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[11/22/13 - 11:31 PM]
Development Update: Friday, November 22
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!


BLANCO (Cinemax/FTS; W: Mark Rosner; D: Juan Carlos Fresnadillo) - Shiloh Fernandez (Evil Dead) has been tapped for the lead role on the drama pilot, about Ruben (Fernandez), "an uptown gangster - nicknamed Blanco for being a light-skinned Dominican - who uses his status as a confidential informant to turn the tables on law enforcement and build his criminal empire." Mark Rosner is behind the hour, which has also added Juan Carlos Fresnadillo (28 Weeks Later) as director. Lakeshore Entertainment's Gary Lucchesi and Tom Rosenberg are also executive producing. (Deadline.com)


THE BRINK (HBO; W: Kim Benabib & Roberto Benabib; D: Jay Roach) - Aasif Mandvi ("The Daily Show with Jon Stewart") has scored a role on the pilot, "an epic dark comedy focusing on a geopolitical crisis and its effect on three disparate and desperate men: U.S. Secretary of State Walter Hollander (Tim Robbins), a lowly Foreign Service officer (Jack Black); and an ace Navy fighter pilot." He's set as Rafiq Massoud, "a young Pakistani employed by the U.S. embassy whose love of America runs as deep as his resentment." (Deadline.com)


COMPLICATIONS (USA/FTS; W: Matt Nix; D: TBA) - Jessica Szohr, Beth Riesgraf, Demetrius Grosse and Lauren Stamile are the latest additions to the drama pilot, about John Ellis (Jason O'Mara), a disillusioned suburban ER doctor, who finds his existence transformed when he intervenes in a drive-by shooting, saving a young boy's life and killing one of his attackers. Szhor will play Gretchen, "a whip-smart ER nurse at Samaritan Hospital"; with Riesgraf as Samantha Ellis, "John Ellis' wife - an attractive, intelligent lawyer who is trying her best to keep her family, her career and herself together after losing her daughter to cancer"; Grosse as Dan Brennan, "a fellow doctor at Samaritan, a skillful and dedicated physician, and the closest thing John has to a friend"; and Stamile as Bridget, "an excellent doctor who tends to take out her frustration with life in the ER on patients and colleagues." (Deadline.com)


IMAN & ANDY (ABC, New!) - Angela Ruhinda (If Girls Were Like Boys) has sold a single-camera comedy to the Alphabet about "the romance of two 20-something interracial coworkers who work at a Huffington Post-like online magazine that have been happily dating in secret for months. Their dating bliss is quickly put into a tailspin when their new editor-in-chief arrives on the scene, exposes them as a couple and forces them to team up on a relationship advice vlog, with the whole office and millions of viewers now following their relationship." Electus' Ben Silverman and Jimmy Fox, Whoop Inc's Whoopi Goldberg and Tom Leonardis and Principato-Young Entertainment's Peter Principato and Paul Young are among the executive producers. (THR.com)


MOODY BITCHES (HBO, New!) - Dr. Julie Holland's upcoming book, subtitled "The Truth About the Drugs You're Taking, the Sex You're Not Having, The Sleep You're Missing and What's Really Making You Crazy," is being developed as a comedy at the pay channel. Diablo Cody (Young Adult) is on board to pen the half-hour, which will likewise "expose the truth about the drugs you're taking, the sex you're not having, the sleep you're missing and what's really making you crazy," and executive produce alongside Oprah Winfrey of Harpo Films. Holland herself will also receive a co-executive producer credit. (THR.com)


UNTITLED MIKE DARNELL PROJECT (ABC, New!) - Former FOX reality chief Mike Darnell has booked a pilot order at the Alphabet for an unscripted entry that deals with haunted houses. No other details were given about the project, which is set up at Warner Horizon Television. Jason Blum of Blumhouse Productions will likewise executive produce. (THR.com)


UNTITLED SEAN JABLONSKI PROJECT (USA/UCP; W: Sean Jablonski; D: TBA) - Katherine LaNasa ("Deception") has been cast in the drama pilot, about "investment banker Neil Truman (Matt Passmore) and his wife, Grace (Stephanie Szostak), as they struggle to sift through their stagnant marriage, looking for the spark they once had. When Neil discovers that Grace has been seeing a debonaire male escort (Blair Redford) his entire world is turned upside down." She's on board as Adriana, "a sophisticated middle-aged woman whose beauty is only matched by her intelligence. She is an entrepreneur who services an elite clientele of women looking for temporary romance." (Deadline.com)


UNTITLED TREVOR NOAH PROJECT (FOX, New!) - South African comedian Trevor Noah is set to star in a potential comedy at the network which "draws on his experience growing up in Soweto as the son of a Swiss father and South African mother and reflects his observations on race and ethnicity." Sameer Gardezi is penning the half-hour with James Lassiter, Jada Pinkett Smith and Will Smith of Overbrook Entertainment and Legendary Television's Norm Aladjem and Randy Chalawsky also among the executive producers. Noah will receive a producing credit. (Deadline.com)


AND IN OTHER NEWS... - Christopher Gorham will guest on "Once Upon a Time" as "an important character in the life of Jennifer Morrison's Emma Swan" (EW.com); Steve Callaghan has inked a new overall deal with 20th Century Fox Television where he'll continue as co-showrunner of "Family Guy" for the forseeable future (Deadline.com); Jack Davenport will visit "The Good Wife" as "an upstanding assistant U.S. attorney" (EW.com); and Andrew J. West is bound for "The Walking Dead" as Gareth, "a remix of sorts of an unidentified character from the comics," a role which has the option to become a series regular (THR.com).






  [november 2013]  
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F
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· BLANCO (CINEMAX)
· BRINK, THE (HBO)
· COMPLICATIONS (USA)
· DECEPTION (NBC)
· DEVELOPMENT UPDATE (TFC)
· FAMILY GUY (FOX)
· GOOD WIFE, THE (CBS)
· IMAN & ANDY (ABC)
· MOODY BITCHES (HBO)
· ONCE UPON A TIME (ABC)
· SATISFACTION (USA)
· UNTITLED MIKE DARNELL PROJECT (ABC)
· UNTITLED TREVOR NOAH PROJECT (FOX)
· WALKING DEAD, THE (AMC)





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