|
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!
AMERICAN IDOL (FOX) - Nigel Lythgoe is reportedly finalizing a deal to return as an executive producer on the show's upcoming 10th season. There he'll rejoin Ken Warwick, Simon Fuller and Cecile Frot-Coutaz. Lythgoe departed the series in 2008 to focus on "So You Think You Can Dance," where he also serves as a judge. His return comes as the franchise prepares for its first year without judge Simon Cowell.
AWKWARD SITUATIONS FOR MEN (ABC) - Jeff and Jackie Filgo have dropped out of the comedy pilot, about a British comedian (Danny Wallace) who moves to San Francisco to be with his new wife (Laura Prepon). The pair co-wrote the half-hour alongside Wallace and were expected to spearhead a second pilot at the network. Warner Bros. Television is behind the half-hour, which presumably will search for a new showrunner.
EUREKA/SANCTUARY (Syfy) - Felicia Day ("Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog") is set to recur on the back half of "Eureka's" current season. The news was announced at the show's panel at the San Diego Comic-Con on Saturday. Also revealed at the event: Polly Walker ("Caprica") is set to appear in two episodes of "Sanctuary's" upcoming third season. She'll play Ranna, "a powerful foe who faces Helen Magnus (Amanda Tapping) after the team encounters her in the show's mid-season cliffhanger."
LAW & ORDER: LOS ANGELES (NBC) - Alfred Molina is the second addition to the upcoming Los Angeles-based incarnation of the series. He'll play ADA Peter Morales in the project, which also stars Skeet Ulrich. He's detailed as "an offspring of a political family, Morales - who is also in his 40s - is a 'battlefield general' in the courtroom yet 'coarsely sardonic and self-deprecating' in real-life."
A LEGAL MIND (USA) - Gabriel Macht has joined the cast of the drama pilot, about Mike Ross (Patrick J. Adams), "a brilliant but unmotivated college student who gets recruited by a Harvey Specter, a lawyer at top Manhattan corporate law firm despite not having a law degree." He'll play the lawyer in question in the project, which comes from creator Aaron Korsh, Dutch Oven Productions and Universal Cable Productions.
THE MIRACULOUS YEAR (HBO) - Susan Sarandon has booked a role on the drama pilot, about the Segals, a high-powered New York family, as seen through the eyes of one of them: Terry (Norbert Leo Butz), a wildly self-destructive and manipulative Broadway composer. Frank Langella co-stars as Terry's father Alex, "a brilliant and powerful painter, feeling the inevitable of effects of aging"; and Hope Davis as Terry's sister Mandy Vance, "an attorney trying to distance herself from the wounding influence of art as she tries to hold her family together."
Eddie Redmayne also stars as Connor Lynn, a performer in Terry's show, with Linus Roache as Mandy's husband, Scott; Patti LuPone as Veronica Ellis, a Broadway star, and Stark Sands as her son, Duke; Elaine Cassidy as Terry's assistant, Robin; and Remy Nozik and Logan Georges as Mandy and Scott's kids, Lara and Cameron, respectively. Sarandon then will spearhead the guest cast as Patty Atwood, the director/choreographer of Terry's new show. Other guest stars include Lee Pace as Terry's partner, Frank Moss; Louis Ozawa Changchien as Tamil Lee, an art curator; Giancarlo Esposito as Mandy's boss, Harold Burton; Karine Plantadit, Andre Ward and Erik Altemus as dancers in Terry's show; Brooks Ashmanskas as Terry's librettist; and Daniel Davis as Terry's mentor, Frederick Hunter. Lydia Dean Pilcher, John Logan and director Kathryn Bigelow are the executive producers.
UNTITLED LEAH REMINI PROJECT (CBS, New!) - Leah Remini has signed a development and talent holding deal with CBS and CBS Studios. The pact calls for the network and studio to develop a new half-hour comedy around the actress. Said news comes the heels of Remini co-hosting the Eye's new daytime talk show. Remini has toplined two pilots in the past two development cycles - "Married Not Dead" and "It Takes a Village," both for ABC - neither of which made it to series.
Sources: Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, Reuters
|
