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[05/16/03 - 12:00 AM]
Telefilm Roundup: May 16
By The Futon Critic Staff (TFC)

CHICAGO (thefutoncritic.com) -- The latest telefilm news, culled from recent wire reports:

10.5 (NBC) - Kim Delaney ("Philly") is in final negotiations to star in the Peacock's four-hour miniseries about a deadly earthquake hitting the West Coast. She will play a gifted seismologist at the University of Washington. When an earthquake in the Northwest triggers a series of shakes of increasing magnitude, she warns that the quakes are interrelated and a likely precursor to a big one -- but her theory is met with skepticism. She is proved right as the tremors get worse and massive evacuations as well as a plan to use nuclear warheads are putinto action.

CAESAR (TNT) - TNT's two-part mini-series about the Roman emperor is set to debut Sunday, June 29 and Monday, June 30 at 8:00/7:00c. Jeremy Sisto ("Six Feet Under") toplines an all-star cast that includes Christopher Walken ("The Deer Hunter," "Pulp Fiction"), Chris Noth ("Sex and the City"), Valeria Golino ("Rain Man") and the late Richard Harris ("Gladiator," "Harry Potter").

GIGOT (TNT, New!) - William H. Macy and Steven Schachter ("Door to Door") are set to reteam for another Johnson & Johnson sponsored telefilm. This time around the duo is remaking the 1962 Jackie Gleason comedy "Gigot" in which Macy will play the title role, a kindhearted janitor who befriends the daughter of a prostitue. Like on "Door," Macy and Schachter are writing the script with the latter directing.

JOHN CHRISTMAS (CBS, New!) - The Eye network is set to make a sequel to its popular 2001 telefilm "A Town Without Christmas" with Peter Falk reprising his role as Max the angel. The new telefilm tracks the search for the mysterious "John Christmas," a Chicago firefighter who left town after saving many lives in a school inferno and has yet to be heard from in 20 years. Valerie Bertinelli ("Touched by an Angel") will play one of three people looking to track down the man for various reasons with Max aiding the trio. Production is set to begin at the end of June in Nova Scotia, Canada.

THE LIBRARIAN (TNT, New!) - Dean Devlin ("Independence Day," "Godzilla") is set to executive produce a new action-adventure telefilm for the cable channel. Written and co-produced by David Titcher ("Around the World in 80 Days"), the film centers on the guardian of a cache of mythical objects secreted beneath the New York Public Library, including the Golden Fleece and the Ark of the Covenant. Devlin hopes the telefilm can be the first in a series of films a la TNT's own upcoming "Bad Apple," starring Chris Noth. Marc Roskin will produce with Devlin under the latter's Electric Entertainment banner. No cast or production dates have been announced.

LUCKY 7 (ABC Family) - Patrick Dempsey, Gail O'Grady, Kimberly Williams-Paisley and Brad Rowe have signed on to the cable channel's new telefilm which is set to debut in July. The romantic comedy tells the story of a lawyer (Williams-Paisley) whose success has been based on following her late mother's (O'Grady) timeline which includes the fact she can't marry until she finds love for the seventh time. The trouble is she's head over heels in love with No. 6 (Rowe) and now must find a substitue No. 6 (Dempsey) in order to meet the timeline's demands. Production is underway on the project in Victoria, B.C. Lions Gate Entertainment will produce the project with Jessica Barondes writing the script and Harry Winer ("Alias," "Now and Again") directing. Judy Polone and Williams-Paisley are the executive producers.

PRINCE CHARMING (TNT) - Robert Halmi, Sr.'s update of the classic fairy tale is set to debut Sunday, July 13 at 8:00/7:00c. Christina Applegate ("Jesse") headlines the all-star cast, which features Martin Short ("Alice In Wonderland," "Merlin"), Bernadette Peters, ("Annie Get Your Gun"), Billy Connolly ("Mrs. Brown," "The Impostors"), Andrea Martin ("Wag The Dog") and newcomer Sean Maguire ("Out of Depth").

RED WATER (TBS) - Lou Diamond Phillips, Kristy Swanson and rapper-actor Coolio are set to star in the cable channel's latest thriller which centers on a bull shark that wreaks havoc in a Louisiana river. Phillips and Swanson play a divorced couple searching the river for natural gas when their boat is hijacked by a pair of criminals (Coolio, Jaimz Woolvett) on a quest for stolen money dropped in the river. Recovery of the cash is complicated by relentless shark attacks. Production is underway on the telefilm which is scheduled to premiere on August 10. Charlie Carner is directing from a script by Christopher Mack and J.D. Feigelson with Michael Larkin ("Murder in the Heartland") and Mitch Engel ("George Wallace") producing.

SECOND NATURE (TNT) - The Alec Baldwin-led psychological thriller is set to debut on Sunday, June 22 at 8:00/7:00c.

TWELVE MILE ROAD (CBS, New!) - Tom Selleck will topline a new telefilm based on Robert Boswell's novel "Mystery Ride: My Life." The project, which was originally developed as a feature 10 years ago, centers on a rough divorced rancher (Selleck) who struggles to reconnect with his angst-ridden 15-year-old daughter, who returns to the farm for the first time in 10 years to spend the summer with him. Production is scheduled to begin in early June in Canada with Richard Friedenberg ("A River Runs Through It") writing the adaptation.

Sources: Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, Reuters





  [may 2003]  
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· 10.5 (NBC)
· ALIAS (ABC)
· BAD APPLE (TNT)
· CAESAR (TNT)
· DOOR TO DOOR (TNT)
· FINDING JOHN CHRISTMAS (CBS)
· JESSE (NBC)
· LIBRARIAN, THE: QUEST FOR THE SPEAR (TNT)
· LUCKY SEVEN (ABC FAMILY)
· NOW & AGAIN (CBS)
· PHILLY (ABC)
· PRINCE CHARMING (TNT)
· RED WATER (TBS)
· SECOND NATURE (TNT)
· SEX AND THE CITY (HBO)
· SIX FEET UNDER (HBO)
· TOUCHED BY AN ANGEL (CBS)
· TOWN WITHOUT CHRISTMAS, A (CBS)
· TWELVE MILE ROAD (CBS)
· WOOL CAP, THE (TNT)





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