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[09/22/15 - 11:21 PM]
Development Update: Tuesday, September 22
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!


AUNT JILL (ABC, New!) - Mo Collins ("MADtv") is set to star in a potential comedy at the Alphabet about "a smart, confident, hilarious and lovable 50-year-old who chose a different path than most women her age by focusing on her career and social life instead of getting married and having a family. An independent woman her entire life, Jill now has to depend on her judgmental older sister and neurotic millennial niece as she reinvents herself and her career." Jordan Roter is behind the Universal Television-based project, which has a put pilot commitment and is loosely based on her real aunt. Amy Poehler and Brooke Posch of Paper Kite Productions and Dave Becky of 3 Arts Entertainment will also serve as executive producers. Collins herself will also receive a consulting producer credit. (Deadline.com)


ESL (FOX, New!) - Actor Masi Oka and writer Zak Shaikh are set to team for a new comedy at the network about "the students and teacher in a class on English as a second language." Said duo will pen the script and serve as co-executive producers with Ben Queen executive producing for Warner Bros. Television. (Deadline.com)


GRAVES (Epix/Lionsgate; W/D: Joshua Michael Stern) - Susan Sarandon has bowed out of the upcoming comedy, about a former President of the United States. Twenty years after his presidency, former President Richard Graves (Nick Nolte) has the epiphany that his policies have damaged the country for decades and so, with his young assistant (Skylar Astin), he goes on a Don Quixote-like journey to right his administration's wrongs just as his wife, the former First Lady, decides to follow her own political ambitions. Sarandon had been set to play said wife, but opted to depart "due to artistic differences." Angélica María and Chris Lowell also star. (THR.com)


PRE-MADONNA (NBC, New!) - Nisha Ganatra ("Transparent") has scored a put pilot commitment from the Peacock for a new semi-autobiographical comedy about "entering a Chicago high school in 1983 and navigating the painful and hilarious path of finding out who she really is." Tami Sagher will likewise executive produce for Universal Television alongside Amy Poehler and Brooke Posch of Paper Kite Productions and Dave Becky of 3 Arts Entertainment. (Deadline.com)


WEAVEWORLD (The CW, New!) - Jack Kenny ("Warehouse 13") is looking to bring Clive Barker's horror/fantasy novel to the small screen. Said effort will revolve around "an app designer teams up with a young pastry chef who has just discovered that she is destined to be guardian of a mythological realm that can be accessed through a portal in an old Savannah mansion. Together, they fight an epic battle with evil forces who are vying for control of the magical world." CBS Television Studios is behind the hour with Kenny, Barker and Angela Mancuso serving as executive producers. (Deadline.com)


AND IN OTHER NEWS... - Paramount Television is making the rounds with a TV take on Tom Clancy's popular CIA hero Jack Ryan with Carlton Cuse and Graham Roland among the auspices (Deadline.com); Stephanie Hsu will recur on Hulu's "The Path" (formerly "The Way") as Joy, "the flirty teenage niece of Eddie and Sarah" (Deadline.com); Rob Morrow will drop by Showtime's "Billions" as a "smart, powerful, and highly politically aware" counselor to the U.S. Attorney General (Deadline.com); and Andy Karl has booked an arc on "Law & Order: SVU" as the son of Deputy Chief William Dodds (Peter Gallagher) (THR.com).






  [september 2015]  
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· AUNT JILL (ABC)
· BILLIONS (SHOWTIME)
· DEVELOPMENT UPDATE (TFC)
· ESL (FOX)
· GRAVES (EPIX)
· LAW & ORDER: SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT (NBC)
· MADTV (CW)
· PATH, THE (HULU)
· PRE-MADONNA (NBC)
· TOM CLANCY'S JACK RYAN (AMAZON)
· TRANSPARENT (AMAZON)
· WAREHOUSE 13 (SYFY)
· WEAVEWORLD (CW)





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