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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!
90210 (The CW) - Tori Spelling has opted out of returning to the famed zip code after terms couldn't be reached on a contract. The actress, along with fellow alums Jennie Garth, Joe E. Tata and Shannen Doherty, was set to make occasional appearances on the new series.
GIMME MY REALITY SHOW (Fox Reality) - Daily Variety's Michael Schneider, producer Scott Sternberg and genre mainstay Adrianne Curry have all been tapped as judges on the series, which sees various "celebrities" - including Traci Bingham, Gretchen Bonaduce, Kato Kaelin, Ryan Starr, Bobby Trendy and Susan Olsen - compete for the chance to earn their own reality show. The trio will join previously announced host George Grey when the series rolls out Saturday, October 11.
EDWARD ALLEN BERNERO PROJECTS (CBS, New!) - Edward Allen Bernero ("Criminal Minds") has set up three new dramas at the Eye via his overall deal with sibling studio CBS Paramount Network Television. First up is a small screen revival of one-time CBS mainstay "Hawaii Five-O." The new incarnation will likewise be a procedural chronicling the workings of the fictional Hawaiian state police department with Steve McGarrett's (played by Jack Lord in the original) son Chris as the top cop. Other details such as its iconic theme song and "Book 'em, Danno" closing line are also expected to carry over in some form. Bernero is penning the pilot. Then there's "Washington Field," a crime drama about the National Capital Response Squad, a unit of the FBI comprised of elite experts in different areas who travel around the world, responding to events that concern the U.S. national interest. The show's title comes from the office which houses said unit. Bernero is co-creating the hour, which is being done in cooperation with the FBI, alongside brothers Jim and Tim Clemente. And finally there's an untitled hour devoted to the FBI's fugitive apprehension unit with the main character being a woman who is the daughter of a fugitive, giving her an unique insight into how they run and hide. Novelist Joseph Finder and his brother Henry, The New Yorker's editorial director, brought the idea to Bernero who will supervise the writing of the pair's script.
MOGULETTES (NBC, New!) - "Bergdorf Blondes" author Plum Sykes and writer/producer Amy Harris ("The Comeback") are set to team for a new half-hour comedy about the lives of jet-setting twentysomething women who have already become captains of industry. The pair are co-writing the script to the Universal Media Studios-based project, which will focus on Eva, the beautiful and brilliant leader of a cosmetics empire. Charlie Corwin's Original Media ("The Philanthropist") and Caliber Media are also attached as producers.
THE WITCHES OF EASTWICK (ABC, New!) - The famed book/feature is being eyed for the small screen once again, this time at ABC. Maggie Friedman ("Related") has been tapped to pen the project, which has a put pilot commitment from the network and Warner Bros. Television. The news marks the third time - and the third network - to take a stab at adapting the John Updike novel/film starring Jack Nicholson, Cher, Susan Sarandon and Michelle Pfeiffer. Previous efforts came from NBC in 1992, written by Carlton Cuse and Jeffrey Boam and starring Catherine Mary Stewart, Julia Campbell, Ally Walker and Michael Siberri; and FOX in 2002, written by Jon Cowan and Robert Rovner, executive produced by Jim Leonard and starring Lori Loughlin, Marcia Cross and Kelly Rutherford. The latter incarnation focused on the teenage sons of the original witches. As for ABC's take, it's believed it will follow the book/film's plot in which three women turn to witchcraft after losing/booting the men in their lives only to conjure up a devil-like character in the process, who then proceeds to seduce all three of them.
Sources: Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, Reuters
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