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[02/26/04 - 12:00 AM]
Development Update: February 26
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 LOVE (HBO) - Chloe Sevigny ("Boys Don't Cry") has joined the ensemble cast of the Tom Hanks-produced drama pilot. She'll play one of the wives of Bill Henderson, a practicing polygamist and successful home improvement warehouse store owner. Production is set to begin in April on the pilot, which is written by Scheffer and Mark V. Olsen and executive produced by Hanks and his Playtone producing partner Gary Goetzman ("Band of Brothers").

BLIND JUSTICE (ABC) - Marisol Nichols ("Resurrection Blvd.") is set to star alongside Ron Eldard in the drama pilot, which centers on a homicide detective (Eldard) reinstated after he was blinded on the job. She'll play a homicide detective who works with him in the project, which comes from Paramount Network Television and Steven Bochco Productions.

THE CATCH (ABC) - David Cubitt ("Robbery Homicide Division") has joined J.J. Abrams' bounty hunter drama pilot at the Alphabet, which also stars Greg Grunberg ("Alias").

COUNTDOWN (ABC) - Adam Beach ("Windtalkers") has been added to the ensemble cast of the drama pilot, which chronicles in real time a S.W.A.T. team's handling of a major crisis. He'll play a sharpshooter in the Touchstone Television project, which also stars Jason O'Mara, Louis Mandylor and Salli Richardson.

DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES (ABC) - Jamie Denton ("Threat Matrix") and Ricardo Chavira ("Joan of Arcadia") have joined the cast of the drama pilot, a darkly humorous look at the secretive lives of four women living in an Anytown, USA, cul-de-sac. Denton will play Mike Delfino, a single guy living in the neighborhood, while Chavira will play Carlos Solis, the husband of Eva Longoria's character. The duo join the previously cast Longoria, Teri Hatcher and Felicity Huffman in the Touchstone Television project. While ABC has yet to formally cancel "Matrix," Denton's involvement in "Housewives" more than likely spells the end of the hiatused series.

EYES (ABC) - Garcelle Beauvais ("N.Y.P.D. Blue"), Laura Leighton ("Skin"), Reg Rogers ("Analyze That") and Rick Worthy ("Star Trek: Enterprise") have all joined the cast of the Tim Daly-led drama pilot, which revolves around the members of a high-powered risk management corporation. Beauvais will play an employee at the company while Leighton is set as an attorney and Worthy as a top investigator at the firm who becomes the subject of an investigation. Rogers' role in the Warner Bros. Television project wasn't specified. The quartet join the previously cast Daly, Natalie Zea and A.J. Langer.

GRAMERCY PARK (ABC) - Milo Ventimiglia ("Gilmore Girls"), Elizabeth Mitchell ("The Lyon's Den"), Travis Schuldt ("10-8") and Izabella Miko ("Coyote Ugly") have all joined the ensemble cast of the Warner Bros. Television/Tannenbaum Co. drama pilot, about three nannies and the families they work for in a luxury New York high rise. Miko ("Coyote Ugly") will play one of the aforementioned au pairs, who is also an aspiring actress. Mitchell's role is that of an actress married to a successful Broadway director (the previously cast Paul Blackthorne) who resents the transition to motherhood while Ventimiglia will play the in-and-out-of-rehab son of a well-known heart surgeon who returns home with his girlfriend and their child. Schuldt will play a twentysomething heir uncomfortable with his wealth.

JOHNNY ZERO (FOX) - Mimi Leder ("John Doe") is set to direct and executive produce the John Wells Productions/Warner Bros. Television drama pilot, which stars Franky G ("The Italian Job") as an ex-con who is struggling to go straight while establishing himself as a private investigator.

LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE (ABC) - Cameron Bancroft ("Undercover Christmas," "Crooked E: The Unshredded Truth About Enron") is set as Charles Ingalls while Danielle Ryan Chuchran ("Dr. Seuss' The Cat in the Hat") and Kyle Chavarria ("The Agency") will play Mary Ingalls and Laura Ingalls respectively in the Alphabet's six-hour mini-series based on Laura Ingalls Wilder's classic "Little House" series of autobiographical books. The trio join the previously cast Erin Cottrell (Caroline Ingalls) in the project, which is set up under the "Wonderful World of Disney" banner.

LUCKY US (FOX) - Randall Park ("Alias") has joined the cast of the comedy pilot, which revolves around a couple (Chyler Leigh, T.B.D.) who go out on a blind date and wind up with a kid. Park's non-leading role wasn't specified in the project, which comes from 20th Century Fox TV and Original Television.

MARRIAGE 101 (WB) - Brian Sites ("The Grubbs"), Josh Waters ("Sixteen to Life") and Katie Mixon are the first to join the cast of the 20th Century Fox Television/Brad Grey Television comedy pilot, about a young married couple who struggle to balance life between their single friends and their own relationship.

OAHU (FOX) - Rob Estes ("Melrose Place") is the latest actor to join the drama pilot, described as an "Upstairs, Downstairs" look at the guests and staffers of a luxury Hawaiian hotel. Estes will play Vincent Boyd, managing partner of said hotel. He joins the previously cast Kristoffer Polaha, Rachel Shelley, Nikki Deloach and Navi Rawat in the project, which comes from 20th Century Fox Television.

PLAN B (ABC) - Rocky Carroll ("The Agency"), Kali Rocha ("Buffy the Vampire Slayer") and Sarah Shahi ("Win a Date With Tad Hamilton!") have joined the cast of the Caroline Rhea-led comedy pilot, which comes from Universal Network Television. Carroll will play Steve, a slick employee at the Rhea character's marketing firm, while Rocha is set as Amy, Rhea's younger sister, and Shahi as Bronwyn, Rhea's new assistant.

THE QUINTS (FOX) - April Matson ("American Dreams") is the first to join the cast of the comedy pilot, which follows the lives of teenage quintuplets. She'll play one of the said quintuplets in the project, which comes from Mark Reisman ("Frasier"), 20th Century Fox Television and Imagine Television.

SUDBURY (CBS) - Kat Dennings ("Raising Dad") has come aboard the drama pilot presentation, a small screen version of the 1998 feature "Practical Magic." Dennings' involvement lifts the cast-contingency on the project, which comes from Warner Bros. Television and Sandra Bullock's Fortis Films.

TWO AND A HALF MEN (CBS) - Conchata Ferrell has been upped to series regular on the freshman comedy. She'll continue in her role as Berta, Charlie's (Charlie Sheen) no-nonsense housekeeper.

UNTITLED SHONDA RHIMES PROJECT (ABC) - T.R. Knight ("Frasier") has joined the cast of Rhimes' untitled drama pilot at the Alphabet, about a group of residents in a San Francisco-based surgical program. He'll play George in the project, which is set up at Touchstone Television.

Sources: Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, Reuters





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· 10-8 (ABC)
· AGENCY, THE (CBS)
· ALIAS (ABC)
· AMERICAN DREAMS (NBC)
· BAND OF BROTHERS (HBO)
· BIG LOVE (HBO)
· BLIND JUSTICE (ABC)
· BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER (UPN)
· CATCH, THE (ABC)
· COUNTDOWN (ABC)
· CROOKED E: THE UNSHREDDED TRUTH ABOUT ENRON, THE (CBS)
· DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES (ABC)
· EYES (ABC)
· FRASIER (NBC)
· GILMORE GIRLS (CW)
· GRAMERCY PARK (2003 VERSION) (ABC)
· GRAMERCY PARK (2004 VERSION) (ABC)
· GREY'S ANATOMY (ABC)
· GRUBBS, THE (FOX)
· JOAN OF ARCADIA (CBS)
· JOHN DOE (FOX)
· JONNY ZERO (FOX)
· LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE (ABC)
· LUCKY US (FOX)
· LYON'S DEN, THE (NBC)
· NORTH SHORE (FOX)
· NYPD BLUE (ABC)
· PLAN B (ABC)
· PRACTICAL MAGIC (CBS)
· QUINTUPLETS (FOX)
· RAISING DAD (WB)
· RESURRECTION BLVD. (SHOWTIME)
· ROBBERY HOMICIDE DIVISION (CBS)
· SIXTEEN TO LIFE (CBS)
· SKIN (FOX)
· STAR TREK: ENTERPRISE (UPN)
· THEN CAME MARRIAGE (WB)
· THREAT MATRIX (ABC)
· TWO AND A HALF MEN (CBS)
· UNDERCOVER CHRISTMAS (CBS)
· WONDERFUL WORLD OF DISNEY, THE (ABC)





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