[03/18/09 - 06:45 PM] Development Update: Wednesday, March 18 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!
90210 (The CW) - Lily Collins, daughter of musician Phil Collins, is set to appear on the final two episodes of the show's season. She'll play Phoebe, "a West Beverly student and rival of Annie (Shenae Grimes)." Said installments air May 12 and May 19.
ACCIDENTALLY ON PURPOSE (CBS) - Jon Foster ("life as we know it") is set to star opposite Jenna Elfman in the comedy pilot, about a movie critic (Elfman) who gets pregnant after a fling with a younger man (Foster). Claudia Lonow is behind the CBS Paramount Network Television-based half-hour, which Pamela Fryman is directing.
BACK (CBS) - Sherry Stringfield ("ER") and DB Woodside ("24") have joined the cast of the drama pilot, about Richard Miles (Skeet Ulrich), a man who disappeared in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks only to suddenly show up, eight years later. She'll play Cheryl Miles-Burke, his wife who's since remarried to Tom Barnes, a firefighter, while taking care of their two troubled kids. Woodside then is set as Kevin Stern, a psychiatrist. Dean Widenmann penned the script to the CBS Paramount Network Television-based project, which Mark Pellington is attached to direct.
EMPIRE STATE (ABC) - Gail O'Grady and Ana de la Reguera have both landed roles on the drama pilot, about a blue-collar man (Mike Vogel) who falls in love with the daughter (Beau Garrett) of a wealthy businessman who is his father's nemesis. O'Grady will play the man's aunt, owner of a popular local bar, while de la Reguera's role wasn't specified.
GOOD GIRLS (CBS) - The Eye has pushed production on the comedy pilot, citing difficulties casting the leads. Ellen Kreamer and Sherry Bilsing-Graham are behind the half-hour, which was set up at CBS Paramount Network Television and Katalyst Films. The news marks the seventh pilot pushed or scrapped during the current development cycle, the others being ABC's "Funny in Farsi" and "Planet Lucy," CBS's "Tick Tock" and "Confessions of a Contractor"; FOX's "Walorsky"; and NBC's "Lost in the 80s."
MAGGIE HILL (FOX) - Alfre Woodard ("My Own Worst Enemy") has booked a role on the drama pilot, about a brilliant surgeon (Christina Cole) with schizophrenia. She'll play "the tough and whip-smart chief of cardiothoracic surgery who is Maggie's mentor." Stephen Hopkins is helming the hour from a script by Ian Biederman for 20th Century Fox Television.
MIAMI TRAUMA (CBS) - Elisabeth Harnois has been tapped for a role on the drama pilot, about a team of trauma surgeons. She'll play a talented first-year trauma resident. Jeffrey Lieber is behind the project, which comes from Jerry Bruckheimer Television and Warner Bros. Television.
NO HEROICS (ABC) - Freddie Prinze Jr. and Arielle Kebbel have joined the cast of the comedy pilot, about four B-list superheroes living among us. They'll join the previously cast Paul Campbell and Eliza Coupe. Kebbel will play Sandy (a.k.a. Slamazon), the sweetheart of the group who possesses superstrength with Prinze Jr. as Bradley (a.k.a. Ultimatum), a handsome, cocky and egotistical A-list superhero, who Pete (Campbell) despises but secretly wishes he could be. Drew Pearce and Jeff Greenstein penned the script to the half-hour, which comes from ABC Studios.
PRYORS (ABC) - Melinda McGraw ("Mad Men") is set to star opposite Kelsey Grammer in the comedy pilot, about a Wall Street tycoon forced to reconnect with his family after losing his job. She'll play his wife in the half-hour, which comes from creator Tucker Cawley and Warner Bros. Television.
A SHOT AT LOVE (MTV) - Sally Ann Salsano's 495 Productions has inked a non-exclusive deal to produce three new series for the cable channel. Specifics on said projects however were not released. The company is currently casting for a fourth season of "Love" however it's not clear if production has been greenlit.
THE SING OFF (NBC, New!) - The Peacock has ordered a new reality series from Outlaw Productions and Sony Pictures Television in which a cappella groups compete against each other for recording contract with Sony's music division. Joel Gallen ("America's Best Dance Crew") is shepherding the project, which is expected to run for eight weeks either later this summer or early this fall. No other specifics - including host or exact format - were given.
THREE RIVERS (CBS) - Katherine Moennig and Daniel Henney have each booked roles on the drama pilot, about the doctors, the donors and the recipients involved in organ transplants. Moennig will play "a self-destructive lung/heart transplant fellow" with Henney as "a wealthy kidney/liver/pancreas transplant specialist." Carol Barbee is behind the project, which is based at CBS Paramount Network Television.
THREESOME (ABC) - Kyle Bornheimer ("Worst Week") and Kelly Stables ("Two and a Half Men") have joined the cast of the comedy pilot, about a guy in his 30s (Eric Christian Olsen) torn between his needy best friend and his new girlfriend (Alyssa Milano). He'll play Perry, said best friend - a financier and hopeless romantic, while she's set as Lisa, the best friend of Milano's character Rebecca. Bornheimer's casting, while not specified, is believed to be in second position to "Week." Ricky Blitt is behind the half-hour, which is set up at Warner Bros. Television.
THE UNKNOWN (ABC) - Reiko Aylesworth, who's currently recurring on "Lost," has joined the cast of the drama pilot, about a team of dedicated amateur detectives working on cases of unidentified victims. She'll play one of them in the hour, which comes from Warner Bros. Television, Jerry Bruckheimer Television and creator Mark Friedman. Danny Cannon is directing.
