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[07/02/09 - 06:24 PM]
Development Update: Thursday, July 2
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!


2009-10 SEASON BROADCAST PILOTS (Various) - Cast options have been extended on four pilots: "Romantically Challenged," "This Little Piggy" and "Solving Charlie" at ABC and "House Rules" at CBS. All four, along with the rest of the broadcast slate, had been set to expire on June 30. Said pickups however are limited to only certain actors: Alyssa Milano, Kyle Bornheimer and Kelly Stables on the Warner Bros. Television-based "Challenged"; Andrea Parker and Rebecca Creskoff on ABC Studios's "Piggy"; Jimmy Wolk, Dakota Goyo, Brad William Henke and Dania Ramirez on fellow ABC Studios-based "Charlie"; and Zoe McLellan, Eion Bailey, Kristin Bauer, Tawny Cypress, Anna Chlumsky and Denzel Whitaker, among others, on "Rules," which likewise is set up at ABC Studios.


COVERT AFFAIRS (USA) - Piper Perabo is the first to be cast in the drama pilot, about Annie Walker (Perabo), "a CIA trainee who speaks six languages and excels at any endeavor she undertakes. Walker joins the CIA while still reeling over a mysterious ex-boyfriend who appears to be of particular interest to her new bosses." Producers however are still casting for Auggie Anderson, "a blind tech expert who assists Walker in her assignments," before production can be greenlit. Matt Corman and Chris Ord are behind the hour, which is set up at Universal Cable Productions and Dave Bartis and Doug Liman's Dutch Oven banner.


THE FAST AND THE FUNNIEST (ABC, New!) - Page Hurwitz and Javier Winnik ("Last Comic Standing") are developing a new competition series in which "a group of stand-ups travel cross-country competing in challenges and performances." The first three comics then "to make it to the final city will compete in a comedy faceoff for a cash prize." The Alphabet has given a cast-contingent series order to the project, which the pair are executive producing for Keep Calm Productions.


GOSSIP GIRL (The CW) - Hilary Duff is set to guest star on the much-ballyhooed soap this season. She'll play Olivia Burke, "a movie star looking for a typical college experience [who] enrolls at New York University and becomes roommates" with Jessica Szohr's character and subsequently becomes involved with Penn Badgley's character. Her first episode is set to air on October 5.


Sources: Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, Reuters





  [july 2009]  
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· COVERT AFFAIRS (USA)
· DEVELOPMENT UPDATE (TFC)
· FAST & THE FUNNIEST, THE (ABC)
· GOSSIP GIRL (CW)
· HOUSE RULES (CBS)
· LAST COMIC STANDING (NBC)
· ROMANTICALLY CHALLENGED (ABC)
· SOLVING CHARLIE (ABC)
· THIS LITTLE PIGGY (ABC)





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