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[12/04/13 - 11:16 PM]
Development Update: Wednesday, December 4
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!


CLUB LIFE: MIAMI (HBO, New!) - John Singleton (Abduction) has sold a new drama to the pay channel set against the South Beach club scene about "a reformed criminal who moves to Miami and gains a new lease on life as he embraces the vibrant, youthful and transgressive world." He'll write and direct the potential hour as well as executive produce alongside Russell Simmons. (Deadline.com)


CRIME NOVEL (Starz, New!) - "Spartacus" creator Steven S. DeKnight is developing a domestic take on the Italian drama "Romanzo Criminale," about "a gang that controls Rome's heroin trade in the 1970s and 1980s." The U.S. adaptation will "be set in Philadelphia during the turbulent era of the late sixties and early seventies. The story will chronicle the rise of a gang of working class criminals who attempt to seize the American Dream by any means necessary." Lionsgate Television is behind the hour with DeKnight writing and executive producing alongside Steve McPherson; Scripted World's Alon Aranya and Rob Golenberg; and original series producers Riccardo Tozzi, Giovanni Stabilini, Marco Chimenz and Gina Gardini. (Deadline.com)


HOKE (FX/FX Productions; W/D: Scott Frank) - Robert Wisdom ("Nashville") has joined the cast of the Paul Giamatti-led drama pilot, based on Charles Willeford's series of novels about "the hardboiled and possibly insane homicide detective Hoke Moseley (Giamatti) in pre-chic Miami circa 1985." He's set as Hoke's boss Major Brownley, "the head of the Homicide Squad. He's known Hoke for a very long time and knows all of Hoke's strengths, weaknesses, eccentricities and prejudices." Separately, Wisdom will guest star on the Syfy pilot "12 Monkeys" as Jeremy, "a former CIA operative who's content to apply his talents in the kitchen." (Deadline.com)


JAMESTOWN (History, New!) - John Shiban ("Hell on Wheels") is developing a mini-series at the cable channel about "the true story of the beginnings of America and follow the dreamers and schemers who settled in the new colony of Jamestown." Said effort is based on Benjamin Woolley's 2007 book "Savage Kingdom: The True Story of Jamestown, 1607, and the Settlement of America." Jim Head of Head First Productions will also serve as an executive producer alongside Shiban. (THR.com)


THE NOVICE (USA/Fox 21; W: Joe Gayton & Tony Gayton; D: TBA) - Alan Ruck and Byron Mann have both landed roles on the drama pilot, about Kyle Jones (Shane Coffey), a recent college grad who seizes an unexpected opportunity to make money with a Korean crime family in order to help with his family's debt. Ruck is set as Bill Jones, "Kyle's father, a decent and hard-working professional machinist willing to put aside his pride and work as a day laborer in order to pay the bills"; with Mann as Johnny Joo, "the impeccably dressed owner of a popular dining establishment and a careful, yet dangerous, man who offers Kyle a position within his organization." Will Yun Lee also stars. (Deadline.com)


ODYSSEY (NBC/Universal; W: Adam Armus, Kay Foster & Peter Horton; D: Peter Horton) - Nate Mooney ("It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia") is the first to be cast in the drama pilot, "a global conspiracy thriller centered on three families whose lives are torn apart when a stranded female soldier, a disillusioned corporate attorney, and a disrespected political activist are pulled into the same shocking international military conspiracy." He's on board as Bob Offer, "a protestor with an unapproachable edge who sees conspiracy in everything and thinks he's stumbled on something big this time." (Deadline.com)


UNTITLED KOHAN/MILLERS PROJECT (HBO, New!) - Jenji Kohan ("Orange Is the New Black") has sold a Salem period drama to the pay channel which "explores the circumstances surrounding one of the most compelling chapters in American history, when intolerance and repression set neighbor against neighbor and led a town to mass hysteria." Bruce Miller and Tracy Miller will co-write the Lionsgate Television-based hour alongside Kohan with Kohan and Bruce Miller executive producing and Tracy Miller as a supervising producer. (THR.com)


AND IN OTHER NEWS... - Andrew McCarthy will succeed Michael Morris as direct of E!'s Bethany Joy Lenz-led drama pilot "Songbyrd" (Deadline.com); BBC One has pulled the plug on its period drama "Ripper Street," the second season of which has yet to launch on BBC America (Deadline.com); Eddie Izzard has inked a talent holding deal with NBC (Deadline.com); Lance Reddick is bound for "American Horror Story: Coven" as "the show's version of voodoo Satan, who plays a pivotal role in the life of Marie Laveau (Angela Bassett)" (EW.com); Tom Everett Scott will recur on "Beauty and the Beast" as "a brilliant archaeologist with a short fuse" (EW.com); Heather Morris and Kristin Chenoweth are the latest "Glee" alums set to return for the show's 100th episode (@MrRPMurphy);

Alexandra Metz has been cast as Rapunzel on "Once Upon a Time" (TVLine.com); Catherine Dent is bound for FOX's "Gang Related" as "the straight-talking but likeable boss of Shantel VanSanten's Jessica" (TVLine.com); Elyse Levesque has booked an arc on "The Originals" as a witch who "returns to New Orleans with a mysterious agenda and some unfinished business with Rebekah and Marcel" (TVLine.com); Brianna Brown will guest on "The Mentalist" as "a woman connected to a case that the FBI is working on" (TVLine.com); and Craig Armstrong and Rick Ringbakk's 5x5 Media has inked an overall dea with Warner Bros. Television (THR.com).






  [december 2013]  
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· 12 MONKEYS (SYFY)
· AMERICAN HORROR STORY (FX)
· AMERICAN ODYSSEY (NBC)
· BEAUTY & THE BEAST (CW)
· CLUB LIFE: MIAMI (HBO)
· CRIME NOVEL (STARZ)
· DEVELOPMENT UPDATE (TFC)
· DEVIL YOU KNOW, THE (HBO)
· GANG RELATED (FOX)
· GLEE (FOX)
· HELL ON WHEELS (AMC)
· HOKE (FX)
· IT'S ALWAYS SUNNY IN PHILADELPHIA (FXX)
· JAMESTOWN (HISTORY)
· MENTALIST, THE (CBS)
· NASHVILLE (CMT)
· NOVICE (USA)
· ONCE UPON A TIME (ABC)
· ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK (NETFLIX)
· ORIGINALS, THE (CW)
· RIPPER STREET (BBC AMERICA)
· SONGBYRD (E)
· SPARTACUS (STARZ)
· UNTITLED EDDIE IZZARD PROJECT (NBC)





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