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[10/21/10 - 07:17 PM]
Development Update: Thursday, October 21
By The Futon Critic Staff (TFC)

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!


BONES (FOX) - Walter Sherman, the lead character of Richard Greener's "The Locator Series," is set to be the featured in an upcoming episode of the veteran drama. Said installment will serve as a backdoor pilot for a potential series about the character, "an eccentric, obstreperous and amusing reclusive man in his late 20s-30s with highly sought after abilities to find anything." As for specifics, the yet-to-be-cast Sherman is a former military policeman who "was injured overseas and suffered brain damage which lead to his honorable discharge, as well as his ever present state of paranoia." He "knows Agent Booth (David Boreanaz) from their time serving in Iraq together, and the two dislike each other very much [whereas] Dr. Brennan (Emily Deschanel) finds him very intriguing." Bones creator Hart Hanson will pen the hour and supervise the series for 20th Century Fox Television should it move forward.


JERSEY SHORE (MTV) - Executive producer SallyAnn Salsano has indicated the show's third season, featuring the cast's return to Seaside, New Jersey, will kick off Thursday, January 6 on the cable channel. In addition, cameras rolled for 55 days for the upcoming cycle, up from the first season's 40. It's not clear how many episodes that will translate to.


JUSTIFIED (FX) - Jeremy Davies ("Lost") is set to recur on the show's upcoming second season, due in February. He'll play Dickie Bennett, "the smartest of three brothers and a high school rival of Givens [who] still walks with a limp due to an altercation with Raylan on the baseball field when they were both 17." Said breakdown adds that "Dickie's family traffics in weed, for which Bennett spent time in prison."


NURSE JACKIE (Showtime) - Gbenga Akinnagbe ("The Wire") has snagged a role on the show's third season. He'll play the new temp nurse at All Saints, who's "handsome, qualified, and much-liked by his peers." Said arc is billed as for at least seven episodes.


PERCEPTION (TNT) - Eric McCormack ("Trust Me") is in negotiations to star in the drama pilot, about "an eccentric neuroscientist who uses his unique outlook to help the federal government solve complex cases." He'd play Dr. Geoffrey Pierce, the man in question, in the project, which comes from co-creators Kenneth Biller and Mike Sussman. ABC Studios is producing.


PLAN THIS (ABC, New!) - Feature writer Heather Hach ("Freaky Friday") is developing a new single-camera comedy at the Alphabet loosely based on the life of Beverly Hills-based party planner to the stars Mindy Weiss. Said half-hour, from ABC Studios, will be executive produced by Anonymous Content's Alex Goldstone and Elana Barry with Hach serving as a co-executive producer. Among Weiss's clients: Ellen Degeneres & Portia Rossi; Ashlee Simpson & Pete Wentz; Eva Longoria & Tony Parker; Heidi Klum & Seal; Gwen Stefani & Gavin Rossdale; Jackie & Adam Sandler; and Kate Beckinsale & Len Weisman.


TOO BIG TO FAIL (HBO) - Bill Pullman and Matthew Modine are the latest additions to the docudrama's sprawling cast. They'll play Jamie Dimon, chairman and CEO of JP Morgan Chase, and John Thain, former chairman and CEO of Merrill Lynch, respectively in the project, which also stars William Hurt, James Woods, Paul Giamatti and Cynthia Nixon. Curtis Hanson is directing the telefilm which is based on Andrew Ross Sorkin's book of the same name.


UNTITLED MICHELLE TRACHTENBERG PROJECT (The CW, New!) - Michelle Trachtenberg ("Gossip Girl") is developing a starring vehicle at the network about "a young criminology student with a gift for profiling and a dark past." Stuart Zicherman ("Six Degrees") is on board to pen the hour, which is set up at Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage's Fake Empire banner. Warner Bros. Television and CBS TV Studios are co-producing with Len Goldstein, Zicherman, Schwartz and Savage serving as executive producers. Trachtenberg, who's also set to guest star on NBC's upcoming anthology "Love Bites," then would also receive a producing credit.


UNTITLED PATTON OSWALT PROJECT (FOX, New!) - Actor/comedian Patton Oswalt is set to topline a potential new comedy for the network. The single-camera entry would feature Oswalt would as "a man whose wife of twenty years splits, forcing him to reenter the dating world and fend for himself." Scott Aukerman ("Mr. Show") is co-writing the half-hour, which is set up at 20th Century Fox Television. American Work's Scot Armstrong and Ravi Nandan are also attached as executive producers.






  [october 2010]  
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· BONES (FOX)
· DEVELOPMENT UPDATE (TFC)
· FINDER, THE (FOX)
· GOSSIP GIRL (CW)
· JERSEY SHORE (MTV)
· JUSTIFIED (FX)
· LOST (ABC)
· LOVE BITES (NBC)
· NURSE JACKIE (SHOWTIME)
· PERCEPTION (TNT)
· PLAN THIS (ABC)
· SINGLE AT 40 (FOX)
· SIX DEGREES (ABC)
· TOO BIG TO FAIL (HBO)
· TRUST ME (TNT)
· UNTITLED MICHELLE TRACHTENBERG PROJECT (CW)
· WIRE, THE (HBO)





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