or


[01/26/09 - 06:14 PM]
Development Update: Monday, January 26
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!


DR. OZ (Syndication) - "Today" alum Amy Chiaro has been tapped as a co-executive producer on the upcoming talk show, which features Dr. Mehmet Oz, the resident medical expert on "The Oprah Winfrey Show." Chiaro's hiring likely indicates the series will feature morning show-style informational and feature segments. Harpo Productions and Sony Pictures Television are behind the Rockefeller Center-based hour, which rolls out this September. Mindy Moore-Borman is the executive producer.


LEGEND OF THE SEEKER (Syndication) - Disney-ABC Domestic Television has cleared a second season of the drama on the Tribune Broadcasting stations. The series has averaged a solid 2.0 household rating to date after opening to an impressive 2.9 household rating in November. The show's most recent installment during the week of January 11 drew a 1.6 household rating. The aforementioned Tribune stations cover 35% of the country, including seven of the nation's top 10 markets. "Seeker" typically airs on Saturday nights when there is no CW-supplied programming.


LOST IN THE '80S (NBC) - Feature helmer P.J. Hogan ("Confessions of a Shopaholic") has been tapped to direct the drama pilot, a 1980s set drama dubbed "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" meets "The Ice Storm." Hogan's hiring lifts said contingency off the pilot's production. Bob Brush is behind the Sony Pictures Television-based hour and is executive producing alongside Tantamount's Eric Tannenbaum, Kim Tannenbaum and Mitch Hurwitz.


MISSING YOU (CBS, New!) - The Eye has committed to a pilot presentation for a new reality series in which a team of investigators takes on a different missing-persons case each week. Shaun Cassidy ("Invasion") and Ned Nalle ("The Girls Next Door") created the project, which is being packaged as a "real life" version of the network's crime dramas. Cassidy and Nalle then are executive producing alongside James Bruce and Raquel Productions. Mark Burnett took a similar stab for the network in 2004 with "Recovery," in which former CIA operative Bazzel Baz worked with a team of military and law enforcement veterans to find stolen children and reunite them with their parents.


NITE TALES (BET) - The newly formed TriStar Media is looking to turn Flavor Flav and Deon Taylor's BET movie "Nite Tales" into a weekly anthology series. Described as "Tales From the Crypt" meets "The Twilight Zone," the half-hour series would feature Flav as a Cryptkeeper-esque host to each terrifying tale. The film, produced by BET, Paramount and Deon Taylor Enterprises, aired on Halloween on the cable channel and is set to be released on DVD next month. TriStar and DTE reportedly hope to find a cable partner for the show's initial run with Trifecta Entertainment & Media handling its syndication window. It's also understood to have a web presence, including an online contest in which fans can name Flav's character. Taylor and Flav then are set to executive produce "Tales" alongside DTE's Roxanne Avent and Mitch Richmond. "Tales" will also continue as a film franchise, with a new installment released each Halloween. The latest, "Terminated," written by Thomas H. Fenton and Diana Erwin, is due later this year.


TOM AND SAM ARE STUCK (Starz, New!) - Tom Saunders and Sam Laybourne's web series is being developed as a single-camera comedy by the pay channel. The project stars the pair as time travelers who get stuck in present when their time machine goes missing and must try to adapt to their new life while looking for a way back to their own time. Avalon Television is behind the half-hour, which Saunders and Laybourne will write and executive produce alongside David Martin, Jon Thoday and Richard Allen-Turner with Dan Lubetkin co-executive producing.


V (ABC) - The Alphabet is moving forward with its revival of the famed 1980s mini-series by Scott Peters. The network has ordered a pilot for the Warner Bros. Television-based project, which Peters wrote and will executive produce alongside HDFilms principal Jason Hall. The updated take will focus on Erica Evans, a Homeland Security agent with an aimless son who gloms onto the Visitors.


Sources: Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, Reuters





  [january 2009]  
S
M
T
W
T
F
S
    


· DEVELOPMENT UPDATE (TFC)
· DR. OZ (SYNDICATION)
· GIRLS NEXT DOOR, THE (E)
· INVASION (ABC)
· LEGEND OF THE SEEKER (SYNDICATION)
· LOST IN THE '80S (NBC)
· MISSING YOU (CBS)
· NITE TALES (SYNDICATION)
· OPRAH WINFREY SHOW, THE (SYNDICATION)
· RECOVERY (CBS)
· TOM & SAM ARE STUCK (STARZ)
· TWILIGHT ZONE, THE (UPN)
· V (ABC)





[10/03/25 - 02:17 PM]
ESPN's Record-Setting '25 MLB Wild Card Series
Across eight games, the MLB Wild Card Series is averaging 4.4 million viewers, up 65% from last year.

[10/03/25 - 12:37 PM]
BET+ Sets October 23 Premiere for "Carl Weber's The Family Business" Season 6
The 10-episode season will premiere with two episodes, followed by one episode weekly, with the finale on Thursday, December 18.

[10/03/25 - 12:07 PM]
"Dancing with the Stars" Continues to Shatter Records - Growing Two Weeks in a Row Since Season Premiere for First Time Since 2005
Plus: "High Potential" hit a season high in Total Viewers (4.24 million), growing by double digits over the show's comparable third episode from last fall.

[10/03/25 - 10:57 AM]
Legends, Champions and Icons of October Highlight FOX Sports' Postseason Broadcaster Lineup
FOX Sports begins its Postseason coverage Saturday, October 4 at 4:00 PM ET on FOX, FOX Deportes, the FOX Sports App and FOX One as the New York Yankees face the Toronto Blue Jays.

[10/03/25 - 10:05 AM]
All-New Season of "Gold Rush" Returns with High-Stake Risks and Land Fury on Friday, November 7 at 8PM ET/PT on Discovery
With only a few short months to mine, top bosses and rising underdogs collide in a race to claim new ground, move more dirt, and strike it rich.

[10/03/25 - 09:12 AM]
FOX Nation Secures Exclusive U.S. Rights to Docuseries "Elizabeth Taylor: Rebel Superstar"
The acclaimed series will make its anticipated U.S. debut on FOX Nation on Monday, October 6.

[10/03/25 - 08:02 AM]
TNT Sports to Be Exclusive Home of 2025 NLDS & NLCS
Both best-of-five NLDS series begin Saturday, October 4.

[10/03/25 - 08:01 AM]
TNT Sports Sets BIG EAST Men's College Basketball Schedule for Inaugural 2025-26 Season
TNT Sports' regular season BIG EAST men's basketball schedule will feature 40 appearances by St. John's, UConn, Creighton, Xavier, and Marquette, programs that each clinched berths in last season's NCAA Men's Tournament.

[10/03/25 - 07:01 AM]
Video: "27 Nights" - Official Trailer - Netflix
When a woman is admitted by her daughters to a psychiatric clinic for her carefree ways, an expert must judge if she is ill or simply wants to enjoy life.

[10/03/25 - 04:01 AM]
Video: "Steve" - Official Trailer #2 - Netflix
Over one intense day, the devoted head teacher of a last-chance reform school strives to keep his students in line while facing pressures of his own.

[10/03/25 - 03:02 AM]
Miguel Herran Will Play Poli Diaz in "El Porto the Vallecas," the New Film by Daniel Calparsoro for Netflix
Inspired by true events, the film follows the life of Policarpo "Poli" Díaz (Miguel Herrán), a young man from Vallecas who, despite a childhood marked by poverty and family violence, became a boxing legend in 1980s Spain, even fighting for the world lightweight title.

[10/03/25 - 03:01 AM]
Netflix Honors Jane Goodall with Posthumous Release of "Famous Last Words" Docuseries Following Her Passing
The series showcases reflective interviews with some of the world's most influential cultural figures, who agreed to sit down and discuss their legacy, and give their final words, with the understanding that it would only be shared with the world after they passed.

[10/02/25 - 04:09 PM]
ESPN Delivers the Most-Watched WNBA Semifinals Ever
Game 5 between the Indiana Fever and the Las Vegas Aces averaged 1.8 million viewers, peaking at 2.1 million.

[10/02/25 - 03:01 PM]
Video: "Twisted Wonderland" - Trailer - Disney+
Your favorite villains reimagined in ways you've never dared to dream.

[10/02/25 - 02:51 PM]
ESPN's Record-Setting Day One of MLB Wild Card Series
Coverage of Red Sox versus Yankees averaged 6.5 million viewers, peaking at 9.9 million.