or


[10/16/13 - 11:17 PM]
Development Update: Wednesday, October 16
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!


THE ASTRONAUT WIVES CLUB (ABC, New!) - Lily Koppel's best-selling novel - which "tells the true story of the women behind NASA's early astronauts and the struggles they face when their lives and families are catapulted into the spotlight overnight" - is being developed as a limited series at the Alphabet. Stephanie Savage will pen the adaptation - set in the 1960s - and executive produce alongside Josh Schwartz and Len Goldstein via their ABC Studios-based Fake Empire banner. Groundswell Productions' Michael London will likewise serve as an executive producer with the company's Janice Williams also producing. (Deadline.com)


BABYLON FIELDS (NBC, New!) - Michael Cuesta, Gerald Cuesta and Michael Atkinson's much-ballyhooed drama pilot - in which the dead are resurrected and try to resume their former lives - is being revived at the Peacock. CBS and 20th Century Fox Television originally commissioned the project in 2007 with an ensemble cast that included Adam LeFevre, Amber Tamblyn, Jamey Sheridan, Kathy Baker, Leila Arcieri, Mackenzie Milone, Ray Stevenson and Will Janowitz. NBC has subsequently ordered a new pilot with Michael Cuesta - who has inked a two-year overall deal with 20th - once again directing from a script by Gerald Cuesta and Michael Atkinson. (Deadline.com)


BLACK OAK (CBS, New!) - Julia Hart (The Keeping Room) has sold a new drama to the Eye about "a woman who inherits the haunted hotel that has plagued her family with a curse for generations, forcing her to confront her dysfunctional family's secrets, ghosts, and demons." Said effort is set up at the Warner Bros. Television-based Berlanti Productions with Greg Berlanti and Melissa Kellner Berman among the executive producers. (Deadline.com)


CROSSBONES (NBC/Universal; W: Neil Cross; D: David Slade) - David Hoflin and Yasmine Al Massri are the latest to board the upcoming drama, about the diabolical pirate Edward Teach, aka Blackbeard (John Malkovich), who reigns over a rogue nation of thieves, outlaws and miscreant sailors in 1715. He'll play Vane, "a pirate captain known for being a vicious, villainous and murderous predator"; while she's set as Selma, "a poised and elegant Arabian woman who is Blackbeard's one confidante." Production on the series is set to begin shortly in Puerto Rico. Claire Foy, Richard Coyle and Tracy Ifeachor also star. (Deadline.com)


DAMASCUS (CBS, New!) - America Ferrera ("Ugly Betty") is set to star in a potential drama at the Eye about "a crusading nun (Ferrera) who practices law on behalf of the least fortunate, and has her beliefs tested when her life collides with an elitist corporate lawyer. As the two set out to help those in need of justice, they come up against a secretive and powerful organization that is determined to destroy them." Nick Osborne penned the CBS Television Studios-based project, which has a put pilot commitment with Ferrera and Teri Weinberg likewise serving as executive producers. (Deadline.com)


JENNIFER FALLS (TV Land; W: Matthew Carlson; D: TBA) - Nora Kirkpatrick and Joel David Moore have both been cast in the comedy pilot, about Jennifer (Jaime Pressly), a career woman and mother who must move back in with her own mom (Jessica Walter) after being let go from her high-powered, six-figure salary job. Moore will play Jennifer's brother, "who had lived in her shadow, and now she works for him in his bar"; while Kirkpatrick is on board as Jennifer's sister-in-law, "the only straight woman on her softball team and Jennifer's oldest friend from the neighborhood." Dylan Gelula and Missi Pyle also star. (Deadline.com)


JUJITSU RABBI AND THE GODLESS BLONDE (FOX, New!) - Lauren Blum and Rebecca Dana are developing a new comedy at the network based on the latter's memoir, billed as an ultimate fish-out-of-water tale about her experience moving to Brooklyn's enormous Lubavitch community and living with Cosmo, a thirty-year-old Russian rabbi who practices jujitsu on the side. Sony Pictures Television-based FanFare Productions is behind the project, with the company's Jamie Tarses executive producing. (Deadline.com)


MASSHOLES (FOX, New!) - Spike Feresten ("Talkshow with Spike Feresten") has set up an animated comedy at the network about Kevin Dunlevy, "a smart nerdy tween trying to survive in a small Massachusetts town full of tough guys and half-wits." 20th Century Fox Television is behind the project, which Feresten will write and executive produce. (Deadline.com)


MYSTERY ISLAND (NBC, New!) - "The Office" alums Ed Helms and Graham Wagner have scored a pilot presentation order from the Peacock for an animated comedy "set on an island where holidaymakers get marooned after their cruise ship malfunctions." The project is set up at Universal Television with Pacific Electric Picture Co.'s Michael Falbo executive producing alongside said creators. Helms is expected to voice one of the characters. (Deadline.com)


THE SHRINE (CBS, New!) - Nicholas Wootton ("Golden Boy") has set up a potential drama at the Eye about "a struggling Catholic hospital in Los Angeles that becomes a sensation when patient after patient is miraculously cured of cancer. Could it truly be divine intervention? A young female doctor investigates these 'miracles,' only to discover that there may be a murderous impostor in the hospital." Warner Bros. Television is behind the hour, which based on the upcoming book by Wootton's father, Gareth Wootton. Greg Berlanti and Melissa Kellner Berman of Berlanti Productions will also serve as executive producers. (Deadline.com)


UNTITLED DAVEY HOLMES/SHAWN RYAN PROJECT (FOX, New!) - "The Chicago Code" alums Shawn Ryan and Davey Holmes are set to team with Justin Lin (Fast & Furious 6) for a period drama "set in 1957 in the Territory of Hawaii, which is on a path to become the 50th state in the Union two years later. Statehood and tourism are about to make a few men very rich, and when the brother of a small-time Hawaiian hustler is murdered, he resolves to wage war on the most powerful man on the island." Sony Pictures Television is behind the project, which has a put pilot commitment with MiddKidd Productions' Marney Hochman and Perfect Storm Entertainment's Danielle Woodrow executive producing alongside the aforementioned trio. (Deadline.com)


AND IN OTHER NEWS... - ABC has asked for three additional scripts from its freshman comedies "The Goldbergs" and "Trophy Wife" (Deadline.com); Brian Koppelman and David Levien have bowed out as showrunners of HBO's "History of Music" project from Martin Scorsese, Mick Jagger and Terence Winter and starring Bobby Cannavale (Deadline.com); Margo Martindale will return for at least one episode of "The Americans," reprising her Emmy-nominated role of Claudia (TVLine.com); Martin Donovan has been cast as Jack Crawford's (Laurence Fishburne) therapist at the FBI on the new season of "Hannibal" (TVLine.com); Yvette Nicole Brown will visit "Welcome to the Family" as "the Yoder family's annoyingly overbearing and strong next-door neighbor" (THR.com); and Shaun Cassidy has inked a two-year overall deal with Universal Television (THR.com).






  [october 2013]  
S
M
T
W
T
F
S
  


· AMERICANS, THE (FX)
· ASTRONAUT WIVES CLUB, THE (ABC)
· BABYLON FIELDS (CBS)
· BABYLON FIELDS (NBC)
· BLACK OAK (CBS)
· CHICAGO CODE, THE (FOX)
· CROSSBONES (NBC)
· DAMASCUS (CBS)
· DEVELOPMENT UPDATE (TFC)
· GOLDBERGS, THE (ABC)
· GOLDEN BOY (CBS)
· HANNIBAL (NBC)
· JENNIFER FALLS (TV LAND)
· JUJITSU RABBI & THE GODLESS BLONDE (FOX)
· MASSHOLES (FOX)
· MYSTERY ISLAND (NBC)
· OFFICE, THE (NBC)
· SHRINE, THE (CBS)
· TALKSHOW WITH SPIKE FERESTEN (FOX)
· TROPHY WIFE (ABC)
· UGLY BETTY (ABC)
· UNTITLED HOLMES & RYAN PROJECT (FOX)
· VINYL (HBO)
· WELCOME TO THE FAMILY (NBC)





[03/29/23 - 11:00 AM]
CBS Renews Hit Drama Series "Blue Bloods" for the 2023-2024 Season
The series is Friday's #1 primetime program and the #3 broadcast drama with 9.54 million viewers.

[03/29/23 - 10:20 AM]
Video: Freeform Drops Official Trailer for the Second Season of the Hit Series "Single Drunk Female"
With a year and a half of sobriety under her belt, Samantha Fink finally feels like she has a life worth celebrating.

[03/29/23 - 09:47 AM]
SundanceTV Expands Popular "True Crime Story" Franchise with Renewal of "It Couldn't Happen Here," Hosted by Hilarie Burton Morgan, and Greenlights for Two New Series
All three series join SundanceTV's robust slate of "True Crime Story" content this year, kicking off with the debut of "Look Into My Eyes" on June 15.

[03/29/23 - 09:30 AM]
Netflix Announces "Jentry Chau vs. The Underworld" from Echo Wu and Executive Producers Ali Wong and Aron Eli Coleite
The series follows Jentry Chau (voiced by Ali Wong), a Chinese-American teen living in a small Texas town, who finds out a demon king is hunting her for the supernatural powers she's been working her whole life to repress.

[03/29/23 - 09:25 AM]
"Not Dead Yet" Premieres as ABC's Strongest Multiplatform Comedy Debut Since October 2018
In addition, the new ABC comedy picked up a massive +6.6 million Total Viewers after 35 days of multiplatform viewing.

[03/29/23 - 09:06 AM]
Apple TV+ Announces New Episode of Emmy Award-Winning Hit "Carpool Karaoke: The Series," Featuring Alan Cumming and Brian Cox
"Carpool Karaoke: The Series" landed top honors at the 2022 Emmy Awards, winning Outstanding Short Form Comedy, Drama or Variety Series for its fifth consecutive Emmy win.

[03/29/23 - 09:02 AM]
Video: "Queens on the Run" - Official Trailer - Netflix
When four women finally go on the road trip they planned in their teens, they have no idea what they'll encounter... sometimes literally.

[03/29/23 - 09:02 AM]
Disney's Coming-of-Age Sci-Fi Adventure "Crater" to Debut Exclusively on Disney+ May 12
Directed by Kyle Patrick Alvarez, the coming-of-age sci-fi adventure stars Isaiah Russell-Bailey, Mckenna Grace, Billy Barratt, Orson Hong, Thomas Boyce and Scott Mescudi.

[03/29/23 - 09:01 AM]
Video: "American Manhunt: The Boston Marathon Bombing" - Official Trailer - Netflix
The 2013 Boston Marathon bombing paralyzed a great American city on what was supposed to be its happiest day.

[03/29/23 - 09:00 AM]
"Split Second" Hosted by John Michael Higgins - New Series Premieres on Game Show Network April 17 at 7:30 pm ET
Based on a format from game show legend Monty Hall, "Spilt Second" asks three contestants to decide in a split second which of three general interest trivia questions they can answer.

[03/29/23 - 08:20 AM]
HGTV Real Estate Star Page Turner Helps Overwhelmed Flippers Maximize Profit in New Season of "Fix My Flip"
Licensed real estate agent Page Turner will jump in to help overwhelmed house flippers when HGTV premieres its sophomore season on Thursday, May 4.

[03/29/23 - 08:05 AM]
"Live with Kelly and Ryan" Scores an 8-Week High in Total Viewers
"Live with Kelly and Ryan" matched single-day season highs on Monday with its "After Oscar Show" in Households (1.9 rating) and Women 25-54 (0.8 rating) and delivered its 2nd most-watched single-day telecast of the season in Total Viewers (2.873 million).

[03/29/23 - 08:01 AM]
Video: Official Trailer Released for Genndy Tartakovsky's Newest Animated Series, "Unicorn: Warriors Eternal"
The first two episodes will premiere Thursday, May 4 at midnight on Adult Swim and next day on HBO Max.

[03/29/23 - 08:00 AM]
Starz and Channel 4 Order Taut Thriller "The Couple Next Door" Starring Sam Heughan, Eleanor Tomlinson, Jessica De Gouw and Alfred Enoch
The series is a deliciously dark, psychological drama, exploring the stultifying claustrophobia of suburbia and the fallout of chasing your darkest desires.

[03/29/23 - 07:00 AM]
Video: Prime Video Releases Official Trailer and Key Art for Academy Award-Winning Actor Rachel Weisz's Highly Anticipated Series "Dead Ringers," Created by Alice Birch
A modern take on David Cronenberg's 1988 classic film, "Dead Ringers" is a limited series starring Rachel Weisz playing the double-lead role of Elliot and Beverly Mantle, twins who share everything.