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[02/12/04 - 12:00 AM]
Development Update: February 12
By The Futon Critic Staff (TFC)

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

Looking to keep track of all the various pilots and other projects in development? Be sure to check out our detailed production chart listings by clicking here.

BIG MAN ON CAMPUS (WB, New!) - The Frog is once again back in business with Mike Fleiss ("High School Reunion"), as the network has committed to six episodes of a new dating show set at a university. Specific details about the project, which is set up at Fleiss' Telepictures Productions-based Next Entertainment, are still being kept under wraps. No target date - summer, fall or midseason - was given for the series.

BLIND JUSTICE (ABC) - Feature director Gary Fleder ("Runaway Jury") has signed on to helm the drama pilot, which centers on a police officer (Ron Eldard) blinded on the job. Steven Bochco Productions and Paramount Network Television are behind the project, which is being targeted for midseason 2005. Matt Olmstead and Nicholas Wootton wrote the script to the pilot and will executive produce.

THE CLUBHOUSE (CBS) - Marc Donato ("White Oleander") has scored the lead role in the drama pilot, which revolves around a scrawny 16-year-old batboy for the New York Yankees who has no idea his family connections got him the job. Spelling Television and Mel Gibon's Icon Productions are behind the project.

A FRAGILE KIND OF VIOLENCE (Showtime, New!) - Writer/director Burr Steers ("Igby Goes Down") has landed a script commitment for a new project, described as a modern-day "Brideshead Revisited," which takes a darkly comedic look at New York's uptown/downtown class clash. Steers will write and executive produce the project, which will center on the relationship between two men in their early 20s, an aspiring writer from Ohio and the self-destructive son of an upper-class family. The family's two daughters will also make their way into the storyline. David Janollari ("Six Feet Under") will also produce with Anonymous Content's Steve Golin ("The L Word") and Shawn Hopkins.

THE GRID (TNT) - Robert Forster ("Karen Sisco"), Tom Skerritt ("The West Wing"), Jemma Redgrave ("The Acid House") and James Remar ("Sex and the City") have all signed on to the cable channel's terrorism-themed limited series. The group joins the previously cast leads Dylan McDermott and Julianna Margulies in the project, which comes from executive producers Tracey Alexander ("Thanks of a Grateful Nation") and Brian Eastman ("Traffik") and is set up at Fox TV Studios and Carnival Films. Forster will play Jay Aldrich, the mentor of McDermott's character and the former head of the State Department. No details were given about the roles for the other cast members.

HIGH SCHOOL REUNION (WB) - Sources close to the series have confirmed production has wrapped on the show's third season, despite the second installment having yet to premiere.

HUB (NBC) - Frank John Hughes ("Band of Brothers") is the latest actor to sign on to the drama pilot. He'll play Henry Engels, an L.A.P.D. officer who's been demoted to airport duty on the project.

HAWAII (NBC) - Daniel Sackheim ("N.Y.P.D. Blue") has come aboard to replace Jon Avnet ("Boomtown") as the director of the drama pilot. Avnet bowed out due to a scheduling conflict.

THE ROBINSONS: LOST IN SPACE (WB) - Jayne Brook ("John Doe") is set as Maureen Robinson in the Frog's remake of "Lost In Space." June Lockhart played the character in the original 1965-68 CBS series while Mimi Rogers took over in the role for the 1998 feature. Brook joins the previously cast Adrianne Palicki (Judy Robinson) on the project, which comes from 20th Century Fox Television and Fox TV Studios.

UNTITLED ANDREW KENNEDY PROJECT (CBS, New!) - The Eye has committed to a new comedy pilot starring comic Andrew Kennedy as a young father living in Connecticut, not far from his British dad, his South American mom and his in-laws. The project, which is loosely based on Kennedy's life, is set up at Sony Pictures Television and CBS Productions. Andrew Gordon and Eileen Conn are writing and executive producing the pilot, while Gary Halvorson is on board to direct.

WASHINGTON STREET (CBS, New!) - Julia Larson has landed a cast-contingent pilot commitment for a new comedy about the tenants in a modest apartment building who form a family led by a nurturing single mom. Larson will write and executive produce the project, which comes from Warner Bros. Television.

Sources: Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, Reuters





  [february 2004]  
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· BAND OF BROTHERS (HBO)
· BIG MAN ON CAMPUS (WB)
· BLIND JUSTICE (ABC)
· BOOMTOWN (NBC)
· CLUBHOUSE (CBS)
· FRAGILE KIND OF VIOLENCE, A (SHOWTIME)
· GRID, THE (TNT)
· HAWAII (NBC)
· HIGH SCHOOL REUNION (TV LAND)
· JOHN DOE (FOX)
· KAREN SISCO (ABC)
· L WORD, THE (SHOWTIME)
· LAX (NBC)
· NYPD BLUE (ABC)
· ROBINSONS, THE: LOST IN SPACE (WB)
· SEX AND THE CITY (HBO)
· SIX FEET UNDER (HBO)
· UNTITLED ANDREW KENNEDY PROJECT (CBS)
· WASHINGTON STREET (CBS)
· WEST WING, THE (NBC)





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