[09/17/12 - 11:18 PM] Development Update: Monday, September 17 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!
ALI IN WONDERLAND (NBC, New!) - Ali Wentworth's memoir of the same name is being developed as a single-camera comedy at the Peacock. Wentworth will co-write the script alongside Liz Tuccillo for the Warner Bros. Television project, "described as part fish-out-of-water, part love story about an impulsive, smart-mouthed young woman who is forced to move back to Washington, D.C. - and her domineering mother - for her husband's new high-powered job." Doozer's Bill Lawrence and Jeff Ingold then will executive producing alongside the duo. NBC has given a put pilot commitment to the half-hour. (Deadline.com)BOUNCE (VH1) - Don Stark ("That '70s Show") has been upped to series regular on the drama, which follows the alluring lives and loves of the Los Angeles Devil Girls, the premiere dance team in all of professional basketball. He continue on as Oscar Kincade, "the larger than life, lecherous, owner of the Los Angeles Devils professional basketball team," a role which he guest starred as in the pilot. Charlotte Ross, Dean Cain, Jonathan McDaniel, Katherine Bailess, Kimberly Elise, Logan Browning, McKinley Freeman, Taylour Paige and Valery Ortiz round out the ensemble. (Deadline.com)EMBRACE (The CW, New!) - Jessica Shirvington's young adult novel - which "centers on twentysomething Violet Eden, who discovers that she is half-angel and the key to a centuries-old war between fallen angels and their earthly protectors" - is being eyed for the small screen. William Laurin and Glenn Davis ("Awakening") are on board to pen the adaptation for CBS Television Studios and Steven Spielberg's Amblin Television. Justin Falvey and Darryl Frank then will executive produce alongside Laurin and Davis. (Deadline.com)ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK (Netflix) - Laura Prepon and Yael Stone have both joined the cast of the upcoming original, about Piper (Taylor Schilling), "a Brooklyn native whose decade-old relationship with a drug-runner in college results in her arrest and multi-year detention in a federal penitentiary." Prepon will play her aforementioned ex, Alex, with Stone as inmate Rosemarie Perrone, "the very happily engaged-to-be-married transport driver at a Connecticut women's prison who is also not very-not-above servicing her own, ahem, needs - usually with her fellow cons in the shower." Jenji Kohan and Liz Friedman are behind the Lionsgate-based hour, which is based on Piper Kerman's book of the same name. (Deadline.com,TVLine.com)PAGING DR. FREED (USA) - Annie Potts ("GCB") has joined the cast of the comedy pilot, about two gynecologist brothers - played by Kyle Howard and Joel David Moore - who inherit their father's thriving medical practice after he suffers a heart attack during an attempt at "playing" doctor with his young secretary. She'll play their "ball-busting, overbearing mother who hates Jonathan's wife (Leslie Grossman) and keeps meddling in her sons' lives." Marc Buckland is directing the Fox 21-based project from a script by Michael Feldman. (Deadline.com)PULLING (ABC, New!) - The Alphabet is taking another stab at importing Sharon Horgan and Dennis Kelly's U.K. comedy, about "three single thirtysomething women, one of them played in the original by Horgan, who live together after one breaks off her engagement the day before her wedding." Rob Hanning and Stacy Traub spearheaded ABC's previous incarnation in 2009, titled "Besties," with Lindsay Sloane, Majandra Delfino and Mary Elizabeth Ellis in the principal roles. Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky will pen the new take for ABC Studios and Kapital Entertainment, which has a penalty attached, with Horgan and Kelly executive producing alongside the duo. (Deadline.com)UNTITLED JASON DEAN HALL PROJECT (CBS, New!) - Jason Dean Hall ("Spread") booked a potential drama at the Eye about "an iconic tech billionaire who discovers he has terminal cancer and responds by building a hospital and recruiting a team of the world's best doctors to take on his disease - but he soon comes to learn that his salvation lies in saving others." "Hawaii Five-0" showrunner Peter Lenkov is on board to executive produce the hour for CBS Television Studios with Hall serving as a co-executive producer. (Deadline.com)VIGILANT (FOX, New!) - Screenwriter Max Landis ("Chronicle") has sold a potential drama to the network about "a smart 20-year-old woman who happens to be a social outcast" that creates "a fictional vigilante persona to take on the criminal elements within the police department and the city" after her father, "an honorable veteran detective," is "brutally coerced into working for the corrupt head of Internal Affairs." 20th Century Fox Television-based Teakwood Lane is behind the hour, which has a penalty attached. The company's Howard Gordon and Hugh Fitzpatrick then will executive produce alongside Landis. (THR.com)WITCHES OF EAST END (Lifetime) - Patrick Heusinger ("Royal Pains") has been cast as the male lead on the drama pilot, about a mother (Julia Ormond) and her two adult daughters Freya (Jenna Dewan-Tatum) and Ingrid (yet to be cast) - both of whom unknowingly are their family's next generation of witches - who lead seemingly quiet, uneventful modern day lives in Long Island's secluded seaside town of North Hampton. He'll play Dash Gardiner, Freya's wealthy fiance, in the Fox 21-based hour, which is based on Melissa de la Cruz's book of the same name. (Variety.com)AND IN OTHER NEWS... - CBS has pushed filming on its Rob Greenberg comedy pilot "Ex Men" over difficulties in casting the fourth male lead (Deadline.com); Louise Roe has been tapped to succeed Elle MacPherson as host of NBC's "Fashion Star"(@LouiseRoe); Nikki Blonsky and Wesley Taylor will visit "Smash" in yet-to-be-revealed roles (EW.com); Natalie Morales will recur on "90210" as "an incredibly professional woman who heads up a security detail and immediately makes it known that she can take care of herself" (TVLine.com); Sean "Diddy" Combs is set to appear on the new season of "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia"(THR.com); Margo Harshman has been cast as Sheldon's new assistant on "The Big Bang Theory"(TVLine.com); and Tahmoh Penikett will guest on "Arrow" as Tom Salvati, right hand man to Jeffrey Nordling's mob boss Frank Bertinelli (GreenArrowTV.com).
[06/19/13 - 01:39 PM] TNT Bumps Newcomer "72 Hours" to Friday Nights The reality competition series, which had been airing on Thursdays at 9:00/8:00c, will relocate to Fridays effective immediately.
[06/19/13 - 12:17 PM] ESPN to Present World Series of Poker Main Event To kick off ESPN's WSOP coverage, the inaugural World Series of Poker Asia-Pacific Main Event Final Table will air on Tuesday, July 23.
