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LOS ANGELES (thefutoncritic.com) -- The latest development news, culled from recent wire reports:
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THE BORGIAS (Showtime) - David Oakes, Holliday Grainger and Joanne Whalley have all booked key roles in the upcoming drama, about the notorious 15th century Italian family of the same name. Whalley will play Vanossa, the mother of Rodrigo's (Jeremy Irons) children - Cesare (Francois Arnaud), Juan (Oakes) and Lucrezia (Grainger) - and a former courtesan with a disreputable past. Francois Arnaud, Colm Feore and Derek Jacobi also star in the project, which comes from executive producers James Flynn, John Weber, Michael Hirst, Neil Jordan and Sheila Hockin.
CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM (HBO) - Ricky Gervais is set to guest star on the show's eighth season. He'll appear as himself in the eighth episode of the season, details of which weren't specified. The comedian's latest project, "Life's Too Short" for the BBC, is widely expected to land at the pay channel should it move forward. Said effort, which Gervais and longtime partner Stephen Merchant co-wrote, examines the life of a little person in showbiz, played by Warwick Davis.
NO ORDINARY FAMILY (ABC) - Stephen Collins ("7th Heaven") has been tapped as a series regular on the freshman drama, about a family that develops special abilities after surviving a plane crash in the Amazon. He'll continue as Dr. Dayton King, Stephanie's (Julie Benz) boss at Global Tech, a role which he guest starred as in the pilot. Collins's promotion comes as co-stars Christina Chang and Tate Donovan were downgraded from said status earlier this month.
THANKS FOR COMING (HBO, New!) - Mara Altman's non-fiction book, subtitled "A Young Woman's Quest For An Orgasm," is being developed by the pay channel as a comedy series. Mark Steven Johnson ("Grumpy Old Men") is on board to pen the half-hour with Howard Deutch ("Pretty In Pink") attached to direct. Said tome chronicles Altman's experiences as "a attractive, successful, single woman in New York who'd never had an orgasm and sets out on a journey to achieve it." No other details were given.
UNTITLED DAVID LITT PROJECT (CMT) - Edward Asner and Liza Snyder have joined the cast of the comedy pilot, about Joe (Tom Arnold), a man seeking the empty nest and his family who is unwilling to let him have it. He'll play his outspoken and newly divorced father while she's set as Marnie, Joe's smart and funny wife. David Litt is behind the half-hour, which now being pegged as a revival of his short-lived ABC comedy "Regular Joe." Daniel Stern, John Francis Daley and Judd Hirsch starred in said incarnation, which lasted just four episodes in 2003.
WHO'S BLUFFING WHO? (NBC, New!) - D.L. Hughley is set to host a potential new game show at the Peacock in which contestants try to bluff their way into winning a half-million dollars. Jeff Apploff ("Don't Forget the Lyrics!") is behind the ITV Studios-based project, which features seven contestants as they use their knowledge and deceptive talents to steal one another's money until one is left standing. No other format details were released.
Sources: Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, Reuters
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