[05/15/10 - 01:20 PM] Development Update: Saturday, May 15 By The Futon Critic Staff (TFC)
LOS ANGELES (thefutoncritic.com) -- The latest development news, culled from recent wire reports:
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AWKWARD SITUATIONS FOR MEN/WRIGHT VS. WRONG (ABC) - Both comedy pilots are reportedly being reshot with an eye towards potential midseason commitments. Debra Messing toplined the latter project, about a conservative pundit and her staff. Stephanie Weir created the Sony Pictures Television/Tantamount-based half-hour, which was supervised by Betsy Thomas. A new showrunner however will be brought in. British comedian Danny Wallace then starred in the former, about his transition from the U.K. to the U.S. with his American wife (Laura Prepon). Wallace himself co-wrote the Warner Bros. Television/Heyday Films-based project alongside Jackie and Jeff Filgo.
THE BIG BANG THEORY (CBS) - TBS has emerged as the winner of the show's off-network rights in a deal valued north of $1 million per episode. In addition, Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution has cleared the series on 10 Fox owned-and-operated stations, including the top markets of New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. Both runs will begin in the fall of 2011 with TBS exclusively getting the primetime hours. Said sale tops the $800,000 per episode purchase of "Two and a Half Men" by FX back in 2006, a deal which finally kicks in this fall.
FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS (NBC) - Fran Kranz and Ian Reed Kesler have been dropped from the Peacock's recently ordered comedy. Kranz himself tweeted the news: "nbc picked up friends with benefits but not me. i was fired. too big. i kept saying i was huge but people told me it was great. guess not." Kesler's departure was reported by Deadline.com. No other details were given. Danneel Harris, Jessica Lucas and Ryan Hansen rounded out the ensemble. 20th Century Fox Television and Imagine Television are behind the half-hour, which was created by Michael Weber and Scott Neustadter.
HARRY'S LAW (NBC) - Ben Chaplin reportedly is being replaced on David E. Kelley's new series, about Harriet (Kathy Bates), "a curmudgeonly ex-patent lawyer who, having just been fired from her cushy job, is completely disillusioned with her success and looking for a fresh start." No reason was listed for the decision. Chaplin played Matthew, a high school teacher defended by Harriet who ultimately goes to work for her. Brittany Snow, Aml Ameen and Beatrice Rosen also star in the project, which is set up at Warner Bros. Television.
NEXT (NBC) - The Paul Reiser comedy is set to become the 12th scripted series ordered by the Peacock for the 2010-11 season. It's understood six half-hours have been ordered, all of which were already written by Reiser on spec at the time of the pilot's greenlight. Amy Landecker, Andrew Daly, Ben Shenkman, Brock Waidmann, Duane Martin, Koby Rouviere and Omid Djalili also star in the Warner Bros. Television-based project, which stars Reiser as himself, a former television star and family man dealing with life's day-to-day conundrums.
[06/19/13 - 01:39 PM] TNT Bumps Newcomer "72 Hours" to Friday Nights The reality competition series, which had been airing on Thursdays at 9:00/8:00c, will relocate to Fridays effective immediately.
[06/19/13 - 12:17 PM] ESPN to Present World Series of Poker Main Event To kick off ESPN's WSOP coverage, the inaugural World Series of Poker Asia-Pacific Main Event Final Table will air on Tuesday, July 23.
