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[02/09/07 - 12:52 AM]
Development Update: Friday, February 9
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!


ACTION NEWS (FOX) - Steven Levitan and Christopher Lloyd's much-ballyhooed comedy has landed at FOX as the network has given the project a blind 13-episode commitment. The multi-camera half-hour stars Kelsey Grammer and Patricia Heaton as a male and female anchor team on a local TV station. Levitan and Lloyd penned the pilot script on spec as part of their three-year overall deal with 20th Century Fox Television.

Commitment: Ordered to pilot (blind 13-episode commitment)
Cast: Kelsey Grammer, Patricia Heaton
Writers: Christopher Lloyd, Steven Levitan
Director: TBA
Executive Producers: Christopher Lloyd, Steven Levitan
Studio: 20th Century Fox Television


CASHMERE MAFIA (ABC) - Miranda Otto ("War of the Worlds") is the first to be cast in the drama pilot, about four successful female executives in New York. She'll play one of the quartet, a top marketing executive for a cosmetics giant.

Commitment: Ordered to pilot
Cast: Miranda Otto
Writer: Kevin Wade
Director: Peyton Reed
Executive Producers: Darren Star (Darren Star Productions), Gail Katz, Kevin Wade
Co-Executive Producer: Susie Fitzgerald (Darren Star Productions)
Studio: Sony Pictures Television


DEMONS (CBS) - Ron Eldard ("Blind Justice") has scored the lead role in the drama pilot, about an ex-Jesuit priest/psychologist who performs exorcisms.

Commitment: Ordered to pilot
Cast: Harold Perrineau, Ron Eldard (Gus)
Writer: Barbara Hall
Director: Mick Jackson
Executive Producers: Barbara Hall (Barbara Hall Productions), Joe Roth (Joe Roth Television)
Co-Executive Producer: Nina Lederman (Joe Roth Television)
Consultant: Bob Larson
Studio: CBS Paramount Network Television


DIRTY SEXY MONEY (ABC) - Peter Krause has joined the cast of the drama pilot, about an idealistic lawyer (Krause) who inherits the job of representing a powerful and ethically flexible family after his father dies. His character, Nick George, is detailed in the casting notice as follows: "30s. This pensive, preoccupied, well-meaning, civic-minded NYC lawyer with a wife and daughter grew up in a troubled household (his mother committed suicide when Nick was 7), where he always came in second to the obscenely wealthy, influential Darling family, his father's employer. Though he vowed never to follow in his father's footsteps, upon his father's mysterious, sudden death, Nick finds himself agreeing to represent The Darlings as their chief counsel. The job requires him to be an all-around problem fixer, hand-holder, therapist, public relations expert and personal assistant. Making matters tougher, Nick discovers that his father and the Darling matriarch, Letitia, were having a decades-long affair, and that his father's death may have involved foul-play. Nick also harbors complicated romantic feelings for the stunning Karen Darling, his first love."

Commitment: Ordered to pilot
Cast: Peter Krause (Nick George), Seth Gabel (Jeremy Darling)
Writer: Craig Wright
Director: Peter Horton
Executive Producers: Craig Wright, Greg Berlanti (Berlanti Television)
Studio: ABC Television Studio


JOURNEYMAN (NBC) - "Day Break" alum Moon Bloodgood is the latest addition to the drama pilot, about a man (Kevin McKidd) who finds himself traveling back and fourth in time. She'll play Livia Beale, who's described in the casting notice as: "25, any ethnicity, with an ethereal beauty, Livia is seen in Dan's travels to the past ten/twenty years. Sexy, smart, in love with Dan, Livia is a busy low-level San Francisco D.A. who's celebrating her engagement to Dan with their friends without the slightest knowledge that her life is about to end abruptly. However, there is also another Livia, the "traveling" Livia, with a world-weariness that adds wisdom to her beauty; presumably the Livia from the afterlife, she appears to Dan to give him a few quick words of advice regarding his own "traveling"."

Commitment: Ordered to pilot
Cast: Kevin McKidd (Dan Vasser), Moon Bloodgood (Livia Beale)
Writer: Kevin Falls
Director: Alex Graves
Executive Producers: Alex Graves, Kevin Falls
Studio: 20th Century Fox Television


LAW DOGS (CBS) - Josh Cooke ("Big Day") has signed onto the drama pilot, about a group of public defenders. He'll play a newbie to the Public Defenders' office.

Commitment: Ordered to pilot (14-20 minute presentation)
Cast: Janeane Garofalo, Josh Cooke, Mark-Paul Gosselaar, Rachael Carpani
Writer: Barry Schindel
Director: Adam Bernstein
Executive Producers: Barry Schindel (The Barry Schindel Company), David W. Zucker (Scott Free Productions), Ridley Scott (Scott Free Productions), Tony Scott (Scott Free Productions)
Studio: CBS Paramount Network Television


LIPSTICK JUNGLE (NBC) - Kim Raver ("The Nine") has joined the cast of the Candace Bushnell adaptation, about trio of power-hungry rich women. She'll play Nico O'Neilly, who's detailed via the casting notice as: "38-42, female. Editor of a Vanity Fair type magazine, Nico is beautiful, poised, a real fashion icon herself, effortlessly graceful, a highly charged intelligence and wit, a master of office politics, she plays her cards very close to the vest. She makes the hardest work look stylish."

Commitment: Ordered to pilot
Cast: Brooke Shields (Wendy Healy), Kim Raver (Nico O'Neilly)
Writers: DeAnn Heline, Eileen Heisler
Director: Gary Winick
Executive Producers: Candace Bushnell, DeAnn Heline, Eileen Heisler
Studio: NBC Universal Television Studio


PROTECT & SERVE (CBS) - Monica Potter ("Boston Legal") has scored a role in the drama pilot, about the lives of street cops in suburban Los Angeles. She'll play the estranged wife of one of the cops.

Commitment: Ordered to pilot
Cast: Eric Balfour, Monica Potter
Writers: Mark Gibson, Philip Halprin
Director: TBA
Executive Producers: Gary Scott Thompson, Mark Gibson, Philip Halprin
Studio: NBC Universal Television Studio


SWINGTOWN (CBS) - "Windfall" alum Lana Parrilla is the latest addition to the drama pilot, about a group of married suburban couples in the 1970s practicing partner-swapping. She'll play the wife of Grant Show's character, a sophisticated, smart woman of privileged upbringing.

Commitment: Ordered to pilot
Cast: Grant Show (Tom Decker), Jack Davenport (Bruce Miller), Lana Parrilla
Writer: Mike Kelley
Director: Alan Poul
Executive Producers: Mike Kelley
Studio: CBS Paramount Network Television


VIVA LAUGHLIN! (CBS) - British actor Lloyd Owen ("Miss Potter") has landed the lead role in the drama pilot, about a family man (Owen) who dreams of opening a casino in Laughlin, Nevada.

Commitment: Ordered to pilot
Cast: Hugh Jackman (Guest Star), Lloyd Owen (Ripley)
Writer: Bob Lowry
Director: Gabriele Muccino
Executive Producers: Bob Lowry, Gabriele Muccino, Hugh Jackman (Seed Productions), John Palermo (Seed Productions), Paul Telegdy (BBC Worldwide Productions), Peter Bowker (BBC Worldwide Productions)
Studios: CBS Paramount Network Television, Sony Pictures Television


WILD AT HEART (The CW) - Rutger Hauer and Judith Hoag are the first to be cast in the drama pilot, about a widowed New York vet who moves his second wife (Judith Hoag) and their blended family to South Africa, where he butts heads with his former father-in-law. Hauer will play said father-in-law, who is opinionated, self-righteous, cranky and very alone.

Commitment: Ordered to pilot
Cast: Judith Hoag, Rutger Hauer
Writer: Michael Rauch
Director: TBA
Executive Producers: Charlie Pattinson (Company Pictures), George Faber (Company Pictures), Michael Rauch
Studio: CBS Paramount Network Television


Sources: Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, Reuters





  [february 2007]  
S
M
T
W
T
F
S
    


· BACK TO YOU (FOX)
· BIG DAY (ABC)
· BLIND JUSTICE (ABC)
· BOSTON LEGAL (ABC)
· CASHMERE MAFIA (ABC)
· DAY BREAK (ABC)
· DEMONS (CBS)
· DEVELOPMENT UPDATE (TFC)
· DIRTY SEXY MONEY (ABC)
· JOURNEYMAN (NBC)
· LAW DOGS (CBS)
· LIFE IS WILD (CW)
· LIPSTICK JUNGLE (NBC)
· NINE, THE (ABC)
· PROTECT & SERVE (CBS)
· SWINGTOWN (CBS)
· VIVA LAUGHLIN (CBS)
· WINDFALL (NBC)





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