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[01/15/15 - 11:41 PM]
Development Update: Thursday, January 15
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!


CURSE OF THE FUENTES WOMEN, THE (NBC/WBTV; W: Silvio Horta; D: TBA) - Silvio Horta's drama is heading to pilot at the Peacock. Said network describes it as follows: "When a magical and mysterious young man inexplicably emerges from the ocean, he breathes new passion into the lives of the Fuentes women - the beautiful but lonely Lola, her ailing mother Esperanza and her troubled daughter Soledad." Andrew Maher of Silent H Productions will also executive produce.


DETROITERS (Comedy Central, New!) - Tim Robinson and Sam Richardson are set to write, executive produce and star in a new comedy pilot at the cable channel about Sam (Richardson) and Tim (Robinson), "two local ad men who make low-budget commercials in Detroit. But, much like the city in which they live, the best friends aspire to achieve greater things." Jason Sudeikis and Lorne Michaels will also executive produce via the latter's Broadway Video Television banner with Joe Kelly and Zach Kanin also likewise serving as co-creators. (Deadline.com)


DIBLINGS (NBC, New!) - Andrea Abbate ("Young & Hungry") has sold a romantic comedy to the Peacock about "a young, uptight business man and a rebellious purple-haired tattoo artist who will never be together but can't stand being apart." Universal Cable Productions is behind the half-hour with Charlize Theron and Laverne McKinnon of Denver & Delilah Films presumably executive producing. (Deadline.com)


DONNY! (USA, New!) - MSNBC mainstay Donny Deutsch is set to star in a semi-scripted comedy at the cable channel "described as a satirical look at the media, wealth and modern romance" with Deutsch starring "as a fictionalized version of himself: a famed ad man, single dad and TV personality." Left/Right's Banks Tarver and Ken Druckerman (Bravo's "Odd Mom Out") are behind the project, which has a six-episode order. (Deadline.com)


KEVIN FROM WORK (ABC Family; W: Barbie Adler; D: McG) - Jordan Hinson and Amy Sedaris have both booked roles on the comedy pilot, about Kevin (Noah Reid), a young man unluckily in love who professes his love to a co-worker, Audrey (Paige Spara), thinking he'll never see her again after he accepts a job offer overseas. But then that job offer is rescinded, and now they have to continue to work with each other. The former will play Roxie, "Kevin's younger sister who moves to Los Angeles on a whim, and, unlike her brother, who struggles with life, things just always seem to work out for her"; while Sedaris is set as Julia, "Kevin's boss, who appears to delight in taunting Kevin sexually, with the knowledge that he'll never get a promotion or a raise." Matt Murray also stars. (Deadline.com)


LOVE IS A FOUR LETTER WORD (NBC, New!) - Diana Son ("Blue Bloods") has snagged a pilot order from the Peacock for a new drama. The project comes from 20th Century Fox Television and Fabrik Entertainment with the latter's Mikkel Bondesen and Kristen Campo likewise executive producing. The network has released a logline as follows: "Race, sexuality and gender roles collide when three diverse couples put modern marriage to the test."


MYTHOS (USA, New!) - Newcomer Spenser Cohen has set up a new drama at the cable channel billed as "a high stakes, serialized adventure drama that reveals all we believed to be myth, from the Fountain of Youth to Atlantis, to be closely guarded truth, protected by two opposing orders, each with differing agendas for humanity." Anna Halberg is also executive producing the Universal Cable Productions-based hour, as are Charlize Theron and Laverne McKinnon of Denver & Delilah Films. (Deadline.com)


PANDORA (Amazon, New!) - Writer Josh Pate and director Jonas Pate are spearheading a potential drama at the digital distributor about "former CIA agent Pandora whose curiosity unleashes worldwide "sleepers" who are the personification of all evils. As she battles to put the evils "back in the box," she discovers that this was all architected by someone hell bent on vengeance against her." Charlize Theron and Laverne McKinnon of Denver & Delilah Films will also executive produce for Universal Cable Productions. (Deadline.com)


QUEEN OF THE SOUTH (USA/FTVS; W: M.A. Fortin & Joshua John Miller; D: Charlotte Sieling) - James Martinez ("Low Winter Sun") has been tapped for a role on the drama pilot, about Teresa Mendoza (Alice Braga), a woman who, when her drug-dealing boyfriend is unexpectedly murdered in Mexico, is forced to go on the run and seek refuge in America, where she teams with an unlikely figure from her past to bring down the leader of the very drug trafficking ring that has her on the run. He's set as Gato Fierros, "a right-hand man of drug lord Cesar Guemes, who seems to delight in making his victims suffer before he does away with them." Adriana Barraza, Hemky Madera and Justina Machado co-star. (Deadline.com)


TOUGH COOKIE (ABC Family; W/D: Lauren Iungerich) - Rick Gonzalez ("Rush") has joined the cast of the comedy pilot, about Lilla Spencer (Shoshana Bush), a young mother who isn't ready to parent and her daughter who doesn't want to be parented. He'll play Seth Whitfield, "who works for the San Francisco Department of Children's Services." Arturo del Puerto also stars. (Deadline.com)


AND IN OTHER NEWS... - USA is moving forward with a sixth season of its previously mothballed reality series "WWE Tough Enough" (Deadline.com); Patrick Fischler will recur on "Once Upon a Time" as "a peddler who comes across as well-intentioned but is actually a quick-witted, arrogant man with reckless impulses" as well as "Silicon Valley" as "a very serious academic glowing with self-satisfaction who has relocated himself and family to help the guys at Hooli" (Deadline.com); Cirque du Soleil Média has inked a first-look deal with 20th Century Fox Television to develop scripted projects (Deadline.com); Charlize Theron's Denver & Delilah Films has likewise signed a first-look deal with Universal Cable Productions (Deadline.com); Tristin Mays has been cast as "the (real) daughter of Zach Salvatore, Damon and Stefan's distant nephew" on "The Vampire Diaries" (EW.com); and Emily Kinney will visit "Forever" as "a college-age student that gets involved in a very intricate game of role playing" (EW.com).






  [january 2015]  
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M
T
W
T
F
S
    


· BLUE BLOODS (CBS)
· CURSE OF THE FUENTES WOMEN, THE (NBC)
· DETROITERS (COMEDY CENTRAL)
· DEVELOPMENT UPDATE (TFC)
· DIBLINGS (NBC)
· DONNY! (USA)
· FOREVER (ABC)
· KEVIN FROM WORK (ABC FAMILY)
· LOVE IS A FOUR LETTER WORD (NBC)
· LOW WINTER SUN (AMC)
· MYTHOS (USA)
· ONCE UPON A TIME (ABC)
· PANDORA (AMAZON)
· QUEEN OF THE SOUTH (USA)
· RUSH (USA)
· SILICON VALLEY (HBO)
· TOUGH COOKIE (ABC FAMILY)
· VAMPIRE DIARIES, THE (CW)
· WWE TOUGH ENOUGH (USA)
· YOUNG & HUNGRY (FREEFORM)





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