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[03/17/16 - 11:33 PM]
Development Update: Thursday, March 17
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!


FLUFFY SHOP, THE (ABC/ABCS; W: Gabriel Iglesias, Jay Lavender & Tim Doyle; D: TBA) - Tommy Savas ("State of Affairs") has landed a role on the Gabriel Iglesias-led multi-camera comedy pilot, which is inspired by the comedian's life experience including the challenges of managing a home life during the few days he spends off the road each week. He'll play Reggie, "Gabe's manager, who's not a slick Hollywood player but tries to carry himself like one. He grew up disadvantaged and didn't go to college but makes up for it with street hustle. Gabe met Reggie early in his career and sticks with him out of loyalty." (Deadline.com)


FREQUENCY (The CW/WBT; W: Jeremy Carver; D: TBA) - Daniel Bonjour ("The Walking Dead") is the latest to be cast in the feature-turned-drama pilot, which centers on Raimy (Peyton List), a female police detective in 2016 who discovers that she is able to speak via a ham radio with her estranged father, Frank Sullivan (Riley Smith), also a detective, who died in 1996. He's on board as Daniel Badour, "a handsome man with infectious charm, an up-and-coming architect who is deeply in love with Raimy and planning to propose. He's gravely concerned by Raimy's apparently insane claims that she's communicating with her dead father in the past." (Deadline.com)


JURY, THE (ABC/ABCS/Sony; W: Mark Bianculli & V.J. Boyd; D: Neil Burger) - J.D. Pardo ("The Messengers") has scored a role on the drama pilot, which follows a single murder trial a season as seen through the eyes of the individual jurors, exploring the biases and experiences that influence the jurors' judgment, and how their preconceptions change along the way. He'll play Oscar, "a U.S. Marine who signed up for the Corps straight out of high school and displays immense pride in his status as a soldier." (Deadline.com)


LETHAL WEAPON (FOX/WBT; W: Matt Miller; D: McG) - Johnathan Fernandez and Keesha Sharp have scored roles in the network's small screen take on the feature franchise, about when Texas cop and former Navy SEAL Martin Riggs (Clayne Crawford) suffers the loss of his wife and baby, he moves to Los Angeles to start anew. There, he gets partnered with LAPD detective Roger Murtaugh (Damon Wayans, Sr.), who, having recently suffered a "minor" heart attack, must avoid any stress in his life. He'll play Scorsese, "a dry-toned and creative pathologist with the LAPD who works with Riggs and Murtaugh"; while she's set as Murtaugh's wife Trish, succeeding the previously cast Golden Brooks. Said change was made following the project's table read last night. (Deadline.com)


MAKING HISTORY (FOX/20th; W: Julius Sharpe; D: TBA) - Yassir Lester ("The Carmichael Show") has been tapped for a role in the single-camera comedy pilot, about Dan (Adam Pally), a nerdy computer science professor at a small college who uses time travel to get a fresh start. He's set as Chris, "a 30-year-old history professor and the most popular teacher on campus, with good reason. He has a gift of inspiring people by making his encyclopedic knowledge of history accessible. Women love him and guys want to be his buddy but when he goes to the past, it quickly unravels." (Deadline.com)


ONE DAY AT A TIME (Netflix/Sony; W: Gloria Calderon Kellett & Mike Royce; D: Pamela Fryman) - Isabella Gomez ("Matador") has been cast in the streaming service's reimagining of the Norman Lear classic, centering on a Cuban-American family. She'll play Elena, "the radical teenage daughter of single mom Penelope (Justina Machado). Elena is described as a 14-year-old girl who is in the throes of becoming a woman. A proud nerd, idealist and social justice warrior, Elena is opinionated and not afraid to speak her mind. But while she is Internet-wise, she is more foolish when it comes to the real world. She is particularly confounding to her more old-school grandmother, Abuelita Lydia (Rita Moreno)." (THR.com)


STILL STAR-CROSSED (ABC/ABCS; W: Heather Mitchell; D: Michael Offer) - Sterling Sulieman ("Pretty Little Liars") is the latest addition to the drama pilot, a sequel to "Romeo & Juliet" that follows the conflict between the Capulets and the Montagues in the wake of Romeo and Juliet's deaths. He's set as Prince Escalus, "the sovereign of Verona who has recently returned after spending seven years in the court of Venice. Intelligent, wise and idealistic, he is forced to make some very difficult decisions to protect the city he loves." (THR.com)


TAKEN (NBC/Universal; W: Alexander Cary; D: Alex Graves) - Jose Pablo Cantillo ("The Walking Dead") will round out the cast of 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. He'll play Bernie, "a member of Bryan's OPCON (Operational Control) team, an elite team of operatives who take care of America's national security emergencies on the ground. Bernie is the one in the team that does not take anything too seriously until the situation requires it." (Deadline.com)


TOAST (ABC/ABCS; W: Greg Grunberg & Scott Foley; D: Gail Mancuso) - Punam Patel ("Kevin from Work") is the latest to be cast in the multi-camera comedy pilot, about engaged couple Max (Jono Kenyon) and Paige (Jerrika Hinton) 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's on board as Arden, "a charmingly spoiled life of the party who is first up to give a toast at the rehearsal dinner and definitely says more than she should." (Deadline.com)


AND IN OTHER NEWS... - "Grey's Anatomy" co-showrunners Stacy McKee and Bill Harper have each signed a new two-year overall deal with ABC Studios (Deadline.com); Ashley Hinshaw has joined the cast of Crackle's "Start Up" as Taylor, Nick's (Adam Brody) girlfriend (Deadline.com); Rainn Wilson and Christopher Backus have both scored arcs on Showtime's upcoming "Roadies" (Deadline.com); Audrey Carlan's "Calendar Girl" book series is being developed as a TV series by Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage's Fake Empire (Deadline.com); Gideon Raff and Universal Cable Productions-based Hypnotic are looking to bring David Ignatius's novel "The Increment" to the small screen (Deadline.com); and Lauren Stamile will recur on "Chicago Fire" as "a sexy and smart political consultant with great ambition who's confident, well-spoken with incredible intuition and has the ability to be a game changer in politics and beyond" (Deadline.com).






  [march 2016]  
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· CARMICHAEL SHOW, THE (NBC)
· CHICAGO FIRE (NBC)
· DEVELOPMENT UPDATE (TFC)
· FLUFFY SHOP, THE (ABC)
· FREQUENCY (CW)
· GREY'S ANATOMY (ABC)
· JURY, THE (ABC)
· KEVIN FROM WORK (ABC FAMILY)
· LETHAL WEAPON (FOX)
· MAKING HISTORY (FOX)
· MATADOR (EL REY)
· MESSENGERS, THE (CW)
· ONE DAY AT A TIME (POP)
· PRETTY LITTLE LIARS (FREEFORM)
· ROADIES (SHOWTIME)
· STARTUP (SONY CRACKLE)
· STATE OF AFFAIRS (NBC)
· STILL STAR-CROSSED (ABC)
· TAKEN (NBC)
· TOAST (ABC)
· WALKING DEAD, THE (AMC)





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