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[02/04/09 - 06:48 PM]
Development Update: Wednesday, February 4
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!


AN AMERICAN FAMILY (ABC) - Sofia Vergara ("The Knights of Prosperity") has joined the cast of the comedy pilot, while Jason Winer ("This Might Hurt") has been tapped to direct. The project, from 20th Century Fox Television and co-creators Steven Levitan and Christopher Lloyd, revolves around three families. Vergara, who has a talent deal with ABC, will play a woman married to a much older man. Jesse Tyler Ferguson also stars in the half-hour.


BOARDWALK EMPIRE (HBO) - British actor Stephen Graham is the latest addition to the drama pilot, which chronicles the early 20th century origins of Atlantic City. He will play future notorious gangster Al Capone, then in his early 20s working as the muscle for a Chicago gangster, who befriends Michael Pitt's character, Jimmy Darmody. Martin Scorsese is helming the hour from a script by Terrence Winter. Steve Buscemi and Kelly Macdonald are also featured in the show's ensemble.


EMPIRE STATE (ABC) - Jeremy Podeswa ("The Tudors") has signed on to direct the drama pilot, a modern-day Romeo and Juliet-esque romance set against the conflict between two Manhattan families. He'll work from a script by Michael Seitzman, who's executive producing alongside Mark Gordon and Deborah Spera for ABC Studios.


I, CLAUDIA (ABC) - Feature helmer Dean Parisot ("Fun with Dick and Jane") is set to direct the drama pilot, about a young female prosecuting attorney and future U.S. presidential contender. John Scott Shepherd is behind the ABC Studios-based hour, which he's executive producing with Matthew Gross.


THE MIDDLE (ABC) - Eden Sher ("Weeds") has joined the cast of the comedy pilot, which tells the story of a middle-class Midwestern family with three kids through the eyes of the mother (Patricia Heaton). She'll play the middle child, an offbeat character whose only distinction is in being "average in every way," in the Warner Bros. Television-based project, which also stars Neil Flynn and Charlie McDermott. DeAnn Heline and Eileen Heisler are the creators.


TREME (HBO) - Steve Zahn is in negotiations while Kim Dickens is set to co-star in the pilot, a post-Katrina-themed drama that chronicles the rebuilding of New Orleans through the eyes of local musicians. Zahn would play Davis Rogan - "a whip-smart street dancer, local radio DJ, band member and proud New Orleans native with anger issues" - with Dickens as "a hardworking chef who opened her own restaurant and has an on-again/off-again relationship with Rogan." Clark Peters, Wendell Pierce and Khandi Alexander also star in the hour, which comes from executive producers David Simon, Eric Overmyer and Nina Noble.


V (ABC) - Yves Simoneau is set to reteam with "The 4400" creator Scott Peters on the project, a reimagining of NBC's 1980s mini-series about an alien invasion. He'll direct from Peters's script on the project, which is set up at Warner Bros. Television and Jace Hall's HDFilms.


Sources: Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, Reuters





  [february 2009]  
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· 4400, THE (USA)
· BOARDWALK EMPIRE (HBO)
· DEVELOPMENT UPDATE (TFC)
· EMPIRE STATE (ABC)
· KNIGHTS OF PROSPERITY, THE (ABC)
· MIDDLE, THE (ABC)
· MODERN FAMILY (ABC)
· SEE KATE RUN (ABC)
· THIS MIGHT HURT (ABC)
· TREME (HBO)
· TUDORS, THE (SHOWTIME)
· V (ABC)
· WEEDS (SHOWTIME)





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