[10/19/09 - 06:19 PM] Development Update: Monday, October 19 By The Futon Critic Staff (TFC)
LOS ANGELES (thefutoncritic.com) -- The latest development news, culled from recent wire reports:
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REHAB (FOX, New!) - Sam Laybourne ("Cougar Town") has booked a script order from the network for a new single-camera comedy about "a man who fakes going to rehab to reconnect with a former high school sweetheart, now a rock star and in rehab for her excesses." Will Gluck ("The Loop") is shepherding the half-hour, which was written on spec, and may potentially direct should it move forward. The project is set up at Peter Chernin's 20th Century Fox Television-based banner with Chernin and Gluck executive producing alongside Laybourne and Katherine Pope.
UPPITV PROJECTS (CBS, New!) - Samuel L. Jackson has set up a pair of projects at the Eye including a medical drama from Andrea Newman ("Private Practice") and a multi-camera comedy from Bob Kushell ("Samantha Who?"). Both efforts are set up at CBS Television Studios, where Jackson's UppiTV banner has a first-look deal that was recently extended for another year. The latter project revolves around "the wife of a U.S. Congressman who inherits her husband's seat when he dies unexpectedly in the middle of his term." Newman's drama then revolves around "an emergency-room doctor who uses unconventional methods to treat his patients." Jackson will executive produce each project alongside their respective creators with the company's Amanda Tracey serving as a co-executive producer.
UNTITLED CESAR MILLAN PROJECT (FOX, New!) - The life of "Dog Whisperer" star Cesar Millan is set to be the focus of a potential new comedy at the network. Wilmer Valderrama ("That '70s Show") has been tapped to star in the single-camera half-hour, which will revolve around a "character based on Millan, who has built a lucrative empire based on his skills as a professional dog trainer." Emily Kapnek ("Hung") has been tapped to pen the 20th Century Fox Television-based project, which has a script commitment plus a penalty should it not go to pilot. Kapnek and Valderrama previously worked together on the FOX pilot "The Emancipation of Ernesto" which didn't move forward. Kapnek then will executive produce alongside Josephson Entertainment's Barry Josephson ("Bones") with Millan and Valderrama likely receiving producing credits.
