[02/04/13 - 11:20 PM] Development Update: Monday, February 4 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!
ANATOMY OF VIOLENCE, THE (CBS) - The Eye has given a pilot order to the drama, about " a criminal psychologist with an expertise in sociopaths who partners with a young female detective with whom he shares a conflicted past." Howard Gordon, Alex Gansa and Alex Cary are behind the 20th Century Fox Television-based hour, which is based on Adrian Raine's book of the same name. The aforementiond trio penned the script and will serve as executive producers with Teakwood Lake's Hugh Fitzpatrick as a co-executive producer. (Deadline.com)CRAZY ONES, THE (CBS) - David E. Kelley's comedy - which stars Robin Williams as a brilliant ad executive working alongside his daughter - has formally been ordered to pilot. Jason Winer is helming the single-camera project, which is set up at 20th Century Fox Television. Bill D'Elia, Dean Lorey, John Montgomery and Mark Teitelbaum are also executive producing alongside Kelley and Winer. (Deadline.com)DRACULA (NBC) - Irish actress Victoria Smurfit is the latest to board the upcoming drama, which introduces Dracula (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) as he arrives in London, posing as an American entrepreneur who maintains that he wants to bring modern science to Victorian society but in reality hopes to wreak revenge on the people who ruined his life centuries earlier. She'll play "the lithe and beautiful Lady Jayne who is instantly attracted to [Dracula] and pursues him." Jessica de Gouw, Katie McGrath and Nonso Anozie also star in the hour, from Carnival Films & Television, Flame Ventures, Playground and Universal Television. (Deadline.com)HAPPINESS (NBC) - Linda Lavin has been cast in the multi-camera comedy pilot, about a man (Sean Hayes) who must figure out how to parent his 14-year-old daughter, who just moved in, while navigating a temperamental new boss at work. She'll play his mother Lorna, who's "tough, assertive, at times unreasonable, and always longed for her son to have those same qualities." James Burrows is helming the Universal Television-based project from a script by Victor Fresco. (Deadline.com)INTELLIGENCE (CBS) - Michael Seitzman's drama - about a man gifted and cursed with a top-secret experimental microchip implanted in his brain that makes him computer-like in the way he sees and processes information - is the latest to receive a pilot order at the Eye. David Semel is on board to direct and executive produce the hour, which is set up at ABC Studios and based on John Dixon's unpublished book "Dissident." Tripp Vinson likewise is executive producing. (Deadline.com)IRONSIDE (NBC) - Blair Underwood ("The Event") is set to star in the Peacock's proposed reboot of the 1960s drama, about "a tough, sexy and acerbic police detective relegated to a wheelchair after a shooting who is hardly limited by his disability as he pushes and prods his hand-picked team to solve the most difficult cases in the city." Universal Television is behind the hour, which has a pilot commitment. Mike Caleo penned the project and is executive producing alongside Teri Weinberg of Yellow Brick Road and John Davis and John Fox of Davis Entertainment. Director David Semel however is no longer attached. (Deadline.com)ONION PRESENTS, THE: THE NEWS (Amazon) - Jeffrey Tambor ("Bent") is the first to board the comedy pilot, "a smart, fast-paced scripted comedy set behind the scenes of The Onion News Network that shows just how far journalists will go to stay at the top of their game." He'll play David Everett, "ONN's oldest and most respected news anchor." Todd Strauss-Schulson is helming the project off a script by Will Graham and Dan Mirk for Amazon Studios. (Deadline.com)UNTITLED CULLEN BROTHERS PILOT (ABC) - Griffin Gluck ("Private Practice") has been cast in the comedy pilot, about Terry Gannon, Jr., "a recently divorced single mother who temporarily moves in with her estranged father (James Caan), a beer-swilling former baseball player." He'll play her son Danny, whose underdog Little League team she reluctantly starts coaching. 20th Century Fox Television is behind the single-camera project, from co-creators Mark and Robb Cullen. (Deadline.com)UNTITLED JOHN LEGUIZAMO PROJECT (ABC) - The John Leguizamo-led comedy - based on his life as a husband, father and fish out of water on the upper West Side of New York - has snagged a pilot order from the Alphabet. Leguizamo co-wrote the multi-camera project alongside Chris Sheridan for ABC Studios. They'll also executive produce alongside The Collective's Jeff Golenberg and Sam Maydew as well as Mandeville Films and Television's David Hoberman, Todd Lieberman and Maria Crenna. (Deadline.com)UNTITLED NCIS: LOS ANGELES SPIN-OFF PROJECT (CBS) - Edwin Hodge ("Cougar Town") is the first to be cast in the backdoor pilot, which tracks "a mobile team of agents who are forced to live and work together as they crisscross the country solving crimes." He'll play Kai Ashe, "the incredibly bright, witty and likable technical assistant, an all-round tech savvy computer guy and expert on everything." CBS Television Studios is behind the hour, which will air as an episode of the parent series later this year. (Deadline.com)WILSONS, THE (MTV, New!) - Comedian Cy Amundson has booked a pilot order from the cable channel for a partially scripted comedy about "a family in the vein of the Kardashians with a pinch of the Bluths from Arrested Development and the Pritchetts from Modern Family." Jay Blumenfield and Tony Marsh are executive producing the half-hour for RelativityReal with Joel Hokestra and Generate's Samantha Saifer serving as co-executive producers alongside Amundson. (Deadline.com)AND IN OTHER NEWS... - Twentieth Television's freshman talk show "The Ricki Lake Show" will not be renewed for the 2013-2014 season (Deadline.com); Charles McDougall has signed a two-year overall deal with ABC Studios where he'll direct and executive produce the ABC drama pilot "The Returned"(Deadline.com); Alex Graves, Bharat Nalluri and Brad Silberling will helm The CW's drama pilots "The Selection,""The Hundred" and "Reign," respectively, with Graves and Nalluri also executive producing said projects (Deadline.com); MTV has passed on its drama pilot "Cassandra French's Finishing School for Boys"(Deadline.com); Disney Channel has ordered a second season of "Dog with a Blog"(Deadline.com); Ann Dowd will recur on Showtime's "Masters of Sex" as the mother of Michael Sheen's William Masters (Deadline.com); J.K. Simmons will guest on "Parks & Recreation" as the slightly gruff mayor of Ben's (Adam Scott) hometown (EW.com); and Odette Annable is bound for "New Girl" as "a perky and preppy management school grad who is Nick's new boss at the bar" (TVLine.com).
