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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!
2015-16 BROADCAST PILOTS (Various) - Directors have been confirmed for "The Adversaries" (Stephen Cragg), "All Stars" (Alex Hardcastle), "Delores & Jermaine" (Beth McCarthy-Miller), "Family Fortune" (Mark Cendrowski), "Kingmakers" (James Strong), "Uncle Buck" (Phil Traill) and "Warriors" (John Fortenberry) at ABC; "Super Clyde" (Rebecca Asher), "Taxi 22" (Rob Greenberg) and "Tommy Johnagin Project" (Scott Ellis) at CBS; "Dead People" (Marc Buckland) and "Tales from the Darkside" (Bradley Buecker) at The CW; "48 Hours 'til Monday" (Michael Patrick Jann), "Cooper Barrett's Guide to Surviving Life" (James Griffiths), "Fantasy Life" (Pamela Fryman) and "Grandpa" (Chris Koch) at FOX; and "Cuckoo" (Peter Farrelly), "How We Live" (Gail Mancuso), "Problem Child" (Andy Fleming), "Take It from Us" (Gail Mancuso) and "Unveiled" (Yves Simoneau) at NBC.
ANGEL FROM HELL (CBS/CBSP; W: Tad Quill; D: Don Scardino) - Maggie Lawson ("Back in the Game") has been tapped for a lead role on the comedy pilot, about the unlikely friendship formed between two women, one of whom, Amy (Jane Lynch), claims to be the guardian angel of the other, Allison. She'll play the latter, "a multi-tasker and perfectionist, is inclined to believe that Amy (Lynch) is just another wingnut, except that every last one of Amy's pronouncements comes true." Kevin Pollak and Kyle Bornheimer also star. (Deadline.com, March 21)
CASUAL (Hulu/Lionsgate; W: Zander Lehmann; D: Jason Reitman) - Frances Conroy, Julie Berman and Nyasha Hatendi are the latest additions to the upcoming original, which follows the story of a dysfunctional family with a bachelor brother Alex (Tommy Dewey) and his newly divorced sister Valerie (Michaela Watkins). Together, they coach each other through the crazy world of dating (on-line and off), while living under one roof again and raising a teenager Laura (Tara Lynne Barr). Conroy will play Dawn, Alex and Valerie's mother, "an austere and emotionally calculating woman who can manipulate her children into feeling any way she wants"; with Hatendi as Leon, "a newly single man looking for true love who is Valerie's first one-night stand and subsequently becomes close friends with Alex" and Berman as Leia. (Deadline.com)
COOPER BARRETT'S GUIDE TO SURVIVING LIFE (FOX/20th; W: Jay Lacopo; D: James Griffiths) - Maureen Sebastian ("Revolution") has scored a role on the pilot, a single camera comedy that celebrates the mistakes and misadventures we all make during the years after college, before settling down. She'll play "Cooper's (Jack Cutmore-Scott) over-achieving, loving and very self-sufficient sister-in-law Leslie Barrett." Charlie Saxton, James Earl and Meaghan Rath also star. (Deadline.com)
CURSE OF THE FUENTES WOMEN, THE (NBC/WBT; W: Silvio Horta; D: Jason Ensler) - Trace Lysette ("Transparent") is the latest addition to the drama pilot, which revolves around a magical and mysterious young man (Adan Canto) who inexplicably emerges from the ocean, breathing new passion into the lives of the Fuentes women - the beautiful but lonely Lola (Christina Vidal), her ailing mother Esperanza (Rachel Ticotin) and her troubled daughter Soledad (Katie Sarife). She'll play Gloria, "the brash transgender hostess at Café Fuentes, Gloria is never shy about voicing her opinions, often to her own detriment." Daphne Rubin-Vega, Robbie Jones and Sonia Braga also star. (Deadline.com)
DEAD PEOPLE (The CW/WBT; W: Tom Kapinos; D: Marc Buckland) - Jaime Lee Kirchner ("Mercy") has joined the cast of the drama pilot, about Floyd Hale (Andrew J. West), a down-on-his-luck, semi-alcoholic but roguishly charming cab driver who after a near-death experience, he suddenly has the ability to interact with ghosts, including his late ex-wife (Alexandra Chando) who he has never gotten over. She'll play Charly Caine, "a tough, talented, no-nonsense cop who's seen it all - but is unprepared for Floyd, who talks to the dead. Though she thinks he's a nut case at first, she soon realizes he's telling the truth and decides that he could prove to be very helpful with her police work." Echo Kellum also stars. (Deadline.com, March 21)
ROSEWOOD (FOX/20th; W: Todd Harthan; D: Richard Shepard) - Gabrielle Dennis ("The Game") is the latest to be cast in the drama pilot, about Dr. Beaumont Rosewood, Jr. (Morris Chestnut), the top private pathologist in all of Miami. She'll play Pippy Rosewood, "Beaumont's younger sister who is also a vital member of his pathology team." Anna Konkle, Jaina Lee Ortiz and Maggie Elizabeth Jones also star. (Deadline.com)
SMOKE & MIRRORS (ABC/ABCS; W: Helen Gregory, Jennifer Schuur & Kate Atkinson; D: Julie Anne Robinson) - Bethany Joy Lenz ("One Tree Hill") has scored a role on the drama pilot, about Alice Martin (Mireille Enos), a gutsy female forensic accountant who exposes fraud for a living and has finally found fulfillment both at work and in love until a case comes along that threatens to turn her world upside down. She's set as Zoe Taylor, Kieran's (Damon Dayoub) wife, "a girl-next-door-type who is able to pass as Kieran's sister in their cons. She loves her husband and loves their life - amoral though it may be - and she's going to hang on tight as she senses him slipping away from her." Alimi Ballard, Elvy Yost, Jacky Ido, Jay Hayden and Rose Rollins also star. (TVLine.com, March 21)
TAKE IT FROM US (NBC/Sony; W: Barry Schwartz & Greg Malins; D: Gail Mancuso) - Newcomer Chris Douglass (Hollidaysburg) has joined the cast of the comedy pilot, about a couple that tells their son the lessons they learned growing up in the '90s in hopes he and his fiancée can avoid making the same mistakes. He'll play Luke, "who is not a rule follower but a risk taker. It's that quality that led him to move from Seattle to New York without a college degree to try to be a journalist. So far, it's working. Kind of. He's a lowly headline writer but is hoping to get promoted soon." Andy Ridings and Stacey Farber also star. (Deadline.com)
AND IN OTHER NEWS... - TBS has passed on its comedy pilot "Quality Time," from the Broken Lizard quartet of Paul Soter, Kevin Heffernan, Steve Lemme and Erik Stolhanske (Deadline.com); Connie Britton has been cast as Faye Resnick in FX's "American Crime Story: The People v. O.J. Simpson" (@MrRPMurphy); Cameron Gharaee's Ahmed Al-Fayeed has been upped to series regular on "Tyrant" (Deadline.com); Allison Mack has booked an arc on NBC's "American Odyssey" as "an intelligent and empathetic stranger who befriends Odelle's (Anna Friel) daughter Suzanne in a bookstore - though all is perhaps not as it seems" (TVLine.com); and Krysta Rodriguez will recur on "Chasing Life" next season as "a fellow cancer patient whom April (Italia Ricci) meets in the hospital" (Variety.com).
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