. (Deadline.com)


THE BLACKLIST (NBC, New!) - Feature writer Jon Bokenkamp ("Taking Lives") has booked a script commitment from the Peacock for a potential drama about "an international, Kaiser Soze-like criminal who mysteriously surrenders himself to the Feds and offers to help hunt down the very men he's spent his entire life protecting." Sony Pictures Television is behind the hour with John Eisendrath and Davis Entertainment's John Davis and John Fox also serving as executive producers. (Deadline.com)


BURNS & COOLEY (ABC, New!) - Meredith Philpott ("Awkward") has scored a script order from the Alphabet for a new drama about "the top two neurosurgeons at a New York hospital who find themselves competing on every level - both personally and professionally - as they handle some of the toughest medical cases in the world involving the brain," not to mention being ridiculously attracted to one another. ABC Studios and Gross Entertainment's Matt Gross are likewise behind the hour. (Deadline.com)


DUMB F--- (ABC, New!) - Screenwriter Hank Nelken ("Mama's Boy") has landed a script order at the Alphabet for a comedy about "an average guy and his brilliant wife who, due to financial hardship, are forced to live with her family of highly intelligent but emotionally stunted geniuses." Said half-hour, which has a penalty attached, comes from FishBowl Worldwide Media. The company's Vin Di Bona, Bruce Gersh, Susan Levison and Shaleen Desai then will executive produce alongside Nelken. (Deadline.com)


EV AND OCHO (VH1) - The cable channel has pulled the plug on the upcoming reality series, a behind-the-scenes look at Chad Johnson and Evelyn Lozada's wedding, after the former was charged with domestic battery for allegedly hitting the latter over the weekend. "Due to the unfortunate events over the weekend and the seriousness of the allegations, VH1 is pulling the series 'Ev and Ocho' from its schedule and has no current plans of airing it," the network said in a statement released for multiple outlets. Said half-hour had been set to launch on Monday, September 3 at 9:30/8:30c.


GUINEA PIGS (CBS, New!) - Emmy-winner Dahvi Waller ("Mad Men") has scored a put pilot commitment from the Eye for a new drama about a "group of trailblazing doctors who run clinical trials at a hospital in Philadelphia. The twist: The trials are risky, and the guinea pigs are human." 20th Century Fox Television-based Chernin Entertainment is behind the project with the company's Peter Chernin and Katherine Pope also serving as executive producers. (THR.com)


HENCH (NBC, New!) - Alexandra Cunningham ("Prime Suspect") is back in business with the Peacock, this time for a new drama about "a regular guy who, in order to support his family, gets jobs temping for super villains." Fellow "Suspect" alums Peter Berg and Sarah Aubrey are also on board to executive produce the hour via their Universal Television-based Film 44 banner. (Deadline.com)


RAT BASTARDS (Spike TV) - The cable channel has bumped the newcomer, about a pack of industrious guys who hunt an invasive species of giant swamp rats that are ravaging America's Southern wetlands, out of primetime. The half-hour series launched on Tuesday, July 31 at 10:30/9:30c to 720,000 viewers, falling to 596,000 in its second week. The show's four remaining episodes will air back-to-back on Tuesday, August 14 and 21 at 11:00/10:00c and 11:30/10:30c.


UNTITLED ERIC CHARMELO/NICOLE SNYDER PROJECT (NBC, New!) - "Ringer" creators Eric Charmelo and Nicole Snyder have booked a new drama at the Peacock billed as "a sexy Southern Gothic thriller set in New Orleans - rich with tradition, superstition... and murder." Said hour is set up at the Universal Television-based TBD Productions with the company's Peter Traugott and Rachel Kaplan executive producing alongside the duo. Charmelo and Snyder currently serve as co-executive producers of NBC's midseason drama "Do No Harm." (Deadline.com)


UNTITLED LAGRAVENESE & GOLDWYN PROJECT (AMC) - Marin Ireland ("Homeland") is the first to be cast on the drama pilot, about a District Attorney who uncovers new evidence that prompts the reinvestigation of a sensational murder case. She'll play Christina Rosa, "an attractive, aggressive and impulsive woman of Italian-German descent who works with the Innocence Project." Tony Goldwyn is helming the AMC Studios-based hour from a script by Richard LaGravenese. David Manson also serves as an executive producer with Andrew Sugarman as a co-executive producer. (Deadline.com)


UNTITLED PAUL DAVIES PROJECT (NBC, New!) - Paul Davies has sold a potential drama to the Peacock about "a high-powered Beverly Hills law firm where the attorneys will have to negotiate their relationships with one another as they litigate their cases." Universal Television is behind the project with Stephen Levinson of Leverage Management and Mark Wahlberg of Closest to the Hole Productions also among the executive producers. (THR.com)


AND IN OTHER NEWS... - Billy Dee Williams will guest as the namesake of Mark Harmon's Leroy Jethro Gibbs on "NCIS," "a World War II veteran and close friend of the Gibbs clan" (TVGuide.com); Michael Nardelli is set to recur on "Revenge" as "a preppy misfit who befriends Jack's younger bro (Connor Paolo) and then proceeds to get him in a world of trouble" (TVLine.com); Jodi Lyn O'Keefe will guest on "Castle" as "a sultry and voluptuous entertainment reporter at WHNY who shows more than a professional interest in Castle in the second episode of the season" (THR.com); actress Hilary Duff has inked a talent holding deal with 20th Century Fox Television (Deadline.com); Wendi McLendon-Covey and Michaela Watkins will both turn up on "Modern Family" as "a lesbian couple whose son gets into a fight with Lily on the first day of kindergarten" (EW.com); Kristin Chenoweth won't return to "The Good Wife" following her injury on the set last month (People.com); Jenny Slate will visit "Raising Hope" for two episodes as "a social worker named Joan who checks in on little Hope's living conditions" (TVLine.com); and Craig Bierko and Molly Price are among the first faces to drop by CBS's new fall drama "Elementary" (TVLine.com).






  [august 2012]  
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· ANGIE'S BODY (SHOWTIME)
· AWKWARD (MTV)
· BLACKLIST, THE (NBC)
· BURNS & COOLEY (ABC)
· CASTLE (ABC)
· DEVELOPMENT UPDATE (TFC)
· DIVIDE, THE (WE)
· DO NO HARM (NBC)
· DUMB FUCK (ABC)
· ELEMENTARY (CBS)
· EV AND OCHO (VH1)
· GOOD WIFE, THE (CBS)
· GUINEA PIGS (CBS)
· HENCH (NBC)
· HOMELAND (SHOWTIME)
· MAD MEN (AMC)
· MODERN FAMILY (ABC)
· NCIS (CBS)
· PRIME SUSPECT (NBC)
· RAISING HOPE (FOX)
· RAT BASTARDS (SPIKE TV)
· REVENGE (ABC)
· RINGER (CW)
· TOUCH (FOX)
· UNTITLED CHARMELO & SNYDER PROJECT (NBC)
· UNTITLED PAUL DAVIES PROJECT (NBC)





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