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[09/08/14 - 11:23 PM]
Development Update: Monday, September 8
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!


COUCH DETECTIVE (ABC, New!) - Lauren Iungerich ("Awkward") has scored a put pilot commitment from the Alphabet for a potential drama about "a thirty-something female couch detective who solves crimes based on her encyclopedic knowledge of every true-crime TV special, police procedural and made-for-TV movie." Warner Bros. Television-based Jerry Bruckheimer Television is behind the hour with Bruckheimer and Jonathan Littman executive producing and KristieAnne Reed as a co-executive producer. (Deadline.com)


DOWN DOG (Amazon; W: Robin Schiff; D: Brad Silberling) - Alysia Reiner ("Orange Is the New Black") is the latest addition to the comedy pilot, about Logan (Josh Casaubon), a laid-back, charming surfer who is left in charge of his ex-girlfriend's (Paget Brewster) yoga studio. She will play Gabrielle, a healer who also works at the yoga studio as office manager. Lyndsy Fonseca also stars. (THR.com)


MAD DOGS (Amazon/Sony; W: Cris Cole; D: Charles McDougall) - Steve Zahn, Romany Malco and Ben Chaplin have been tapped for lead roles on the drama pilot, which follows the reunion of four forty-something guys who head to Belize to visit their old school friend, when things take an unexpected and dark turn. Zahn will play Cobi, "a 40ish, married financial adviser described as a slick and amusing guy who is fighting the onset of middle age by dressing a little too young, complete with his blond highlights and Abercrombie style. He joins his old pals, Gus (Malco), Lex and Joel (Chaplin), for the jaunt to Belize to visit wealthy friend Milo." Shawn Ryan is also among the executive producers. (THR.com)


MAN IN THE HIGH CASTLE, THE (Amazon; W: Frank Spotnitz; D: David Semel) - Alexa Davalos ("Mob City") has booked a lead role on the drama pilot, based on Philip K. Dick's Hugo Award-winning novel - about an alternate history in which the Axis Powers occupy the United States, where fascism rules and the few surviving Jews hide under assumed names. She'll play Juliana, "who lives in Japanese-occupied San Francisco and is fascinated by Japanese culture and has mastered the art of aikido, but her personal state of truce with the Empire Of Japan stops forever when her half sister Trudy is shot dead in front of her eyes by a Japanese soldier." Cary Tagawa and Luke Kleintank also star. (Deadline.com)


MANHUNT (NBC, New!) - The Peacock has given a cast-contingent series order to a new anthology-style drama focusing on "the mounting tension of an entire city on the hunt for a fugitive roaming the streets at large." Zack Rice and Whit Brayton penned the potential 10-episode series with Gavin Hood, Michael Sugar, Alex Goldstone and Nicole Romano likewise executive producing for Universal Television and Anonymous Content. NBC has "already has commissioned five backups scripts, with an option for four additional ones." (Deadline.com)


MINORITY REPORT (FOX, New!) - A proposed small screen follow up to the 2002 feature has found a home at FOX with a put pilot commitment. Said effort will be "set 10 years after the end of Precrime in DC when one of the three Precogs struggles to lead a normal human life, but remains haunted by visions the future, when he meets a detective haunted by her past who just may help him find a purpose to his gift." Max Borenstein (Godzilla) is penning the project for 20th Century Fox Television, Paramount Television and Steven Spielberg's Amblin Television with the latter's Darryl Frank and Justin Falvey also executive producing. (Deadline.com)


NUCLEAR FAMILY (ABC, New!) - Pete Huyck and Alex Gregory have set up a new comedy at the Alphabet about "the misadventures of self-professed altruists Rick and Barbara Foley, who adopted eight children from all over the world, some with special needs. Having bit off way more than they can chew, their radically different parenting styles and narcissistic, self-serving behavior have created a hurricane of teenage dysfunction, at the center of which is their often-overlooked only biological child." Todd Holland and Karey Burke also serve as executive producers on the half-hour via their ABC Studios-based Dark Toy Entertainment. (Deadline.com)


UNTITLED SCOTT SILVERI PROJECT (FOX, New!) - Writer Scott Silveri ("Go On") and director Jake Kasdan ("New Girl") have likewise scored a put pilot commitment from the network for a single-camera comedy about "a family that's good at handling the challenges it faces, and excellent at creating new ones." They'll likewise executive produce alongside Melvin Mar for 20th Century Fox Television. (Deadline.com)


AND IN OTHER NEWS... - ABC has reportedly pulled the plug on "Mystery Girls" after one season (TVLine.com); ABC conversely has ordered a second season of "Bachelor in Paradise" for summer 2015 (EW.com); VH1 likewise is moving forward with a sophomore run for its reality series "Candidly Nicole" (@candidlynicole); Maggie Lawson will recur on Two and a Half Men" as "a social worker who will help the duo" (Deadline.com); Liz Brixius has bowed out as showrunner of NBC's new comedy "Bad Judge" while Betsy Thomas has been approached to fill said role (Deadline.com);

Connie Britton will make a cameo on "Family Guy" in "a cutaway gag that will air in October involves Peter breaking into Britton's home" (EW.com); "General Hospital" is set to cross over to "Baby Daddy", with Kelly Monaco "playing a very exaggerated and over-the-top version of herself" (EW.com); Phyllis Logan is bound for "Bones" as "a wealthy woman whose housekeeper has been murdered" (TVLine.com); and Charlotte Arnold will drop by the season premiere of "Beauty and the Beast" as "a distraught Midwestern woman whose stockbroker husband suddenly begins displaying erratic, violent behavior" (TVLine.com).






  [september 2014]  
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· AWKWARD (MTV)
· BABY DADDY (FREEFORM)
· BACHELOR IN PARADISE (ABC)
· BAD JUDGE (NBC)
· BEAUTY & THE BEAST (CW)
· BONES (FOX)
· CANDIDLY NICOLE (VH1)
· COUCH DETECTIVE (ABC)
· DEVELOPMENT UPDATE (TFC)
· DOWN DOG (AMAZON)
· FAMILY GUY (FOX)
· GO ON (NBC)
· MAD DOGS (AMAZON)
· MAN IN THE HIGH CASTLE, THE (AMAZON)
· MANHUNT (NBC)
· MINORITY REPORT (FOX)
· MOB CITY (TNT)
· MYSTERY GIRLS (ABC FAMILY)
· NEW GIRL (FOX)
· NUCLEAR FAMILY (ABC)
· ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK (NETFLIX)
· SPEECHLESS (ABC)
· TWO AND A HALF MEN (CBS)





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