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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!
BABYLON FIELDS (CBS, New!) - Gerald Cuesta ("L.I.E.") and newcomer Michael Atkinson have booked a pilot order from the Eye for a new dramedy in which the dead are resurrected and try to resume their former lives. Michael Cuesta ("Dexter") is on board to executive produce and direct the hour, which is set up at 20th Century Fox Television.
Commitment: Ordered to pilot
Cast: TBA
Writer: Gerald Cuesta, Michael Atkinson
Director: Michael Cuesta
Executive Producers: Gerald Cuesta, Michael Atkinson
Studio: 20th Century Fox Television
BLOOD TIES (Lifetime) - The series, based on Tanya Huff's "Blood" novels, reportedly will launch with back-to-back episodes on Sunday, March 11 at 9:00/8:00c. Episodes will then air weekly at 10:00/9:00c until its two-hour finale on Sunday, May 20 at 9:00/8:00c. Christina Cox, Kyle Schmid and Dylan Neal all star in the project, about an ex-cop turned private investigator (Cox) who teams with a 450-year old vampire (Schmid) to solve supernatural crimes.
Commitment: Ordered to series (13 episodes)
Cast: Christina Cox (Vicki Nelson), Dylan Neal (Mike Celluci), Kyle Schmid (Henry Fitzroy)
Writer: Peter Mohan
Director: TBA
Executive Producers: Kirk Shaw, Marshall Kesten, Peter Mohan, Randall Zalken
Studio: CHUM Television, Insight Film Studios, Kaleidoscope Entertainment
EXTRA (Syndication) - Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution has renewed the series for three additional seasons, taking it through the 2009-10 season. Said clearances come in 95% of the country, including the NBC O&Os in New York (WNBC), Los Angeles (KNBC), Chicago (WMAQ), Philadelphia (WCAU), San Francisco/San Jose (KNTV), Dallas (KXAS), Miami (WTVJ) and Hartford, Conn. (WVIT). Co-hosts Dayna Devon and Mark McGrath as well as executive producer Lisa Gregorisch-Dempsey are all on board through said run as part of new multi-year deals with producer Telepictures Productions.
GOSSIP GIRL (The CW) Mark Piznarski ("Veronica Mars") has signed on to direct the pilot, about the world of privileged teenagers attending elite private schools in New York City as told through the eyes of an anonymous blogger. He'll work from a script by co-creators Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage.
Commitment: Ordered to pilot
Cast: TBA
Writers: Josh Schwartz, Stephanie Savage
Director: Mark Piznarski
Executive Producers: Bob Levy (Alloy Entertainment), Josh Schwartz (College Hill Productions), Leslie Morgenstein (Alloy Entertainment), Stephanie Savage
Studio: Warner Bros. Television
HACKETT (FOX, New!) - "Frasier" alum Denise Moss has scored a pilot presentation order from FOX for a new comedy about Thomas Hackett, a bad-boy literary luminary who escapes his troubles with women and a disgraced career teaching at Yale to become a public high school teacher in Ohio. The single-camera half-hour is based at Sony Pictures Television with Sarah Timberman and Carl Beverly of 25C Productions executive producing alongside Moss.
Commitment: Ordered to pilot (7-10 minute presentation)
Cast: TBA
Writer: Denise Moss
Director: TBA
Executive Producers: Carl Beverly (25C Productions), Denise Moss, Sarah Timberman (25C Productions)
Studio: Sony Pictures Television
TWILIGHT (CBS, New!) - Trevor Munson ("Lone Star State of Mind") and "Beauty and the Beast" creator Ron Koslow are set to team for a new drama about a vampire who works as a private investigator and struggles with the repercussions of immortality, his adversaries in the vampire world and the love he feels for a mortal. The pair penned the script to the Warner Bros. Television-based project, which has a pilot presentation order from the network. Joel Silver and Gerard Bocaccio are also on board to executive produce via the former's Silver Pictures banner.
Commitment: Ordered to pilot (14-20 minute presentation)
Cast: TBA
Writers: Ron Koslow, Trevor Munson
Director: TBA
Executive Producers: Gerard Bocaccio, Joel Silver (Silver Pictures), Ron Koslow, Trevor Munson
Studio: Warner Bros. Television
TWO FAMILIES (FOX, New!) - FOX has issued a pilot order to writer/producers Barbara Wallace and Thomas R. Wolfe ("Welcome to New York") for a new comedy about two sets of adult siblings who find out they share the same bigamist father. HBO Independent Productions is behind the single-camera half-hour, which the duo will executive produce.
Commitment: Ordered to pilot
Cast: TBA
Writers: Barbara Wallace, Thomas R. Wolfe
Director: TBA
Executive Producers: Barbara Wallace, Thomas R. Wolfe
Studio: HBO Independent Productions
Sources: Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, Reuters
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