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!
DEUCE, THE (HBO; W: David Simon & George Pelecanos; D: Michelle MacLaren) - Amber Skye Noyes ("Beauty and the Beast") is the latest to join the drama pilot, which chronicles the legalization and subsequent rise of the porn industry in New York's Times Square from the early 1970s through the mid-1980s. She'll play Ellen, "a tough, smart and attractive employee at a Times Square bar run by Vincent (James Franco)." Franco also plays the dual role of his twin brother Frankie. Daniel Sauli, Dominique Fishback, Lawrence Gilliard, Jr., Maggie Gyllenhaal, Margarita Levieva and Sepideh Moafi also star. (TVLine.com)
PROTECT & SERVE (CBS, New!) - Writer Elizabeth Davis Beall, director David Barrett and producer Leonard Goldberg are set to team for a new drama at the Eye about "the multi-generational members of a Mexican-American family with deep roots in Los Angeles intertwine personally and professionally due to their powerful careers in law enforcement, local politics and journalism - each dedicated to serving and protecting the people of their city." CBS Television Studios is presumably behind the hour with said trio executive producing. (Deadline.com)
UNTITLED DAN FOGELMAN PROJECT (NBC/20th; W: Dan Fogelman; D: Glenn Ficarra & John Requa) - Mandy Moore, Milo Ventimiglia, Justin Hartley, Sterling K. Brown and Ron Cephas Jones are the first to sign onto the pilot, a dramedy featuring a unique ensemble of characters all born on the same day. Moore will play Rebecca, "the lovely wife and best friend to Jack (Ventimiglia). She's on the verge of giving birth to their triplets, after having just moved into their new home in Pittsburg." Hartley then is set as Kevin, "a handsome and successful television actor with an underlining boredom in his ultimate bachelor life"; with Brown as Randall, "a sharply dressed corporate businessman and family man, based in New York; it's a team effort to raise two young daughters with his wife Beth"; and Jones as William, "Randall's biological father who abandoned him at a fire station soon after Randall was born." (Deadline.com)
UNTITLED FOGEL & STRAUSS-SCHULSON PROJECT (TBS/Legendary; W: Matt Fogel & Todd Strauss-Schulson; D: Todd Strauss-Schulson) - Satya Bhabha ("New Girl") has joined the cast of the comedy pilot, about Todd (Adam Shapiro) and Fogel (Jack Carpenter), two kind of guys who talk about their feelings, frequent therapy sessions and dabble with mobile phone meditation apps. She'll play Sapru, "Todd and Fogel's buddy from college." Shenaz Treasury also stars. (Deadline.com)
WHEN I'M SIXTY-FOUR (HBO, New!) - Writer Jeff Roda and director Howie Deutch are developing a new comedy at the pay channel about Paul Beaumont, "a narcissistic New Yorker who's given an unexpected reprieve from terminal cancer and now faces an existential reckoning with himself as well as the family, friends and career wreckage he had hoped to leave behind." No other details were given. (Deadline.com)
AND IN OTHER NEWS... - Hallmark Channel has opted to end its original drama "Cedar Cove" after three seasons (Facebook.com); TNT has reportedly renewed "Murder in the First" for a third season (Deadline.com); Irvine Welsh is looking to import the Swedish series "Torpederna" to the U.S. as "Legbreakers" (Deadline.com); Ana Gasteyer has been cast as Rydell High School Principal McGee in FOX's "Grease: Live!" (Deadline.com); Max Ehrich will recur on Hulu's "The Path" as Freddie Ridge, "the drug-addicted teenage son of a wealthy family, whose parents offer to make a donation to the cult in exchange for his rehabilitation" (Deadline.com); Paul Reiser is spearheading a potential TV project "that will include footage from the Johnny Carson-hosted 'Tonight Show'" (THR.com);
Georgina Haig has scored an arc on "Limitless" as Piper (io9.com); Eliza Coupe is the latest face bound for "Quantico," a role which has a series-regular option (TVLine.com); Bill Smitrovich is bound for "Grey's Anatomy" as "an easy, funny, kind, fatherly therapist" (TVLine.com); Andy Garcia has signed onto season two of "Ballers" as "a high-profile financial guy who is the nemesis of Spencer Strassmore (Dwayne Johnson)" (Deadline.com); and a short-form scripted comedy starring up-and-coming standup performer Iliza Shlesinger is being developed for ABC's WatchABC app (Variety.com).
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