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[02/19/13 - 11:38 PM]
Development Update: Tuesday, February 19
By The Futon Critic Staff (TFC) |
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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!
BAD TEACHER (CBS) - Ari Graynor ("For a Good Time, Call...") has snagged the title role on the comedy pilot, based on the Cameron Diaz-led feature of the same name about Meredith Davis, a foul-mouthed, gold-digging junior high school teacher. She'll also serve as a producer on the project. David Alan Grier also stars in the Sony Pictures Television-based half-hour, from writer Hilary Winston. (Deadline.com)
COMPANY TOWN (The CW) - Newcomer Maya Kazan, granddaughter of Oscar-winning director Elia Kazan, has scored a role on the drama pilot, about the aftermath of a sexual assault scandal at a Naval base in Norfolk, Virginia. She'll play Marla - the best friend/sidekick to one of the leads, Krista (Gage Golightly) - who has both a practical, dry side and a wistful, artistic one. CBS Television Studios is behind the hour, to be directed by Taylor Hackford from a script by Sera Gamble. (Deadline.com)
DELIRIUM (FOX) - Gregg Sulkin ("Pretty Little Liars") has scored a role on the drama pilot, which is based on Lauren Oliver's book trilogy about a world where love - a.k.a. deliria - is deemed illegal and can be eradicated with a special procedure. He'll play Julian Fineman, the prep-school heart-throb son of Deliria Free America leader Thomas Fineman (Billy Campbell), whose earnest conviction masks his ever-present internal confusion about having to undergo said procedure himself. Corey Reynolds and Emma Roberts also star in the hour, from 20th Century Fox Television and writer Karyn Usher. (Deadline.com)
ENLISTED (FOX) - Geoff Stults ("Ben & Kate") has scored a principal role on the single-camera comedy pilot, about three very different brothers working together in the Army at a small base in Florida. He'll play one of said trio, Sergeant Pete Waits, who's likened to a kid playing grown-up but is actually quick, funny and a leader. Kevin Biegel is behind the 20th Century Fox Television-based half-hour, which also stars Keith David. (Deadline.com)
GANG RELATED (FOX) - Ramon Rodriguez ("Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen") has scored the lead role while Allen Hughes ("Broken City") has been tapped to direct the drama pilot, about a gang member sent in to infiltrate the San Francisco Police Department. He'll play Ryan Lopez ("trim, intelligent and aggressive"), who quickly rises through the ranks only to be caught between his crime family with an increasing sense of loyalty to his new brothers in blue. Chris Morgan is behind the hour, which is set up at the 20th Century Fox Television-based Imagine Television. (Deadline.com)
GOTHICA (ABC) - Raza Jaffrey ("Smash") is likewise the first to be cast in the drama pilot, about Grace Van Helsing, a woman who discovers the likes of everyone from Victor Frankenstein to Dorian Gray exist in modern-day San Francisco while searching for her own identity. He'll play John Harker, a police detective investigating the death of Grace's brother Chris, whose murder mirrors that of their parents. Anand Tucker is directing the ABC Studios-based hour from a script by Matt Lopez. (Deadline.com)
HOSTAGES (CBS) - Tate Donovan ("Deception") is the latest addition to 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. He'll play her husband Brian, "a former Ivy League athlete and golden boy who is covering up the fact that his real estate career is now in trouble and he's fallen into debt," a role presumably in second position to the struggling NBC drama. Dylan McDermott, Mateus Ward, Quinn Shephard and Sandrine Holt also star in the Warner Bros. Television-based hour, from writer/director Jeffrey Nachmanoff and based on the Israeli series "Bnei Aruba." (Deadline.com)
HOW THE HELL AM I NORMAL? (ABC) - George Segal ("Retired at 35") has boarded the pilot, a family comedy set in the 1980s about an in-your-face mother (Wendi McLendon-Covey) and hot-tempered father (Jeff Garlin) who love their three eccentric kids so much, they can't bear to see them grow up. He'll play Al "Pops" Solomon, the former's father, "the stoic, wealthy pillar of the family for years." Darien Provost also stars in the Sony Pictures Television-based project, from director Seth Gordon and creator Adam F. Goldberg. (Deadline.com)
KILLER WOMEN (ABC) - Tricia Helfer ("Battlestar Galactica") has been tapped for the lead role on the drama pilot, about Molly Parker, the only woman in the notoriously male Texas Rangers. She'll play said role, "a classic, leggy beauty and also a red hot mess." Writer Hannah Shakespeare and ABC Studios are behind the hour, which is based on the Argentine format "Mujeres Asesinas." (Deadline.com)
LIST, THE (FOX) - Michael Peña ("End of Watch") has signed on as the lead on the drama pilot, about Dan Soto née Shaker, an Inspector with the U.S. Marshal Service who's tasked with finding the person who stole a file with the secret identities of every member of the Witness Security Program. He'll play said role, "a ruggedly attractive, oddly charismatic man, a notoriously quirky maverick who frequently gets into trouble with the bureaucracy." Writer Paul Zbyszewski and director Ruben Fleischer are behind the 20th Century Fox Television-based hour, which also stars Charity Wakefield and Richard T. Jones. (Deadline.com)
ORDAINED, THE (CBS) - Nestor Serrano ("Blue Bloods") is the first to land a role on the drama pilot, about Tom Reilly, "the son of a Kennedy-esque family who leaves the priesthood and becomes a lawyer to prevent his politician sister from being assassinated." He's set as Hector Nuñez ("sleek and shiny like a knife"), one of the partners at Tom's new firm whom he suspects is behind the plot to kill his sister. Writer Lisa Takeuchi Cullen and director R.J. Cutler are behind the project, which is set up at CBS Television Studios. (Deadline.com)
PULLING (ABC) - Mandy Moore ("Grey's Anatomy") is set as one of the leads on the comedy pilot, about three single thirtysomething women who opt to live together after one of them breaks off her engagement the day before her wedding. She'll play one of them, Louise, "who is optimistic and desperate to snag a husband - but her man-hungry tactics typically backfire." Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky are behind the ABC Studios-based project, which is based on Sharon Horgan and Dennis Kelly's U.K. series of the same name. Jason Moore is directing. (Deadline.com)
RAKE (FOX) - John Ortiz ("Luck") is the latest to board the drama pilot, about the chaotic and comedic life of criminal defense lawyer Keegan Joye (Greg Kinnear). He'll play Ben Meagher, Keegan's best friend, a family man whose wife Scarlet (Necar Zadegan), is an assistant District Attorney for the city of Los Angeles. Bojana Novakovic and Miranda Otto also star in the hour, from Sony Pictures Television and creator Peter Duncan, based on his Australian series of the same name. (Deadline.com)
RECKLESS (ABC) - Eloise Mumford ("The River") has snagged the female lead on 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. She'll play said wife, Sarah Harrison, a doctor at a medical clinic in East Myanmar who's brash and impetuous, the polar opposite of her careful and methodical husband. Writer Chris Black and director Martin Campbell are behind the hour, which is set up at ABC Studios. (Deadline.com)
RITA (Bravo) - Josh Hamilton has been tapped for the male lead on the drama pilot, about the title character (played by Anna Gunn), an outspoken private school teacher who struggles to raise her own three teenage children while dealing with the inane bureaucracy and overprotective parents at her school. He'll play Terrence, "the principal at Cabbott Academy who is infatuated with the enigmatically sexy Rita but for her, their relationship is one of convenience." Writer Krista Vernoff and director Miguel Arteta are behind the Fox Television Studios-based hour, an adaptation of the Danish format of the same name. (Deadline.com)
SECOND SIGHT (CBS) - Jason Lee ("Memphis Beat") has booked the lead role on the drama pilot, about Ross Tanner, a New Orleans detective suffering from Azoors Syndrome, an ocular eye disorder that saddles him with regular hallucinations but also opens up his subconscious in a way that aids his job. Gerald Cuesta and Michael Cuesta are behind the hour, which is based on the BBC1 series by Paula Milne. Clive Owen played said role in the original incarnation. CBS Television Studios is producing. (Deadline.com)
TO MY ASSISTANT (FOX) - Catherine O'Hara has joined the cast of the single-camera comedy pilot, about the assistants at a big New York law firm who band together as a family to help each other cope with the obnoxious overbearing bosses who test their sanity on a daily basis. She'll play one of the latter group, Magda, who's "perfectly put together, pretends to be your friend but really isn't." Ellen Kreamer and Sherry Bilsing-Graham are behind the project, which is set up at Warner Bros. Television. (Deadline.com)
UNDER THE DOME (CBS) - Rachelle Lefevre ("A Gifted Man") is the latest to board the ensemble cast of the upcoming drama, about a small town that is suddenly and inexplicably sealed off from the rest of the world by an enormous transparent dome. She'll play Julia, "an investigative reporter who's just moved to Chester's Mill from Chicago with her husband." Aisha Hinds, Alex Koch, Britt Robertson, Colin Ford, Dean Norris, Jolene Purdy, Mike Vogel, Natalie Martinez and Nicholas Strong also star in the CBS Television Studios-based hour, which is based on Stephen King's best-selling novel of the same name. (Deadline.com)
ZOMBIELAND (Amazon) - Kirk Ward ("The Island") will round out the cast of the comedy pilot, a small screen continuation of Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick's 2009 movie about four humans who band together to survive the zombie apocalypse. He'll play Tallahassee, "a square-jawed former lowly sandwich vendor-turned-the world's most gifted zombie slayer." Woody Harrelson originated said role on the big screen. Izabela Vidovic, Maiara Walsh and Tyler Ross also star. (Deadline.com)
AND IN OTHER NEWS... - HBO has passed on its James Gandolfini-led drama pilot "Criminal Justice," based on the U.K. series of the same name (Deadline.com); Johnny Ray Gill will recur on "The Killing" as "a low-level gangbanger who may be on death row but hasn't let that dampen his spirit" (Deadline.com); Melissa Rosenberg has been tapped to supervise ABC's drama pilot "Big Thunder" while Rob Bowman is now attached to direct (Deadline.com); Reece Shearsmith has been cast as Patrick Troughton in BBC America's "An Adventure in Space and Time" (EW.com); Kristen Wiig and Seth Rogen will both drop by Netflix's "Arrested Development" revival (Vulture.com); Chris Carmack is bound for "Nashville" as a new neighbor who befriends Clare Bowen's Scarlett (TVLine.com); and Lauren Cohan will guest on "Law & Order: SVU" as "a popular sports reporter who accuses her cameraman of raping her" (THR.com).
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[02/27/26 - 01:28 PM]
Paramount to Acquire Warner Bros. Discovery to Form Next-Generation Global Media and Entertainment Company
The transaction has been unanimously approved by the Boards of Directors of both companies and is expected to close in Q3 2026, subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory clearances and approval by WBD shareholders, with a vote expected in the early spring of 2026.
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[02/27/26 - 12:30 PM]
The Jaw-Dropping Fifth and Final Season of Starz's Hit Drama Series, "Power Book III: Raising Kanan" Set to Premiere June 12
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[02/27/26 - 09:12 AM]
Team USA Hockey Olympic Gold Medalists Hilary Knight, Jack Hughes and Quinn Hughes to Appear Together on "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon" on Monday, March 2
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[02/27/26 - 08:12 AM]
Paul Wesley Joins Season Three of Hit Apple TV Series "The Buccaneers"
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[02/27/26 - 07:31 AM]
Peacock to Exclusively Stream Focus Features' "Hamnet" Beginning March 6
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[02/27/26 - 07:01 AM]
Prime Video Debuts First-Look Image of Ryan Hurst as Kratos and Callum Vinson as Atreus On Set of New Series "God of War"
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[02/27/26 - 06:01 AM]
Video: Netflix and Apple TV Join Forces to Stream Formula 1 Thrills
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[02/26/26 - 08:46 PM]
"Dandelion": Netflix Adapts "Gintama" Creator Hideaki Sorachi's Debut Work into New Anime Series
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[02/26/26 - 06:01 PM]
Video: "Still Shining" - Official Trailer - Netflix
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[02/26/26 - 02:46 PM]
Netflix Declines to Raise Offer for Warner Bros.
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[02/26/26 - 02:19 PM]
"Live with Kelly and Mark" Soars to Season High with Best Audience in Over a Year
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[02/26/26 - 02:08 PM]
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[02/26/26 - 01:36 PM]
Paramount Comments on Warner Bros. Discovery Board's Determination of Paramount's Proposal as Superior
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[02/26/26 - 01:16 PM]
Warner Bros. Discovery Board of Directors Determines Revised Proposal from Paramount Skydance Constitutes a "Company Superior Proposal"
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[02/26/26 - 01:00 PM]
FOX Television Network Renews Hit Joel McHale Series "Animal Control" for Season Five
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