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[03/08/13 - 11:32 PM]
Development Update: Friday, March 8
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!


BETRAYAL (ABC/ABC Studios; W: David Zabel; D: Patty Jenkins) - Stuart Townsend ("XIII") has snagged the male lead on the drama pilot, about Sara Hayward (Hannah Ware), a beautiful but unhappily married photographer who begins a torrid affair with a lawyer for a powerful family. He'll play said fellow, Jack McCutchen, in the project, who - in a string of complications - is defending his wife's (Wendy Moniz) brother T.J. (Henry Thomas) against a murder charge prosecuted by Sara's husband (Chris Johnson). The project also stars Braeden Lemasters, Elizabeth McLaughlin and James Cromwell. (Deadline.com)


BIG THUNDER (ABC/ABC Studios; T: Jason Fuchs; D: Rob Bowman) - Ed MacLiam, Alex Meraz, Ruth Bradley and Spencer Locke have all been cast in the drama pilot, about a 19th century doctor who relocates his family from New York City to frontier town Big Thunder after a mysterious mining tycoon (Alex Hassell) offers to fund his research only to discover all is not what is seems. MacLiam will play said fellow, Grant Carson ("the deductive abilities of Holmes, the sheer genius of Will Hunting"); with Locke as his 17-year-old daughter Abby ("a stunningly beautiful little rebel") and Bradley presumably as the only other female role, his wife Emma ("sexy, strong, no BS type"). Meraz then is set as Kiowa ("could only be described as Taylor Lautner-like"), an Apache who like Bear (Zahn McClarnon) seems to know what's really going on. Ana De La Reguera and Pierce Gagnon also star. (Deadline.com)


DELIRIUM (FOX/20th; W: Karyn Usher; D: TBA) - Michael Michele ("Gossip Girl") has scored a role on the drama pilot, based on Lauren Oliver's book trilogy about a world where love - a.k.a. deliria - is deemed illegal and can be eradicated with a special procedure upon one's 18th birthday. She's on board as Elyse Hargrove ("brilliant, nuanced, fiercely strategical"), a senator with ambitions to become President of the Consortium whom Thomas Fineman (Billy Campbell) lobbies for support of his Deliria Free America. Corey Reynolds, Daren Kagasoff, Emma Roberts, Gregg Sulkin and Jeanine Mason also star. (Deadline.com)


GROUND FLOOR (TBS/Warner Horizon; W: Bill Lawrence & Greg Malins; D: Gail Mancuso) - Skylar Astin and Briga Heelan are on track to topline the multi-camera comedy pilot, about "Harvard grad and master-of-the-universe-in-training money manager, Brody (Astin), who falls hard for feisty and intelligent maintenance supervisor Jennifer (Heelan), whose education ended after high school - a Romeo/Juliet pairing that could rattle their class divisions to the foundations." They'd join the previously cast John McGinley. (Deadline.com)


HATFIELDS & MCCOYS, THE (NBC/ABC Studios; W: John Glenn; D: Michael Mayer) - James Remar ("Dexter") has landed a role on the drama pilot, in which a startling death re-ignites the feud between the legendary families in present day Pittsburgh. He'll play Joe Hatfield ("powerful-looking"), said clan's patriarch and the estranged husband of Mary (Rebecca De Mornay). Annie Ilonzeh and Nick Westrate play their children while Jesse Lee Soffer, Patrick Flueger, Sophia Bush and Virginia Madsen co-star as the rival McCoys. (Deadline.com)


HUNDRED, THE (The CW/Warner Bros.; W: Jason Rothenberg; D: Bharat Nalluri) - Former "Grey's Anatomy" star Isaiah Washington has been cast in the pilot, a post-apocalyptic drama about 100 juvenile delinquents that are sent from the remnants of the multi-ringed space stations that are all that left of humanity to the surface of a wildly changed Earth as a test for recolonization. He'll play Chancellor Jaha ("handsome, almost regal, deadly serious"), the leader of the 4,000 remaining humans whose son Wells (Eli Goree) is among the hundred selected. Bob Morley, Eliza Taylor, Henry Ian Cusick, Marie Avgeropoulos and Paige Turco also star. (Deadline.com)


I AM VICTOR (NBC/Universal; W: Mark Goffman; D: TBA) - Terry Kinney ("NYC 22") has scored a role on the drama pilot, about Victor Port (John Stamos), a high powered divorce attorney with a unique view of relationships. He's set as Olaf Renner ("a hearty warrior with a lingering Norwegian accent"), the head of Victor's law firm who is also the father of his wife, Helen (Megan Dodds). Matthew Lillard also stars. (Deadline.com)


INFLUENCE (ABC/20th; W: Kyle Killen; D: TBA) - Gregory Marcel has scored a role on the drama pilot, about two brothers - a bipolar genius in human psychology (Steve Zahn) and a slick ex-con - who head a unique agency designed to solve their clients' problems using the real science of human motivation and manipulation. He'll play Miles ("geeky, handsome"), a very promising graduate student who improbably followed Zahn's Clark to the company. Cedric Sanders and Megalyn Echikunwoke co-star. (Deadline.com)


KILLER WOMEN (ABC/ABC Studios; W: Hannah Shakespeare; D: Lawrence Trilling) - Michael Trucco and Alex Fernandez have both been cast in the drama pilot, about Molly Parker (Tricia Helfer), the only woman in the notoriously male Texas Rangers. Trucco will play Billy, Molly's ruggedly handsome older brother who's married to - but recently separated from - Nessa (Marta Milans) with whom he has two daughters, 15-year-old Hailee and nine-year-old Ada. Fernandez then is set as Luis, a fellow Ranger. Marc Blucas also stars. (Deadline.com)


KLONDIKE (Discovery; W: Josh Goldin, Paul Scheuring & Rachel Abramowitz; D: Simon Cellan Jones) - Richard Madden, Augustus Prew, Abbie Cornish, Ian Hart, Johnny Simmons, Connor Leslie, Tim Roth and Tim Blake Nelson are on track to join the cast in the original mini-series, based on Charlotte Gray's novel "Gold Diggers" about six strangers and their collective fight for survival and wealth in a small, frontier town in the remote Klondike. In addition, Simon Cellan Jones has signed on to direct. Madden and Prew play childhood best friends Bill Haskell and Byron Epstein, "who head west in 1897 to seek their fortune in the Yukon Territories during the gold rush." Cornish then is set as Belinda, "the powerful eyes and ears of Dawson City who owns the mill"; Hart as Soapy Smith, "an irrepressible Yukon con man and pick pocket"; Simmons as Jack London, "a heavy drinker and adrenaline junkie"; Leslie as Sabine, "an ambitious local beauty"; Roth as The Count; and Nelson as Meeker. Chris Cooper also stars. (Deadline.com)


OXYGEN (The CW/CTS; W: Meredith Averill; D: Gary Fleder) - Chelsea Gilligan and Greg Finley are the latest additions to the pilot, a sci-fi drama about a high school pilot program in which humans and a select group of aliens are desegregated. They'll play two of the alien Orions: presumably sexy but tough Teri and macho Drake, respectively. Aimee Teegarden, Grey Damon, Malese Jow, Matt Lanter, Natalie Hall and Titus Makin Jr. also star. (Deadline.com)


PULLING (ABC/ABC Studios; W: Gene Stupnitsky & Lee Eisenberg; D: Jason Moore) - Mandy Moore is departing the comedy pilot, based on the U.K. series about Donna (June Diane Raphael), who decides to move in with her best friends Louise and Karen after breaking off her engagement the day before her wedding. She had been set to play the aforementioned Louise, who really, really wants to get married and will do whatever it takes. The producers reportedly decided "to go in a different direction for the character," with Moore likewise agreeing to part ways. Matt Oberg also stars as Karl, Donna's fiancé. (Deadline.com)


RECKLESS (ABC/ABC Studios; W: Chris Black; D: Martin Campbell) - Bess Armstrong ("House of Lies") is the latest addition to the drama pilot, about David Ritter (Patrick Fugit), a resourceful engineer who will do anything - legal or otherwise - to get back Sarah Harrison (Eloise Mumford), his doctor wife, after she's trapped in East Myanmar during a military coup. She'll play her mother, Catherine, who defers to her husband Tom (yet to be cast) publicly, but behind the scenes is just as formidable as he is. The ensemble also features Ashton Holmes, Ernie Hudson, Lou Taylor Pucci, Lyndon Smith, Naveen Andrews and Parminder Nagra. (Deadline.com)


RECKLESS (CBS/CTS; W: Dana Stevens; D: Catherine Hardwicke) - Shawn Hatosy ("Southland") has been cast in the drama pilot, about Jamie Horn (yet to be cast), a Yankee defense attorney, and Roy Rayder (Cam Gigandet), a Southern prosecutor who struggle to hide their attraction while clashing over a police sex scandal that threatens to implode Charleston, South Carolina. He'll play Trey McCandless, a bad-boy detective caught up in the aforementioned scandal, a role that's in second position to the TNT drama. Kim Wayans and Michael Gladis also star. (Deadline.com)


SECOND SIGHT (CBS/CTS; W: Gerald Cuesta & Michael Cuesta; D: Michael Cuesta) - Jill Scott ("The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency") is the latest to board the drama pilot, about Ross Tanner (Jason Lee), a New Orleans detective suffering from Azoors Syndrome, an ocular eye disorder that saddles him with regular hallucinations but also opens up his subconscious in a way that aids his job. She's been cast as Dr. Serafine Callier ("exudes a warm, earthy quality"), the eye specialist who tends to Tanner's condition. Also starring are Derek Luke, Erik Jensen, Kim Dickens and Madison Moellers. (Deadline.com)


UNDATEABLE (NBC/Warner Bros.; W: Adam Sztykiel; D: Scott Ellis) - Chris D'Elia ("Whitney") has booked a lead role on while Scott Ellis will direct and co-executive produce the multi-camera comedy pilot, about new roommates - man-child Danny Beeman and chronic over-thinker Justin Zip (Brent Morin) - who bond over their foibles with the opposite sex. He'll play the aforementioned Danny ("tall, confident, fearless; unconcerned with what other people think of him"), who takes Justin and his "undateable" pals under his wing and mentors them on how to meet women. (Deadline.com)


WILD BLUE, THE (FOX/Sony; W: Taylor Elmore; D: Michael Dinner) - Mykelti Williamson ("Justified") has been cast in the drama pilot, about the lives of the men and women on board the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Lexington and her Strike Group of destroyers, cruisers and various tender ships. He's set as Command Master Chief Donald "Bummin'" Bowman ("senior enlisted man; flagstone hard"), the direct bridge between Upstairs and Downstairs on the ship who's responsible for every non-officer on board. Alano Miller, Josh Salatin and Will Rothhaar also star. (Deadline.com)


AND IN OTHER NEWS... - ABC has ordered three more episodes of "Celebrity Wife Swap" giving the network six installment to air this summer (Deadline.com); Evan Ross will play Dallas Austin while Donny Boaz is set as Bill Diggins in VH1's "Crazy, Sexy, Cool: The TLC Story" (Deadline.com); Kasha Kropinski's Ruth has been upped to series regular on "Hell on Wheels" (Deadline.com); Brian Buckner will succeed Mark Hudis as the showrunner on the sixth season of "True Blood" (Deadline.com); Chris Bender and J.C. Spink's Benderspink banner has inked a first-look deal with CBS Television Studios (Deadline.com); and Susan Misner's Sandra Beeman likewise has been tapped as a series regular on "The Americans" (Deadline.com).






  [april 2024]  
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· 100, THE (CW)
· AMERICANS, THE (FX)
· BETRAYAL (ABC)
· BIG THUNDER (ABC)
· CRAZY, SEXY, COOL: THE TLC STORY (VH1)
· DELIRIUM (FOX)
· DEVELOPMENT UPDATE (TFC)
· DEXTER (SHOWTIME)
· GOSSIP GIRL (CW)
· GROUND FLOOR (TBS)
· HATFIELDS & MCCOYS, THE (NBC)
· HELL ON WHEELS (AMC)
· HOUSE OF LIES (SHOWTIME)
· I AM VICTOR (NBC)
· JUSTIFIED (FX)
· KLONDIKE (DISCOVERY)
· MIND GAMES (ABC)
· NO. 1 LADIES' DETECTIVE AGENCY, THE (HBO)
· NYC 22 (CBS)
· PULLING (ABC)
· RECKLESS (ABC)
· RECKLESS (CBS)
· SECOND SIGHT (CBS)
· SOUTHLAND (TNT)
· STAR-CROSSED (CW)
· TRUE BLOOD (HBO)
· UNDATEABLE (NBC)
· WHITNEY (NBC)
· WIFE SWAP (PARAMOUNT)
· WILD BLUE, THE (FOX)
· XIII (REELZ)





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