[09/30/08 - 06:53 PM] Development Update: Tuesday, September 30 By The Futon Critic Staff (TFC)
LOS ANGELES (thefutoncritic.com) -- The latest development news, culled from recent wire reports:
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GOOD VIBES (FOX, New!) - "Pineapple Express" helmer David Gordon Green has booked a pilot presentation order for a new animated comedy about a crazy group of high-school students living in a Southern California coastal community. The project is set up at 20th Century Fox Television with Brad Abelson ("The Simpsons") directing from a script by Green. Good Humor Television's Tom Werner and Mike Clements are also on board as executive producers. No other specifics were released.
NIGHT & DAY (TNT) - Tandem Communications, a German-based producer/distributor, has come aboard to co-produce the drama pilot, about a veteran ATF agent (William Fichtner) who faces challenges at both work and home with his wife (Sherry Stringfeld). They'll also take over international distribution on the drama should it move forward to series. Joel Surnow and Todd Robinson are behind the hour, which also comes from Muse Entertainment. In addition, Conor O'Farrell ("CSI: Crime Scene Investigation") has joined the cast of the pilot. He'll play the boss of Fichtner's character.
PEEP SHOW (Spike TV) - Production has been completed in Chicago on a pilot for the project, a domestic take on the U.K. series about a modern-day "Odd Couple" - "Jeremy (Rob Chester Smith), a slacker with misguided musical ambitions, and Mark (Brad Morris), his uptight, office-drone roommate, who are living together and trying to survive the many unexpected hurdles life throws at them." Dylan Kidd ("Roger Dodger") directed the half-hour from a script by Sam Bain and Jesse Armstrong. Chris Coelen, Karrie Wolfe, Brian Lenard, John Lynch and Andrew O'Connor all served as executive producers for Pangea, the scripted arm of RDF USA, with David Richardson ("The Simpsons") as showrunner. "Curb Your Enthusiam's" Robert Weide had previously been attached to the project. The news marks the second time "Peep Show" has been imported for U.S. audiences, the first being a 2005 pilot for FOX featuring Johnny Galecki and Josh Meyers in the lead roles. Andy Ackerman directed said incarnation from a script by Jackie & Jeff Filgo.
POSSIBLE SIDE EFFECTS (Showtime) - Ellen Burstyn ("Big Love") and Tim Blake Nelson ("The Incredible Hulk") have both joined the cast of the drama pilot, about the Hunt family, a powerful but dysfunctional brood that runs a drug company that gets into a heap of trouble. Burstyn will play the family's matriarch with Nelson as an unspecified character. Tim Robbins, Bill Finkelstein, Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas and Daniel Thomas are behind the hour, which also stars Josh Lucas.
TIME HEALS (TNT) - Christina Moore ("90210") and David Julian Hirsh ("Naked Josh") are the latest additions to the drama pilot, about Nancy Hawthorne (Jada Pinkett Smith), a strong but caring director of nursing at Charlotte Mercy Hospital in North Carolina. Moore will play Candy, a night-shift nurse, with Hirsh as Ray, a bright, quick-witted nurse who has a crush on Candy. John Masius is behind the hour, a co-production of 100% Womon Productions, FanFare Productions and Sony Pictures Television.
UNTITLED PONY EXPRESS PROJECT (AMC, New!) - Feature helmer Richard Donner ("16 Blocks"), writer Erik Jendresen ("Band of Brothers") and actor/producer Robert Duvall ("Broken Trail") are set to team for a potential new drama about the Pony Express, the pioneering service which lasted only from 1860 to 1861 but remains a fabled part of Western lore. Fox TV Studios is behind the hour, which Donner is attached to direct from a script by Jendresen. Duvall then would play an as-yet undetermined character on the drama and executive produce alongside Rob Carliner via their Butcher's Run Films banner.
[06/19/13 - 01:39 PM] TNT Bumps Newcomer "72 Hours" to Friday Nights The reality competition series, which had been airing on Thursdays at 9:00/8:00c, will relocate to Fridays effective immediately.
[06/19/13 - 12:17 PM] ESPN to Present World Series of Poker Main Event To kick off ESPN's WSOP coverage, the inaugural World Series of Poker Asia-Pacific Main Event Final Table will air on Tuesday, July 23.
