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[12/21/07 - 06:31 PM]
Development Update: Week of December 17-21
By The Futon Critic Staff (TFC) |
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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!
AMC ORIGINAL SERIES (AMC, New!) - The cable channel has added four new projects to its development slate. Said efforts will eventually result in one of two pilots the network plans to order next year. The other pilot will be based off its previously announced projects. As for the newcomers, they are: "Fort Smith," from "24's" Robert Cochran, about Isaiah Parker, who polices the Five Points - comprised of five different Indian tribes - with his posse in the lawless post-Civil War West; an untitled hour from Alison Anders and Terry Graham, about Comanche leader Quanah Parker, who fights the U.S. Army for the rights to his tribe's land; "Greenfields," from playwright Nicky Silver ("Raised in Captivity"), about a psychiatrist who breaks his patient out of jail; and "Uninvited Guest," from "Less Than Zero" screenwriter Harley Peyton and Mandalay's Peter Guber and Elizabeth Stephens, about a character who suffers from multiple personality disorder.
THE AMERICAN MALL (MTV, New!) - MTV is teaming with "High School Musical" producers Bill Borden and Barry Rosenbush for a romantic comedy/musical set at a mall in the vein of the Disney Channel sensation. Nina Dobrev and Rob Mayes will topline the project, about Ally, a high school grad/singer-songwriter (Dobrev), who battles to save her mother's music store and to keep the boy she loves (Mayes), a musically gifted young janitor who fronts a garage band. Autumn Reeser also stars as Ally's mean-girl adversary Madison, the spoiled and ruthless heiress to the owners of the mall, while Wade Allain-Marcus, Bianca Collins, Rodney To, Neil Haskell, Brooke Lyons, David Baum, Blythe Auffarth, Yassmin Alers, Bresha Webb, Neil Haskell and Al Sapienza round out the cast. Production is set to begin next month at a mall in Provo, Utah with Shawn Ku ("Pretty Dead Girl") directing. Borden is producing "Mall," which was originally set up as a feature at Columbia Pictures prior to "Musical's" release, with Rosenbush and Arata Matsushima serving as executive producers. "Mall" then will premiere this summer with a DVD release a couple of days later.
BACKYARDS & BULLETS (NBC) - The Peacock has opted not to move forward with the drama pilot, about a suburban Neighborhood Watch group gone awry. The news comes as a result of the network letting its options on the cast expire. The show's ensemble included Abigail Spencer, Billy Burke, Casey LaBow, Enuka Okuma, Jessalyn Gilsig, Kristen Lehman, Lou Diamond Phillips, Mathew St. Patrick and Richard Ruccolo. Charles McDougall directed the Sony Pictures Television/Pariah-based hour from a script by Ed Decter and John J. Strauss. Pariah's Gavin Polone and Jamie Tarses also served as executive producers.
COCO CHANEL (Lifetime, New!) - The cable channel is developing a biopic/mini-series about the famed fashion icon featuring Barbora Bobulova and Shirley MacLaine as the designer in the early and later periods of her life, respectively. Christian Duguay ("Human Trafficking") is on board to direct the Alchemy Television Group-based project, which is currently filming. Enrico Medioli ("Once Upon a Time in America") penned the script while Lux Vide SpA, Pampa Productions, Rai and France 2 are co-producing alongside Alchemy. The two-part effort, which is being done in cooperation with Chanel's estate, tracks her upbringing in an orphanage outside Paris through her move to reinvent herself in her 70s, after spending years in exile.
KAYA (MTV) - MTV development chief Tony DiSanto confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter this week the series, the network's first scripted effort in more than five years, won't be returning for a second season. "Kaya" opened its 10-episode run on Monday nights following "The Hills" before being banished to Saturday nights after failing to capitalize on said lead-in. DiSanto however was quick to note the network still plans to push forward in the scripted genre as several projects are in the works, including an untitled effort from Adam Ripp and Steven Wolfson as well as "Darius," from "Law & Order" veteran Michael S. Chernuchin.
SAINT OF CIRCUMSTANCE (FOX, New!) - "The Office" alum David Denman is set to topline a new single-camera comedy pilot for FOX about a man going through a midlife crisis who quits his dead-end office job to be a paramedic on the night shift. "Scrubs" star Zack Braff is in talks to direct the ABC Studios-based half-hour, which was created by Braff's brother, Adam ("Andrew Henry's Meadow"). Denman then will play the lead role of Wayne with the Braffs executive producing alongside Emile Levisetti. Production on the pilot is expected to begin after the WGA strikes concludes.
UNTITLED CEDRIC THE ENTERTAINER PROJECT (ABC) - ABC Studios has extended the options on the entire cast of the multi-camera comedy pilot, about a family man (Cedric the Entertainer) who always has been the proud breadwinner but has difficulty adjusting when his wife's (Regina Hall) hobby turns into a multimillion-dollar enterprise. Production on the project, which also stars Charles Malik Whitfield, Jasmine McNeal, Melissa Peterman, Peter Mackenzie and Steven Wash, Jr., was completed in October. Ken Whittingham directed from a script by co-creators Cedric the Entertainer, Michael Soccio and Rock Reuben.
WIFE SWAP (ABC) - Lifetime's purchase of the show's off-network rights from Disney-ABC Domestic Television on Tuesday (read the story) is said to be valued at $250,000 per episode. The four-year pact, which begins in October, gives the cable channel the right to play reruns of the series twice a day.
Sources: Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, Reuters
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[06/27/17 - 02:32 PM]
A&E Network to Premiere New Nonfiction Series "The Lowe Files" on Wednesday, August 2 at 10pm ET/PT
The new nonfiction series follows Rob Lowe and his two sons, Matthew and John Owen, as they travel through the country to explore infamous unsolved mysteries.
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[06/27/17 - 01:01 PM]
NBC's "Macy's 4th of July Fireworks(R) Spectacular" Adds Jennifer Lopez, Sheryl Crow and Charlie Puth to Slate of Incredible Performers
Previously announced acts include Lady Antebellum, Brad Paisley and Hailee Steinfeld.
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[06/27/17 - 12:40 PM]
BET Awards Wins Sunday Night & Remains #1 Cable Awards Show
BET spins the numbers for Sunday, June 25.
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[06/27/17 - 12:21 PM]
Hallmark Channel's "June Weddings" Programming Event Boosts Network as Highest-Rated on Saturday Nights
The Hallmark Channel spins the numbers for the week of June 19-25.
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[06/27/17 - 11:03 AM]
AMC Orders Fourth Season of "Better Call Saul" - Acclaimed "Breaking Bad" Prequel Will Return in 2018
The third season averaged 3.6 million viewers per episode, including 2 million adults 25-54 in Nielsen live+3 ratings.
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[06/27/17 - 10:41 AM]
American Hero Jack Decker Is Back in "Decker: Mindwipe"
All of American hero Special Agent Jack Decker's (Tim Heidecker) memories have been erased leaving him with an empty mind in "Decker: Mindwipe," the newest installment of the wildly popular "Decker" franchise.
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[06/27/17 - 10:37 AM]
Spike TV Finds Strong Ratings in "The Mist"
Spike TV further spins the numbers for Thursday, June 22.
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[06/27/17 - 10:18 AM]
"Chesapeake Shores" Returns Sunday, August 6 on Hallmark Channel
Season one of "Chesapeake Shores" was the most-watched and most-successful series in Hallmark Channel's history.
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[06/27/17 - 10:03 AM]
Smithsonian Channel(TM) Tells the Harrowing Story of a City on Edge in "The Lost Tapes: Son of Sam"
40 years after his arrest, the latest installment of Smithsonian Channel's immersive and critically acclaimed series sets the scene for what would become a national media frenzy in search of an elusive murderer.
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[06/27/17 - 10:02 AM]
OWN's Hit Drama "Greenleaf" Returns with Two-Night Premiere August 15 & 16
"Greenleaf" stars Merle Dandridge, Keith David and Lynn Whitfield.
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[06/27/17 - 09:28 AM]
AMC's "Halt and Catch Fire" Will Begin Its Fourth and Final Season with a Two-Hour Premiere on Saturday, August 19th at 9:00PM ET/PT
The series, created by executive producers and co-showrunners Christopher Cantwell and Christopher C. Rogers, chronicles the tech industry and the birth of the Internet in the 1980s and early 1990s.
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[06/27/17 - 09:27 AM]
Ryan Kwanten Cast in Crackle's New Drama, "The Oath," Executive Produced by Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson and His G-Unit Film and Television Inc.
Kwanten will play Steve Hammond, son of Tom Hammond (portrayed by Sean Bean) and the leader of a cop gang, The Ravens.
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[06/27/17 - 09:05 AM]
It's Back to the '90s in New Netflix Series "Everything Sucks!"
The series stars Peyton Kennedy and Jahi Winston as students Kate Messner and Luke O'Neil, with Patch Darragh and Claudine Nako as their respective parents.
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[06/27/17 - 08:41 AM]
All Four Episodes of Documentary Event "The Defiant Ones" to Be Available on HBO NOW and HBO GO July 9
This provides HBO subscribers the opportunity to watch "The Defiant Ones" immediately and in its entirety.
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[06/27/17 - 08:31 AM]
James Van Der Beek, Lauren Graham and Isabella Crovetti Star as a Vampire Family That Moves from Transylvania to Pennsylvania in Disney Junior's Animated Series "Vampirina," Premiering This Fall
Twelve-year-old Isabella Crovetti stars as the voice of Vampirina (aka Vee), a lovable young vampire girl, who is facing the joys and trials of being the new kid in town when her family moves from Transylvania to Pennsylvania.
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