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[03/08/16 - 11:49 PM]
Development Update: Tuesday, March 8
By The Futon Critic Staff (TFC) |
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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!
BUNKER HILL (CBS/Universal; W: Jason Katims; D: David Semel) - Aaron Jennings (Movie 43) has scored a role on the drama pilot, about James Bell (Augustus Prew), a young Silicon Valley tech titan, who enlists Walter Wallace (Dermot Mulroney), a veteran surgeon with a controversial past, in starting a hospital with a cutting-edge, new school approach to medicine. He'll play Dr. Malik Water, "who defies our traditional idea of a doctor. Raised dirt poor, Water is tired of seeing his friends and family members receiving sub-optimal heath care and has spearheaded an effort to provide 24/7 monitoring of an entire community." (Deadline.com)
DEATH OF EVA SOFIA VALDEZ, THE (ABC/ABCS; W: Charise Castro Smith; D: TBA) - Melora Hardin ("Transparent") has been cast in the pilot, a sexy revenge drama with a supernatural twist about a Cuban-American family on the rise as they navigate multiple business ventures in Miami, familial rivalries and dark secrets from the past that come back to haunt them. She's set as Courtney Monroe, "Blair Monroe's (Eric Close) aristocratic wife, patrician and beautiful, she is determined to be the First Lady of Miami. Politically astute and more than a little ruthless, she assists Blair in his mayoral campaign and is not above using dirty tactics to achieve her ends." (Deadline.com)
DREW (CBS/CTS; W: Joan Rater & Tony Phelan; D: James Strong) - Debra Monk will round out the cast of the drama pilot, a contemporary take on Edward Stratemeyer's iconic literary character Nancy Drew (Sarah Shahi), now in her 30s, who is a detective for the NYPD where she investigates and solves crimes using her uncanny observational skills, all while navigating the complexities of life in a modern world. She'll play Hannah Gruen, "the Drew family's trusted cook/housekeeper who served as a surrogate mom for Nancy following the death of her mom, an ally, shoulder to cry on and disciplinarian." (Deadline.com)
FOUR STARS (CBS/CTS; W: Becky Mode; D: R.J. Cutler) - Bruce Greenwood ("The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story") has signed onto the drama pilot, about two powerful rival families in the military community of Tampa, Florida who make decisions at the highest levels in the interest of national security. He'll play "the patriarch of one of the clans, General Buckley, a four-star general in charge of worldwide special operations for the U.S. military and fiercely protective of his brood." (Deadline.com)
FURST BORN (CBS/ABCS/CTS; W: Dan O'Shannon, Robyn Butler & Wayne Hope; D: Todd Holland) - Talitha Bateman ("Hart of Dixie") has been tapped for a role on the single-camera comedy pilot, a domestic take on the Australian comedy about a wife and mother who learns she was adopted and that her birth parents (John Carroll Lynch, Katey Sagal) are a flamboyant but loving family of drag-racers. She's set as Erin, "Bess and Danny's judgmental daughter and Owen's twin sister." (Deadline.com)
MACGYVER (CBS/CTS; W: Paul Downs Colaizzo; D: David Von Ancken) - George Eads ("CSI: Crime Scene Investigation") is the first to board the drama pilot, in which twentysomething Angus MacGyver gets recruited into the clandestine organization from the original series where he uses his knack for solving problems in unconventional ways to help prevent disasters from happening. He's set as Lincoln, "a man who could easily be written off as an eccentric conspiracy theorist but he's a legit government employee with great capability for compassion." Additionally, David Von Ancken will take over directing duties on the project as James Wan had to bow out due to a scheduling conflict. (Deadline.com)
MIND HUNTER (Netflix/Fox 21; W: Joe Penhall; D: David Fincher) - Anna Torv ("Fringe") has booked a lead role on the upcoming Charlize Theron-produced drama, based on the life of a top FBI investigator of serial killers and rapists, and the profiling techniques he developed. She'll play Wendy, a psychologist. (Deadline.com)
NO TOMORROW (The CW/CTS; W: Corinne Brinkerhoff, Scott McCabe & Tory Stanton; D: Brad Silberling) - Tori Anderson ("Open Heart") has scored the female lead in the drama pilot, about Evie, a risk-averse quality-control assessor who falls for free-spirited thrill seeker Xavier only to find out he lives his life that way because he believes the apocalypse is coming. She'll play Evie, formerly Sarah. (Deadline.com)
REAL GOOD PEOPLE (CBS/CTS; W: Stephnie Weir; D: James Burrows) - David Keith and Beth Hoyt have both been cast in the multi-camera comedy pilot, set in Texas and centering on a conservative, small town family who is forced to reconcile their family values when they discover their children's lives are less than perfect. He's set as James, "the family patriarch and one half of what is possibly the world's happiest couple"; while she'll play Beth, "the dramatic middle child who fled conservative Texas to pursue love and fashion in NYC, only to wake up a decade later bitter, broke and single and grateful to have a loving home to return to." (Deadline.com)
RECON (FOX/WBT; W: Caroline Dries; D: Adam Davidson) - Amanda Warren ("The Leftovers") has been tapped for a role on the drama pilot, about Alexa (Tracy Spiridakos), a rookie FBI agent embeds herself in a suspected terrorist family. He's on board as Rashida Malik, "the Special Agent in Charge of the Milwaukee FBI division and a follower of Islam who is spearheading the mission to prevent another homegrown terrorist attack." (Deadline.com)
SEBASTIAN (NBC/CTS; W: Austen Earl; D: Scott Ellis) - Vanessa Lachey ("Truth Be Told") has signed onto the multi-camera comedy pilot, which chronicles comedian Sebastian Maniscalco's old-school values, instilled by his opinionated Italian father (Tony Danza), which are constantly put to the test by his new wife, her family, and the absurdities of the modern world. She'll play Lana, "Sebastian's easygoing wife." (THR.com)
SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS, A (Netflix/Paramount; W: TBA; D: Brad Silberling) - K. Todd Freeman has booked a role on the streaming service's adaptation of Daniel Handler's book, which recounts the tale of the orphaned children Violet (Malina Weissman), Klaus (Louis Hynes) and Sunny Baudelaire at the hands of the villainous Count Olaf (Neil Patrick Harris), as they face trials and tribulations, misfortunes, and an evil uncle in search of their fortune, all in their quest to uncover the secret of their parents' death. Freeman will play Mr. Poe, "a bumbling and clueless banker with a good heart, but naive and almost always in the wrong." (Deadline.com)
SPARK (ABC/ABCS; W: Michael Cooney; D: TBA) - Alex Lanipekun ("Homeland") has boarded the drama pilot, a lavish primetime soap of passion, greed and hope set in the alternate reality of Steampunk, circa 2016, telling the story of two rival families battling for power and the woman who takes them down. He'll play Christian, "Philippe's son and Alex's older brother. Handsome and autocratic, he's been raised in an atmosphere of great wealth and absolute power. But privilege has spoiled him, and he now has an exalted sense of his own omnipotence." (Deadline.com)
SQUARE ROOTS (ABC/ABCS; W: Vijal Patel; D: Michael Fresco) - Katie Walder ("How I Met Your Mother") has scored the female lead on the single-camera comedy pilot, about Dan (Adhir Kalyan) and Ruth, a young married couple perpetually tormented by the husband's opinionated family of engineers who think they have a solution for every problem in life. She'll play the aforementioned Ruth, "Dan's wife and mother to their two kids. Ruth is as far from an engineer as you can get and she has a much more normal, non-productive fun approach with the kids." (Deadline.com)
TAKEN (NBC/Universal; W: Alexander Cary; D: Alex Graves) - Brooklyn Sudano ("11.22.63") has been cast in the Peacock's prequel to the Liam Neeson-led film franchise, about a retired CIA operative on a one-man mission to save his kidnapped daughter which would follow a young Bryan Mills (Clive Standen) before he marries and has a daughter. She'll be playing Asha, "an attractive, well-educated young student from an upper middle class family who is furthering her education when she first meets Bryan." (Deadline.com)
TIME AFTER TIME (ABC/WBT; W: Kevin Williamson; D: Marcos Siega) - Regina Taylor ("Dig") has been tapped for a role on the drama pilot, based on Karl Alexander's 1979 novel-turned-movie of the same name in which H.G. Wells (Freddie Stroma) builds a real time machine to travels to the future in search of Jack the Ripper (Josh Bowman). She's on board as Vanessa Anders, "the billionaire businesswoman who owns and protects the Time Machine in 2016 New York City. Confident and strong, she has a warm welcoming smile, but make no mistake, she's also a respected, sometimes feared CEO." (Deadline.com)
TIME (NBC/Sony; W: Eric Kripke & Shawn Ryan; D: Neil Marshall) - Goran Visnjic ("Extant") has booked a key role on the drama pilot, about an unlikely trio - a historian (Abigail Spencer), a soldier (Matt Lanter) and an engineer (Malcolm Barrett) - traveling through time to battle unknown criminals in order to protect history as we know it. He'll play Garcia Flynn, "a dangerous man who's recently stolen a time machine and traveled with his team of soldiers to the hours prior to the Hindenburg's explosion. Flynn is guided by a strange journal from some other period of time, and while his full plan is still shrouded in mystery, it's clear that he must be stopped." (Deadline.com)
TOAST (ABC/ABCS; W: Greg Grunberg & Scott Foley; D: Gail Mancuso) - Jono Kenyon has booked the male lead in the multi-camera comedy, about engaged couple Max and Paige who, over their wedding rehearsal dinner, have their eclectic family and friends give toasts recalling anecdotes about the couple - but flashbacks reveal that the toasts don't always get it right. He'll play the aforementioned Max, who "is awkwardly handsome, charming and unassuming, and worried about what his bride-to-be's family thinks about him. After all, they couldn't be more different: Paige is a sorority girl from a close-knit wealthy Austin family, and he's a college dropout with a questionable credit history and a father in prison." (Deadline.com)
AND IN OTHER NEWS... - NBC's "You, Me and the Apocalypse" will call it quits after its freshman run (RadioTimes.com); A&E has ordered a second season of "60 Days In" in advance of its premiere on Thursday (Deadline.com); Wilmer Valderrama is bound for "Grey's Anatomy" in a multi-episode arc (Variety.com); Lindsey Morgan will guest on "The Night Shift" as "a high-strung bride whose injury in a wedding-day accident reveals a deeper and more complicated medical problem" (TVLine.com); Colin Critchley has been tapped as Noah in Nickelodeon's "Legends of the Hidden Temple" TV movie (Variety.com); and Corey Reynolds has joined the cast of "Murder in the First" as Martin Reardon, "an Assistant District Attorney who is suddenly elevated to Acting DA, and whose political skills are revealed to be less impressive than his legal skills" (TVLine.com).
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