|
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!
BRIGHT YOUNG THINGS (ABC, New!) - Anna Godbersen's best-selling novel - "set in 1929 and centering on two women who escape their small Midwestern town and end up in Manhattan where one discovers that the father she's never known is the head of a crime ring, while the other struggles to become a singer" - is being developed as a drama at the Alphabet. Warner Bros. Television is behind the hour with Sheila Callaghan ("Shameless") writing and serving as a co-executive producer. John Wells Productions' John Wells and Andrew Stearn and Alloy Entertainment's Leslie Morgenstein and Cheryl Dolins then will executive produce. (Deadline.com)
GENERATION NEXT (CBS, New!) - Mark Steven Johnson (Ghost Rider) has booked a potential drama at the Eye "set a year after a deadly outbreak caused ordinary citizens to fly into a mindless rage. After a cure is discovered, these 'Carriers' are finally allowed to return to society, and to solve crimes committed by or against the infected, the Infectious Crimes Department is formed." CBS Television Studios is behind the hour with Eric and Kim Tannenbaum likewise executive producing via their Tannenbaum Co. banner. (Deadline.com)
HR (Lifetime; W: Glenn Porter; D: Darren Star) - Peter Jacobson ("House") is the latest addition to the drama pilot, about Ellen Bell (Alicia Silverstone), an uptight Director of Human Resources for a global company who - after a head injury alters her outlook on life - throws standard corporate practices out the window and inspires the business to strive for new ambitions and profits. He's set as Moss Lieber, "Ellen's smarmy boss." Greg Germann, Kallee Stewart, Maulik Pancholy, Peter Fonda and Will Kemp also star. (Deadline.com)
HUNTERS (Syfy, New!) - Natalie Chaidez ("In Plain Sight") is spearheading a small screen take on Whitley Strieber's best-selling novel "Alien Hunter," about "a Pennsylvania detective-turned-suspect Flynn Carroll who, after his wife mysteriously goes missing, is determined to prove his innocence and find her. His search leads to evidence that dangerous alien cells are living among us, and the U.S. government has a secret organization in place to thwart their terrorist efforts." Universal Cable Productions-based Valhalla Entertainment is behind the 90-minute pilot, with Gale Anne Hurd likewise executive producing. (THR.com)
LIGHTHOUSE (NBC, New!) - Josh Friedman ("Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles") has sold a potential drama to the Peacock about "a mysterious hotel for wayward time travelers." Universal Television is behind the hour, home to Friedman's overall deal. He'll also serve as an executive producer on fellow NBC effort "Emerald City" and serves as a co-executive producer on the network's upcoming drama "Crossbones." (Deadline.com)
MORE TIME WITH FAMILY (CBS, New!) - Tom Papa ("The Marriage Ref") is set to topline a new multi-camera comedy at the Eye about "a guy who changes his career and gives up a life on the road to spend more time at home with his family - but when he gets there, he realizes no one asked him to do that." Cathy Yuspa and Josh Goldsmith ("'Til Death") are penning the 20th Century Fox Television-based half-hour, which has a put pilot commitment. Ben Affleck and Matt Damon are also on board to executive produce via the former's Pearl Street Films as are Dave Becky and Josh Lieberman from 3 Arts Entertainment. (Deadline.com)
THE OUTLAWS (Amazon; W: Jeremy Garelick & Jon Weinbach; D: Jay Chandrasekhar) - Natalie Zea ("The Following") is the first to be cast in the comedy pilot, about the ins and outs of a professional football team from the perspective of both the players and the back office. She'll play Julie Levine, "the wife of a pro-football team owner who now needs to run the flailing organization after her husband dies." Matt Alvarez and Michael Strahan are also among the executive producers. (Deadline.com)
THE YOUNGER MAN (NBC, New!) - Justin Long ("Ed") is looking to return to the Peacock with a new comedy about "a relentlessly optimistic guy in his early 30's, a role earmarked for Justin Long, who is happily married to the love of his life, a sophisticated woman more than ten years his senior. While raising their teenage son, the two must endure his mother's scorn and sideways glances from their community, but they are driven forward by his unspoken mantra 'I'm gonna make you love me.'" Long, his younger brother Christian, and Graham Wagner are co-writing the script - which has a penalty attached - for 20th Century Fox Television. Jason Winer and Renate Radford will executive produce via their studio-based Small Dog Picture Co. alongside Wagner with the Longs serving as co-executive producers. (Deadline.com)
TIMELESS (NBC, New!) - Deborah Pratt ("Quantum Leap") is returning to the Peacock for a new drama about Alexandra King "who, time traveling between earth's future and present day, finds herself caught between two men she desperately loves, the worlds they each inhabit and the secrets that could destroy them all." Universal Television is producing. (Deadline.com)
UNTITLED BERT KREISCHER PROJECT (NBC, New!) - Comedian Bert Kreischer is set to topline a potential new comedy at the Peacock about Bert (Kreischner), "who has been known as a legendary party animal for two decades. Now, at age 40, he has to decide if it is finally time to grow up." Shane Kosakowski and Franklin Hardy are attached to pen the CBS Television Studios-based half-hour, which has a penalty attached. Levity Entertainment and The Tannenbaum Co.'s Eric and Kim Tannenbaum will likewise executive produce with Kreischer serving as producer. (Deadline.com)
AND IN OTHER NEWS... - The CW has ordered three additional scripts of its new fall series "The Originals," "The Tomorrow People" and "Reign" (Deadline.com); ABC has picked up two more episodes of "Shark Tank" bringing its season total to 24 (THR.com); Carol Leifer, Curtis Khleel and Elle Triedman have been tapped as co-executive producers on the new season of "Devious Maids" while Matthew Berry will serve as a consulting producer (THR.com); Ashley Benson's Hanna from "Pretty Little Liars" will drop by episode five of spin-off series "Ravenswood" (THR.com); A&E has passed on its drama pilot "Occult" as has Comedy Central on Jordan Pope Roush's "Bad Advice from My Brother" and Greg Hess's "Schlub Life" (Deadline.com);
Judd Apatow, Leslie Mann, Paul Rudd, Seth Rogen, Channing Tatum and Judas Priest frontman Rob Halford will lend their voices to the upcoming Apatow-penned episode of "The Simpsons" (EW.com); Brie Larson will return to "Community" as Abed's coat-check crush Rachel, an installment which also features Paget Brewster, Robert Patrick, Ben Folds and Kumail Nanjiani (TVLine.com); Titus Welliver's Agent Blake from "Marvel One-Shot: Item 47" will guest on "Marvel's Agent's of S.H.I.E.L.D." (Marvel.com); and Paola Turbay will guest on ABC's "Killer Women" as "a singer who thinks she is a 'great' belter but has been reduced to hosting karaoke nights in strip-mall bars" (THR.com).
|
