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[02/15/13 - 11:09 PM]
Development Update: Friday, February 15
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!


ASSISTANCE (NBC) - Krysten Ritter ("Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23") has been tapped for the lead role on the single-camera comedy pilot, about a magnetic hyperactive workaholic who tries to juggle the demands of her long-time boyfriend, her smug work-husband and her powerful boss. She'll play said woman - Nora Johnson, who possesses "a sex appeal directly proportional to her anxiety level" - as well as receive a producing credit. Leslye Headland penned the half-hour, which is set up at the Universal Television-based Gary Sanchez Productions. (Deadline.com)


BOOMERANG (FOX) - Felicity Huffman ("Desperate Housewives") has been tapped for the female lead on the drama pilot, about a family who serve as assassins for the federal government. She'll play Margie Hamilton, their slightly earthy-crunchy matriarch who, at times, does have a mothering quality. Davey Holmes penned the hour, which comes from the Warner Bros. Television-based John Wells Productions. (Deadline.com)


CLEOPATRA (Lifetime, New!) - Writer Robert Port ("Numb3rs") and producers Michael Goldstein and Michael Larkin ("Scoundrels") are spearheading a new mini-series at the cable channel about the famed last pharaoh of Egypt. The proposed four-hour project will cover her liaisons with Julius Caesar and Mark Antony as well as her tragic suicide that was followed by the fall of Egypt. (Deadline.com)


CRAZY ONES, THE (CBS) - Sarah Michelle Gellar is set to star opposite Robin Williams in the single-camera comedy pilot, about Simon Roberts (Williams), a brilliant - but slightly out of his mind - head of an advertising agency and Sydney (Gellar), his daughter/creative director who's tasked with keeping him in check. David E. Kelley is behind the 20th Century Fox Television-based half-hour, to be directed by Jason Winer. (Deadline.com)


DELIRIUM (FOX) - Corey Reynolds ("The Closer") is the latest addition to the drama pilot, about a world where love is deemed illegal and can be eradicated with a special procedure. He'll play Tack, the strategic, no-bullshit leader of the Resistance Movement, which aims to end said practice. Billy Campbell and Emma Roberts co-star in the hour, from the 20th Century Fox Television-Chernin Entertainment, writer Karyn Usher and based on Lauren Oliver's book trilogy. (Deadline.com)


GIRLFRIEND IN A COMA (NBC) - Miranda Cosgrove ("iCarly") has signed onto the single-camera comedy pilot, about Karen McNeil (Christina Ricci), a woman who unexpectedly awakens from a coma after 17 years to find she has a teenage daughter. She'll play Evie, said daughter, an overachieving loner. Universal Television-based Wolf Films is behind the half-hour, from writer Liz Brixius and based on Douglas Coupland's book of the same name. (Deadline.com)


HOLDING PATTERNS (NBC) - British actor Humphrey Ker has scored a principal role on the multi-camera comedy pilot, about a group of friends whose lives completely change after they survive a plane crash on their way to his destination wedding. He's set as Griffin Brady ("handsome and charming but uptight"), the groom. Universal Television-based TBD Productions is behind the half-hour, which was penned by Justin Spitzer. (Deadline.com)


HOSTAGES (CBS) - Quinn Shephard, Sandrine Holt and Mateus Ward have all landed roles on the drama pilot, about Ellen Sanders (Toni Collette), a successful surgeon who is selected to operate on the President of the United States, only to have her family taken hostage. Their ransom: she must kill the President. Shephard and Ward will play her two children, sullen 17-year-old Danni and well-meaning 15-year-old Jake, while Holt is set as Maria Gonzales ("pretty, tough"), a last-minute replacement on the hostage team. Warner Bros. Television-based Jerry Bruckheimer Television is behind the hour, from writer/director Jeffrey Nachmanoff. Dylan McDermott also stars. (Deadline.com)


RECKLESS (ABC) - Ernie Hudson ("Last Resort") is the first to board the drama pilot, about David Ritter (yet to be cast), "a resourceful problem solver who, when his wife is unjustly imprisoned during a political uprising overseas, resorts to entering a world of political intrigue, dangerous alliances and high emotional stakes in order to get her out." He's set as Frank Wolfe, an intelligence analyst with the CIA who is being put out to pasture. Director Martin Campbell and writer Chris Black are behind the hour, which comes from ABC Studios. (Deadline.com)


SELECTION, THE (The CW) - Sean Patrick Thomas ("Ringer") is set to reprise his role on the new incarnation of the pilot, a drama set hundreds of years in the future in which 25 young women compete to become the queen of a war-torn nation. He'll return as Sylvan Santos, Social Secretary to the Royal Family and the candidates' guide in all things related to The Selection. Elizabeth Craft and Sarah Fain are behind the Warner Bros. Television-based hour, which is based on the novel by Kiera Cass. (Deadline.com)


TURN (AMC) - Burn Gorman and Seth Numrich are on track to join the cast of the period drama pilot, about Abe Woodhull (yet to be cast), who bands together with a group of childhood friends to form The Culper Ring, an unlikely group of spies who turn the tide in America's fight for independence. The former will play Major Hewlett, "a British Major assigned to the Colonies"; while the latter is set as Benjamin Talmadge, "an outspoken, impassioned young man who is running reconnaissance missions for General Washington." Daniel Henshall and Meegan Warner also star in the hour, which Rupert Wyatt is directing from a script by Craig Silverstein. (Deadline.com)


UNTITLED LENNON PARHAM/JESSICA ST. CLAIR PROJECT (USA, New!) - Lennon Parham and Jessica St. Clair ("Best Friends Forever") are set to re-team for a new comedy at the cable channel about "what happens when single parent Lennon calls on her best friend, Jessica, single and career-focused, to help her raise her new baby." Said duo also penned the project, which also stars Zach Woods and will be shot as a presentation by Jeffrey Blitz ("The Office"). Said effort is set up at Universal Cable Productions and American Work with Scot Armstrong and Ravi Nandan also serving as executive producers. (Deadline.com)


AND IN OTHER NEWS... - Domenick Lombardozzi will recur on "Boardwalk Empire" as the older brother of Stephen Graham's Al Capone (Deadline.com); James Hiroyuki Liao has booked a three-episode arc on "Unforgettable" as "a detective with a wide variety of eclectic interests and skills" (Deadline.com); Matt Williams has been tapped as showrunner of George Lopez's proposed multi-camera comedy from Debmar-Mercury (Deadline.com); Lifetime has passed on its Renée Zellweger-produced drama pilot "Cinnamon Girl" (Deadline.com); Paul Ben-Victor signed on for a four episode stint on "Vegas" as an arrogant Hollywood mogul (Deadline.com); and Jack McBrayer will guest on "The Middle" as a boyish and disheveled dentist who hires Frankie (Patricia Heaton) as his hygienist (TVLine.com).






  [february 2013]  
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T
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T
F
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· ASSISTANCE (NBC)
· BOARDWALK EMPIRE (HBO)
· BOOMERANG (FOX)
· CINNAMON GIRL (LIFETIME)
· CLEOPATRA (LIFETIME)
· CLOSER, THE (TNT)
· CRAZY ONES, THE (CBS)
· DELIRIUM (FOX)
· DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES (ABC)
· DEVELOPMENT UPDATE (TFC)
· DON'T TRUST THE BITCH IN APARTMENT 23 (ABC)
· GIRLFRIEND IN A COMA (NBC)
· HOLDING PATTERNS (NBC)
· HOSTAGES (CBS)
· ICARLY (NICKELODEON)
· LAST RESORT (ABC)
· MIDDLE, THE (ABC)
· NUMB3RS (CBS)
· OFFICE, THE (NBC)
· PLAYING HOUSE (USA)
· RECKLESS (ABC)
· RINGER (CW)
· SCOUNDRELS (ABC)
· SELECTION, THE - 2012 VERSION (CW)
· SELECTION, THE - 2013 VERSION (CW)
· TURN: WASHINGTON'S SPIES (AMC)
· UNFORGETTABLE (A AND E)
· VEGAS (CBS)





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