[11/18/10 - 06:10 PM] Development Update: Thursday, November 18 By The Futon Critic Staff (TFC)
LOS ANGELES (thefutoncritic.com) -- The latest development news, culled from recent wire reports:
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BROTHERS & SISTERS (ABC) - Beau Bridges has landed a five-episode arc on the show's current season. He'll play a love interest for Sally Field's character however no specifics were given. Field and Bridges co-starred in the 1979 film "Norma Rae," which saw Field go home with an Oscar for Best Actress.
BOSS (Starz, New!) - Kelsey Grammer is set to topline a new drama series for the pay channel billed as a modern-day "Spartacus" about the powerful mayor of Chicago. Farhad Safinia ("Apocalypto") penned the project, which has a blind eight-episode commitment from the network. Gus Van Sant ("Milk") is on board to direct the pilot and executive produce alongside Stella Stolper, Grammer and Brian Sher, Grammer's new producing partner at Grammnet Productions. Lionsgate is the studio attached. Production is on track to begin this spring, potentially in Chicago itself.
THE CATCH (NBC, New!) - FremantleMedia North America is developing a new game show at the Peacock which "takes the game of catch and expands it to extremes -- doing for the backyard ball toss what ABC's 'Wipeout' did for obstacle courses." No other specifics were given about the project.
UNTITLED BRENDA HAMPTON PROJECT (ABC Family) - Katelyn Tarver, Valerie Tian, Ana Lucasey and Christian Serratos are the first to be cast in the drama pilot, "a groundbreaking and heartfelt look at the lives and families of four ethnically-diverse teenage girls at a private school in California." Also signing on are Brad Rowe and Larry Clarke in the project, which comes from creator Brenda Hampton. Details on their characters weren't released. Keith Truesdell directs.
SEVERAL CHILDREN (NBC, New!) - Comedian Dan Levy ("Long Distance Relationship") is developing a new comedy at the network about "a businesswomen who lives in a houseful of 'kids' - such as her much younger husband, their two children and occasionally her husband's friends." The project is set up at Jamie Tarses's Sony Pictures Television-based FanFare Productions. New Wave Entertainment is also co-producing. Julia Franz, Barry Katz, Brian Volk-Weiss and Michael Pelmont are the executive producers alongside Levy and Tarses.
UNTITLED ROB RIGGLE PROJECT (CBS, New!) - Rob Riggle is back in business at the Eye, inking his third consecutive talent holding deal with the network. As part of said pact, the actor is in talks to join an untitled comedy from Robert Smigel ("Late Night with Conan O'Brien") about "a gregarious guy (Riggle) who winds up as a real estate agent working for the nerd he made fun of in high school." Riggle toplined "Team Spitz" for the network during the last development cycle. CBS Television Studios is producing while Smigel, Riggle, Peter Principato and Paul Young will serve as executive producers.
