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[10/04/10 - 06:49 PM]
Development Update: Monday, October 4
By The Futon Critic Staff (TFC) |
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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!
BATTLEGROUND (FOX, New!) - Feature director Marc Webb, who helmed the pilot to the short-lived "Lone Star," is developing a new single-camera comedy at the network set in the world of political campaigning. Actor J.D. Walsh is writing and co-executive producing the half-hour with Webb supervising and serving as an executive producer. 20th Century Fox Television is the studio attached.
DANNI LOWINSKI (The CW, New!) - The netlet is reportedly close to ordering a pilot for a domestic take on the German soap of the same name. Jennie Snyder Urman ("90210") is spearheading - while Richard Shepard ("Ugly Betty") is in talks to direct - the effort, about "a scrappy hairdresser who has worked her way through law school and finally graduates only to be brushed off by law firms that aren't interested in her type [so] she sets up her own practice in a shopping mall kiosk," which comes from CBS Television Studios. It's understood production will be fast-tracked for a potential midseason series order as the CW doesn't have any new scripted commitments beyond the fall.
HUGE (ABC Family) - A spokesperson for the cable channel has confirmed the series, which wrapped its run in August, won't be returning for a second season. The show's season finale drew just 1.451 million viewers (0.6/2 in adults 18-49), less than half of lead-in "Secret Life of the American Teenager" (2.910 million viewers, 1.3/4 in adults 18-49) and well short of its own premiere on June 28 (2.533 million viewers, 0.9/3 in adults 18-49).
KOURTNEY & KIM TAKE NEW YORK (E!, New!) - Kim and Kourtney Kardashian are set to topline a new spin-off of the "Kardashians" franchise, the former posted to her blog. "It's official! Kourtney and I have moved to NYC to film our brand new show for E! Kourtney & Kim Take New York!!!!" she writes. "I could not be more excited to spend the next couple of months in one of my favorite cities! When we decided to open a new DASH store in the city, Kourt and I felt that someone needed to be here to help out with the store and make sure everything was running smoothly. After talking with my family, I decided that I would join Kourtney, Scott and Mason in NYC."
SO CAL (FOX, New!) - Josh Faure-Brac (Current TV's "SuperNews!") has set up at a new animated comedy at the network about "a family that looks to escape the technology-driven world by finding a more laid-back existence in Southern California." The project, from Sony Pictures Television, has a pilot presentation commitment. Jack Giarraputo and Doug Robinson are executive producing for their studio-based Happy Madison banner.
SPLITTING ADAMS (FOX, New!) - Screenwriter David Hubbard ("Noel") has booked a script at the network about "a young prosecutor who finds herself caught between two realities: one in which she is an incredible trial lawyer, and another in which she is the one on trial." 20th Century Fox Television and Imagine Television are behind the hour, which Brian Grazer and Francie Calfo will executive produce alongside Hubbard. No other details were given.
STILL NOT MARRIED (NBC, New!) - Ricky Blitt ("Romantically Challenged") has snagged a script order for an ensemble comedy "told from a male point of view about being single and 40." Sony Pictures Television is behind the half-hour, which has a penalty attached. Additional specifics weren't given.
SUNFLOWER PONDS (FOX, New!) - Reed Agnew ("Drawn Together") and Eli Jorne are developing a new animated comedy about "two bizarre brothers who disturb a peaceful suburban neighborhood when they move in." Donick Cary ("Lil' Bush: Resident of the United States") is executive producing the project, which has a pilot presentation commitment, alongside Jamie Tarses and her studio-based Fanfare banner. Sony Pictures Television and 20th Century Fox Television are co-producing.
SWELL (FOX, New!) - Kevin Cecil and Andy Riley ("Slacker Cats") have snagged a pilot presentation order from the network for a new animated comedy about "a family from the 1950s that is somehow transported to the modern day." The pair are writing and executive producing the Sony Pictures Television-based project alongside Anthony and Joe Russo.
THIS PLACE IS AWFUL (ABC) - Former NBC topper Ben Silverman and "Modern Family" co-star Sofia Vergara are developing a small screen take on the popular Spanish series "Aqui no hay quien viva," about "the lives of an old school father and his corner-cutting son who must somehow work together to manage the outrageously eccentric tenants of the building that has been in their family for generations." Craig Doyle is penning the single-camera adaptation and will executive produce alongside Vergara and Silverman for the latter's IAC-based company Electus.
UNTITLED BETSY THOMAS PROJECT (ABC, New!) - Betsy Thomas and Jamie Tarses ("My Boys") are set to reteam for a potential workplace comedy at the Alphabet about how "relationships play out in two different situations; when you are 22 and broke or 32 and successful." The untitled half-hour, to be penned by Thomas and has a penalty attached, is set up at Sony Pictures Television where Tarses's Fanfare banner is based. Thomas and Tarses then will executive produce.
UNTITLED DAMON WAYANS PROJECT (ABC, New!) - Damon Wayans and Don Reo ("My Wife and Kids") are once again returning to the Alphabet with a new mulit-camera comedy about "an actor who plays America's favorite dad in a sitcom -- but whose family is not nearly as functional in real life." The network has given a script commitment to the ABC Studios-based project, which would feature Wayans in the lead role. Reo and Wayans then will executive produce. The pair were also behind an untitled effort at ABC in 2007, about a recent widower who has to take in the 19-year-old stepson he never knew, that didn't move forward.
UNTITLED GREG POIRIER PROJECT (ABC, New!) - Grant Scharbo and Gina Matthews ("The Gates") are developing a female-centered spy show billed as "Taken" meets "The Bourne Identity." Greg Poirier ("National Treasure: Book of Secrets") and Steve Shill ("Dexter") are on board to write and direct the hour, which is being eyed for a summer run (a la "The Gates"). ABC Studios is producing alongside Scharbo and Matthews's Little Engine banner.
UNTITLED JEFF BUSHNELL PROJECT (NBC, New!) - Newcomer Jeff Bushnell is developing a new comedy at the Peacock set in pediatrician's office. The untitled half-hour, which he'll write and serve as a co-executive producer, comes from Sony Pictures Television and Happy Madison with the latter's Jack Giarraputo and Doug Robinson presumably executive producing. No other details were released. NBC has given a script commitment to the project with a penalty attached should it not move forward.
UNTITLED LARA FLYNN BOYLE PROJECT (E!, New!) - Actress Lara Flynn Boyle is set to topline a potential new reality series about her life as "she splits her time between her life in Texas and her marriage to real estate investor Donald Ray Thomas II and her Hollywood-centric lifestyle in Bel Air." The cable channel has greenlit production on a pilot presentation while the search is underway for a showrunner. No other details were given.
UNTITLED MICHAEL SARDO PROJECT (Lifetime, New!) - Michael Sardo ("Facing Kate") has snagged a pilot order from the cable channel for a new drama about "a woman who moves to Philadelphia to work as chief of staff in the psychiatry department - at a university hospital - alongside her sister and a diverse staff." Universal Cable Productions is behind the hour, which writer Sardo will executive produce alongside Gerard Bocaccio. The news marks Lifetime's fifth pilot commitment in recent months.
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