[01/27/12 - 11:33 PM] Development Update: Friday, January 27 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!
AMERICANA (ABC) - Michael Seitzman's drama, "a soap set around a legendary fashion designer and his family and business," has landed a pilot order at the Alphabet. ABC Studios is behind the hour with Mark Gordon and Nicholas Pepper serving as executive producers alongside Seitzman. (Variety.com)FRIEND ME (CBS, New!) - Alan Kirschenbaum and Ajay Sahgal have scored a pilot order from the Eye for a new multi-camera comedy about "two twenty-something guys who move from Indiana to L.A. to work for Groupon." CBS Television Studios-based The Tannenbaum Co. is behind the half-hour, which the duo will executive produce alongside Eric and Kim Tannenbaum. (Variety.com)GUILTY (FOX) - McG ("Chuck") has signed on to direct and executive produce the New York-based drama pilot, about "a brilliant, morally questionable defense attorney who, after being falsely convicted of fraud and stripped of his legal license, uses his unorthodox methods to solve the cases he's been banned from handling and to exact revenge on the men who set him up." He'll work from a script by creator Marc Guggenheim, who's likewise executive producing alongside Greg Berlanti and Wonderland Sound and Vision's Peter Johnson. Melissa Kellner Berman of Berlanti Television also serves as a co-executive producer. (Deadline.com)HIEROGLYPH (FOX, New!) - Feature writer Travis Beacham ("Clash of the Titans") has booked a potential drama at the network billed as an adventure soap. No other details were given about the project, which was written on spec, other than it's considered one of the finalists to land a pilot order this development cycle. (Deadline.com)HOW TO LIVE WITH YOUR PARENTS FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE (ABC) - Claudia Lonow's semi-autobiographical comedy, about "a recently divorced single mom who moves in with her eccentric parents, a couple who's full of life but knows no boundaries," is moving forward to pilot. 20th Century Fox Television-based Imagine Television is behind the single-camera project with Brian Grazer and Francie Calfo executive producing alongside Lonow. (Deadline.com)MAJOR CRIMES (TNT) - Graham Patrick Martin ("The Bill Engvall Show") has joined the cast of the upcoming spin-off of "The Closer." He'll play Rusty, a homeless juvenile character to be introduced in the parent series' finale. Mary McDonnell toplines the Warner Bros. Television-based hour, from executive producers Greer Shephard, James Duff and Michael M. Robin. (Deadline.com)NASHVILLE (A.K.A. UNTITLED KHOURI & CUTLER PROJECT) (ABC) - The Callie Khouri-penned drama, "a family soap set against the backdrop of the Nashville music scene that follows one star at her peak and one on the rise," has received a pilot commitment from the network. Production however is contingent on Lionsgate Television closing a co-production deal with ABC Studios. Gaylord Entertainment's Steve Buchanan is executive producing alongside Khouri and R.J. Cutler, who's also attached to direct. (Variety.com)THE NEW NORMAL (A.K.A. UNTITLED ADAM SZTYKIEL PROJECT) (ABC) - Adam Sztykiel's single-camera comedy, about "a group of 24-year-old guys who move to a new city, one of them choosing to stay in relationship even though his girlfriend is now 2,000 miles away," has received a showrunner-contingent pilot order from the Alphabet. Aaron Kaplan and Sean Perrone of Kaplan-Perrone Entertainment are executive producing alongside Sztykiel for 20th Century Fox Television. (Deadline.com)THE NEW NORMAL (A.K.A. UNTITLED MURPHY & ADLER PROJECT) (NBC) - Ryan Murphy and Allison Adler's single-camera comedy, about "a blended family of a gay couple and the woman who becomes a surrogate to help them start a family," has formally been ordered to pilot. Andrew Rannells was previously cast in the 20th Century Fox Television-based project, which Murphy will direct. Dante Di Loreto is executive producing alongside the creators. (Deadline.com)OH F---, IT'S YOU (UNTITLED BERLANTI & MALINS PROJECT) (CBS) - Greg Berlanti and Greg Malins have scored a pilot commitment for their multi-camera comedy, about "a man who realizes after a health scare that he's in love with his female best friend and business partner of 15 years." Berlanti's Warner Bros. Television-based banner is behind the half-hour, which the duo will executive produce. (Variety.com)ONLY FOOLS AND HORSES (ABC, New!) - Steven Cragg and Brian Bradley have received a pilot order from the Alphabet for their multi-camera import of the long-running U.K. comedy, about "the misadventures of two streetwise brothers and their aging grandfather as they concoct outrageous, morally questionable get-rich-quick schemes in their quest to become millionaires." John Sullivan was behind the original incarnation, which ran for seven seasons from 1981 to 1991 on BBC One as well as an assortment of post-series specials, the last of which aired in 2003. ABC Studios then is producing the U.S. take, which Cragg and Bradley are executive producing. (Variety.com)PARTNERS (A.K.A. UNTITLED KOHAN & MUTCHNICK PROJECT) (CBS) - David Kohan and Max Mutchnick's latest comedy, about "two lifelong male friends whose relationship is like a weird marriage that is tested when one decides to get married," has snagged a pilot commitment from the Eye. The multi-camera half-hour is set up at Warner Bros. Television. (Variety.com)UNTITLED DAN FOGELMAN PROJECT (ABC) - Lenny Venito ("The Knights of Prosperity") has joined the cast of the comedy pilot, about a normal family who moves into an exclusive, lush, curiously affordable gated community in New Jersey only to find out that everyone living there but them are aliens from Planet Zabvron. He'll play the clan's father, Marty, in the ABC Studios-based half-hour, who also stars Clara Mamet, Ian Patrick, Isabella Cramp, Jami Gertz, Simon Templeman, Tim Jo and Toks Olagundoye. Chris Koch is directing from a script by Dan Fogelman. (Deadline.com)AND IN OTHER NEWS... - NBC has reportedly passed on its Sean Hayes-led, Peter Tolan-penned comedy, while preliminary casting on the Will Gluck-produced elementary school comedy "The Yard" has been put on hold (Deadline.com); Jim Murphy is stepping down as executive producer of syndicated daytime talk show "Anderson"(Deadline.com); Shiri Appleby will recur on "Franklin & Bash" as "a smart and sassy associate who investigates possible misconduct on the part of the titular attorneys" (TVLine.com); Taylor Kinney is bound for "Castle" as the husband to returning guest star Sarah Jane Morris (TVLine.com); Morris will likewise turn up on "Once Upon a Time" as the sister of a proposed Little Red Riding Hood (TVLine.com); David Krumholtz and Mary Birdsong will both turn up in separate episodes of "Raising Hope"(TVLine.com); Matt Lauria will guest on "Person of Interest" as "a sharp, young trader at a major investment bank" in the show's 16th episode (TVLine.com); David Arquette will turn up on the season finale of "Cougar Town" as "a hotel concierge who offers to help Jules (Courteney Cox) and the gang with literally anything" (TVLine.com); and Matt Bomer is on track to guest star on "Glee" as Blaine's (Darren Criss) older brother (TVLine.com).
