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[09/26/08 - 06:24 PM]
Development Update: Friday, September 26
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!
BUNKER HILL (A.K.A. MORSE CODE) (TNT) - The Donnie Wahlberg-led drama has been given a pilot commitment by the network. Wahlberg plays Mike Moriarty in the project, "a crime drama about a young war hero/Drug Enforcement Administration officer who works in his hometown of Boston." Walon Green and Jon Avnet are behind the Warner Horizon Television-based hour, which Avnet is directing from a script by Green. Wahlberg himself is also executive producing.
LIFE ON MARS (ABC) - Director Gary Fleder, who most recently helmed the pilots to ABC's "Finnegan" and "Life on Mars," has reupped his overall deal with sibling ABC Studios. Under the pact, he's developing an untitled hour with "Jericho" co-creator Jonathan Steinberg about a 25-year-old who becomes a senator. He'll executive produce the project via his Mojo Films banner alongside the company's development chief Mary Beth Basile. Earlier this week, Fleder signed on to direct The CW pilot "Light Years" from creator Liz Tigelaar.
THE NEW MCTOMS (FOX, New!) - Boyce Bugliari and Jamie McLaughlin (The CW's "Dash 4 Cash") are developing a new hybrid multi- and single-camera half-hour about a conservative matriarch who must face the reality of her three children marrying ethnically diverse spouses. The project is set up at Salma Hayek and Jose Tamez's ABC Studios-based Ventanarosa banner. Bugliari, McLaughlin, Hayek and Tamez then are executive producing the comedy, which has a script commitment from the network.
PROJECT RUNWAY (Bravo/Lifetime) - In a surprise move to all parties involved, a New York judge has granted a preliminary injunction on the Weinstein Co., temporarily barring the show's move from Bravo to Lifetime or marketing any such move. Said decision could derail the show's sixth season launch in January on Lifetime. Production nevertheless is continuing in Los Angeles. Lifetime inked a blockbuster five-year, $150 million deal with the Weinstein Co. back in April to acquire the series (read the story), which included 10 additional cycles of "Runway" (two 14-episode seasons per year) as well as spin-offs "The Models of Project Runway" and "Project Pygmalion" (14 episodes each) not to mention the broadcast rights to 70 Weinstein movies. NBC Universal subsequently filed a lawsuit against the Weinstein Co. claiming it didn't give NBC Universal-sibling Bravo proper notification that another party had made an offer for "Runway." The claim stems from a January 2007 agreement which reportedly gave Bravo the right of first refusal for any outside bid. In any case, Judge Richard Lowe III has ordered NBC Universal to post a minimum $20 million bond as part of the trial proceedings. A timetable on how the case will proceed is expected to be set in the next month.
TRUE BLOOD (HBO) - Mehcad Brooks, Todd Lowe, Deborah Ann Woll and Michelle Forbes have been named series regulars on the show's recently ordered second season. All four actors currently recur on the inaugural season - Brooks as Benedict "Eggs" Talley, a mellow, guitar-strumming refugee from a hard life; Lowe as Terry Bellefleur; Woll as Jessica; and Forbes as Maryann.
UNTITLED DAVID GUARASCIO/MOSES PORT PROJECT (FOX, New!) - "Aliens in America" alums Moses Port and David Guarascio have booked a new single-camera comedy at the network about a twentysomething man who starts taking a mood enhancer called Blisstilan and, after snapping out of his funk, takes a job at the pharmaceutical company behind the product. The man must now navigate working for his new boss, a high-powered female executive who boasts the nickname "The Velvet Hammer." No studio was listed as being attached. Port and Guarascio will pen the pilot and executive produce.
UNTITLED DOUG JUNG PROJECT (TNT, New!) - The cable channel is in final negotiations with Jerry Bruckheimer for a new drama pilot from creator Doug Jung ("Big Love") based on an original idea by Danny Cannon. The untitled hour, which Cannon will direct from a script by Jung, is described as a "character-based police drama that follows a squad of young undercover LAPD officers as they walk the line between doing their job and being seduced into the easy money and corruption of the crime world." Cannon, Jung and Bruckheimer then will executive produce alongside Jonathan Littman for Warner Horizon Television.
THE WONDERFUL MALADYS (HBO, New!) - Sarah Michelle Gellar ("Buffy the Vampire Slayer") is set to topline and executive produce a potential new comedy at the pay channel about the dysfunctional lives of three adult siblings in New York who lost their parents at a young age. Feature writer Charles Randolph ("The Interpreter") is behind the half-hour, which he penned on spec last year. Gellar's character then is detailed as having "a kind of zealous immaturity - like a drug addict with a to-do list." It's understood HBO is fast-tracking the project to begin production early next year. Gellar and Randolph are executive producing alongside Brillstein Entertainment Partners.
Sources: Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, Reuters
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[08/28/26 - 11:38 AM]
Hulu & ABC Celebrates Dolly with Iconic "9 to 5" and More
Hulu celebrates Dolly's extraordinary life and legacy with a special collection of films and television that captures some of the joy she brought to the screen.
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[08/28/26 - 11:01 AM]
Disney+ Announces Global Distribution Deal with The Pokemon Company International
Highlights include a new stop-motion series "Pokémon Tales: The Misadventures of Sirfetch'd & Pichu" coming to audiences worldwide in 2027.
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[08/28/26 - 10:51 AM]
FOX Sports Unveils Star-Studded 2026 College Football Roster
The on-air lineup features a decorated roster of Heisman Trophy winners, national champions, College Football Hall of Famers, Emmy Award recipients, and some of the sport's most recognizable voices across studio and game coverage.
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[08/28/26 - 09:48 AM]
Video: "Doc" Season 3 Official Trailer - FOX TV
Get ready for an all-new intense season!
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[08/28/26 - 08:51 AM]
"America's Game: The 2025 Seattle Seahawks" - An Inside Look at the Team's Run to Becoming Super Bowl LX Champions Premieres Aug. 29 on NFL Network
The all-access documentary debuts this Saturday following the network's final live NFL preseason broadcast and postgame coverage from "NFL GameDay Final."
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[08/28/26 - 08:31 AM]
Netflix Announces New Sci-Fi Series "Arrivals: A New Manifest Mystery" Set in the Universe of the Global Phenomenon
The project reunites the creative team behind Manifest, with original creator and showrunner Jeff Rake returning alongside former co-executive producers Margaret Easley and Laura Putney, who now step into the role of co-creators and co-showrunners.
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[08/28/26 - 08:14 AM]
FOX Sports' Award-Winning Series "Voices" Returns with All-New Episode "United by the Beautiful Game" Sunday, August 30 on FOX
Anchored by veteran host Mike Hill, the episode brings together some of the most compelling feature stories from across FOX Sports' FIFA World Cup 2026 coverage, including the stars who took the world stage to the communities that made the historic tournament their own.
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[08/28/26 - 07:00 AM]
Weekly Original Sports Series "NFL Play Action" to Launch on Paramount+ September 9
Executive produced by NFL MVP and Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen, Skydance Sports, and the NFL, the magazine-style studio show debuts on September 9 and tackles 360 degrees of the NFL for a co-viewing, family audience: football, fashion, food, follies, and more.
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[08/28/26 - 06:01 AM]
Emilio Sakraya Is Koza in "One Piece: The Battle of Alabasta"
A familiar face from Alabasta has arrived.
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[08/28/26 - 05:01 AM]
Apple TV to Premiere Season One of Comedy "Small Prophets" on October 7
"Small Prophets" is a comic tale of the eccentric Michael Sleep (Pearce Quigley) who, since his darling Clea disappeared seven years ago, has lived a very ordinary life.
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[08/27/26 - 09:30 PM]
"Big Brother" Achieves Two Guinness World Records Titles, Presented During Historic Milestone 1,000th Primetime Episode
During the live show, Guinness World Records official adjudicator Michael Empric officially presented host Julie Chen Moonves with the certificates for the two titles.
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[08/27/26 - 04:01 PM]
Video: "Plastic Beauty" - Official Trailer - Netflix
When a gifted ER surgeon is thrust into cosmetic medicine, her clash with a celebrity doctor exposes the greed and desire beneath the glamour.
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[08/27/26 - 02:08 PM]
Andre "3000" Benjamin Officially Joins the Cast of "Scooby-Doo: Origins"
The live action series is coming to Netflix in 2027.
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[08/27/26 - 01:37 PM]
Video: "Eternally Yours" Official Trailer - Premieres October 8 on CBS
The series follows Charles and Liz, a charming, married 500- year-old vampire couple whose relationship has survived centuries because, as vampires, divorce isn't exactly an option.
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[08/27/26 - 01:30 PM]
"The Price Is Right" and "Let's Make a Deal" Honor 60 Years of "Star Trek" with Special Episodes Airing Tuesday, Sept. 8 on CBS
It's a celebration six decades in the making and will be one for the starship logs.
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