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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!
BALLERS (HBO; W: Steve Levinson; D: Peter Berg) - Rob Corddry ("Childrens Hospital") has scored a role on the comedy pilot, which "chronicles the lives of several Miami-based active and retired athletes." He'll play Spencer's (Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson) boss, "a financial advisor who tries really hard to fit in and who is confident but clueless at interpreting social cues." Donovan Carter, John David Washington, Omar Miller and Troy Garity also star. (Deadline.com)
GUILT BY ASSOCIATION (TNT; W: Dee Johnson & Marcia Clark; D: Nelson McCormick) - Dee Johnson and Marcia Clark's drama - about a gutsy Deputy District Attorney in the Special Trials Unit of the D.A.'s office for L.A. County who works closely with a tough-as-nails female LAPD detective and a stylish female prosecutor, both of whom routinely crash at her place - has been ordered to pilot by the cable channel. Said effort, to be directed by Nelson McCormick, is based on Clark's novel. (Deadline.com)
THE INN (NBC, New!) - Patrick Macmanus ("Missing") is developing a new drama at the Peacock and Universal Television about "a group of strangers drawn to an macmanusisolated hotel by fate. Compelled to find the truth behind the horrors that haunt them and answer the question of why they were brought together, the ensemble soon discovers that The Inn is aware of their pasts and presents and is using them to force the guests to confront themselves and each other." Jason Blum (Paranormal Activity) of Blumhouse Productions and Christina Wayne ("Copper") of Assembly Entertainment will executive produce alongside Gerard Bocaccio and Miura Kite with Macmanus as a co-executive producer. (Deadline.com)
THE ODD COUPLE (CBS, New!) - Matthew Perry ("Go On") and Danny Jacobson ("Kirstie") are developing an updated take on Neil Simon's classic play, about two mismatched roommates - the messy Oscar Madison and the neat freak Felix Unger - as a multi-camera comedy at the network. Perry and Jacobson are co-writing the CBS Television Studios-based half-hour, with Perry attached to play the Oscar role. Carl Beverly and Sarah Timberman of Timberman-Beverly Productions and Eric Tannenbaum and Kim Tannenbaum of The Tannenbaum Co. will also serve as executive producers on the project, which has a penalty attached. (Deadline.com)
PROOF (TNT, New!) - Rob Bragin ("Greek") has scored a pilot order from the cable channel for a supernatural medical drama about "a skeptical, hard science, female surgeon who is persuaded to investigate cases of reincarnation, out-of-body experiences, hauntings to find verifiable proof whether death truly the end." Kyra Sedgwick is also on board to executive produce the hour alongside Bragin, her manager Jill Littman and producer Tom Jacobson (Ladykillers) however is currently not attached to star. (Deadline.com)
TIN MAN (NBC/Universal; W: Ehren Kruger; D: D.J. Caruso) - Shaun Toub is the latest addition to the drama pilot, a futuristic thriller about "a robot (Patrick Heusinger) accused of first-degree murder who may hold the key to the future of human evolution, and the female public defender forced to fight for his cause." He's set as David Dashiell, "the CFO for Valence, a multitrillion-dollar corporation that designs and sells cutting-edge robots." (Deadline.com)
UNTITLED DAVID SPADE PROJECT (HBO, New!) - David Spade ("Rules of Engagement") is in talks to team with Dean Lorey ("The Crazy Ones") for a new comedy about Shane, "once the biggest rock and roll manager in LA, who struggles to stay relevant in a constantly changing music scene fueled by techno, hip-hop and his newly signed pop Christian boy band The Five Commandments." Said duo will pen the half-hour with eye towards Spade playing the lead role. (Deadline.com)
AND IN OTHER NEWS... - Nia Long has joined the cast of WE tv's first original scripted series "The Divide," where she'll succeed Aunjanue Ellis as Billie Page, the DA's hard-charging wife (Deadline.com); Chas Smith's book "Welcome to Paradise, Now Go to Hell: A True Story of Violence, Corruption, and the Soul of Surfing" is being developed as a cable drama by Fox 21 and Television 360 (Deadline.com); Morena Baccarin and Morgan Saylor won't return as series regulars on "Homeland" next season (TVLine.com); Danny Trejo will guest on "NCIS: Los Angeles" as "a character who has past ties not just to Hetty, but Callen and Sam as well" (TVLine.com);
Cheryl Hines is bound for "The Crazy Ones" as "a single Jewish mother who wants her son to have the best bar mitzvah ever" (TVLine.com); Baz Luhrmann, Shawn Ryan and playwright Stephen Adly Guirgis are set to make the network rounds with "an epic, music-filled period drama exploring the dawn of the hip-hop era as seen through the eyes of two young New Yorkers" (Vulture.com); and David Zayas has been upped to series regular on FX's "Saint George" while Olga Merediz has been cast as George Lopez's mother Alma (Deadline.com, THR.com).
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