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[11/12/08 - 06:26 PM]
Development Update: Wednesday, November 12
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!


GAME OF THRONES (A.K.A. A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE) (HBO) - The pay channel has greenlit production on the drama pilot, a small screen take on George R.R. Martin's "Song of Ice and Fire" fantasy series of books. David Benioff ("X-Men Origins: Wolverine") and D.B. Weiss ("Halo") penned the pilot script with Carolyn Strauss serving as a co-executive producer alongside Guymon Cassidy, Vincent Gerardis and Martin himself. As for specifics, "Thrones" is detailed an epic struggle for power set in a vast and violent fantasy kingdom. It's understood that the producers will approach each installment of the seven-book series as a "season" with major battles taking place offstage in favor of more character-based drama.


LIVING WITH ABANDON (FOX, New!) - The network has signed a first-look deal with Richie Keen and Heath Corson ("Hooked") for their independently produced pilot, about members of an abandonment support group who suffer a blow when their therapist commits suicide and must band together to solve each other's issues. Todd Grinnell ("Hollywoodland"), Ed Quinn ("Eureka"), Melissa Peterman ("Reba"), Rachel Specter ("The House Bunny") and newcomer Nick Dodani all starred in the half-hour, which Keen directed from a script he co-wrote with Corson. Keen, who had previously won a top prize at the New York TV Festival, is executive producing the single-camera project with Michael Binkow and Joe Revello serving as co-executive producers and Corson as a supervising producer.


NURSE JACKIE (Showtime) - Dominic Fumusa ("As the World Turns") has booked a co-starring role on the upcoming comedy, about a strong-willed, iconoclastic New York nurse (Edie Falco) juggling the frenzied grind of an urban hospital and an equally challenging personal life. He'll play her husband in the Lionsgate-based project, which also stars Eve Best, Peter Facinelli, Merritt Wever, Haaz Slieman and Paul Schulze.


THE REVIEW (HBO, New!) - Author Andy Bellin ("Poker Nation") is developing a new drama at the pay channel about a New York literary magazine in the immediate aftermath of Black Monday in 1987. It's understood the project, which he'll executive produce alongside Scott Aversano ("Failure to Launch"), is loosely based on Bellin's experience as an editor at the Paris Review in the '90s where "being perpetually broke, everybody had to do everything from editing, interviewing, writing and soliciting ads to taking out the garbage and answering phones," he told The Hollywood Reporter. As for specifics, "Review" will track a young guy who leaves banking to work at the magazine right when it existence is threatened by funding cuts.


SCAR TISSUE (HBO, New!) - The early life of Red Hot Chili Peppers frontman Anthony Kiedis is being eyed as a potential series at HBO. Marc Abrams and Michael Benson are shepherding the project - which will center on Kiedis' relationship with his father, Spider, who sold drugs and mingled with rock stars on the Sunset Strip, all while aspiring to get into showbiz - via their Catapult 360 banner. The title takes the name from Kiedis's autobiography, which inspired Benson to contact Kiedis about taking it to the small screen. It's understood the hourlong project will open in the early 1970s with Kiedis moving from Grand Rapids, Michigan, to West Hollywood to live with his dad with Kiedis himself potential narrating the show. Abrams and Benson are currently scouting for a writer to pen the script. The pair, along with Kiedis, then will executive produce alongside Untitled Entertainment's Jason Weinberg.


Sources: Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, Reuters





  [november 2008]  
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F
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· DEVELOPMENT UPDATE (TFC)
· EUREKA (SYFY)
· GAME OF THRONES (HBO)
· LIVING WITH ABANDON (FOX)
· NURSE JACKIE (SHOWTIME)
· REBA (CW)
· REVIEW, THE (HBO)
· SCAR TISSUE (FX)





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