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[03/01/11 - 11:19 PM] Development Update: Tuesday, March 1 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!
40 (HBO, New!) - Ed Burns is set to star in a potential comedy at the pay channel from Doug Ellin ("Entourage") about four lifelong friends in New York "who help each other navigate life at 40, which isn't all they expected it to be." He'll play one of the quartet who's married with kids and "used to work at Bear Stearns making over 2 million a year but has now been out of work for almost a year." The others are billed as "a rich metrosexual guy, a ripped personal trainer and a schlumpy neurotic married guy." Ellin, who has an overall deal at the network, penned the half-hour and is executive producing.
ARE YOU THERE VODKA? IT'S ME CHELSEA (NBC) - Mark Povinelli has scored a role on the comedy pilot, inspired by Chelsea Handler's best-selling autobiographical book of the same name about her twentysomething adventures. He'll play Todd, a bar back at the sports bar where Chelsea (Laura Prepon) works. Angel Laketa Moore, Jo Koy, Lauren Lapkus, Natalie Morales and Handler herself also star. Dottie Zicklin and Julie Ann Larson co-wrote the Warner Bros. Television-based half-hour, to be helmed by Gail Mancuso.
THE ASSISTANTS (CBS) - Emily Rutherfurd ("The New Adventures of Old Christine") is the latest addition to the comedy pilot, about four assistants who toil for a celebrity couple - Gale Meeks and Ali Vance (who are likened to Rob Riggle and Sarah Jessica Parker). She'll play Liddy Gribble ("friendly if a bit manic and socially awkward"), Ali's sister who now works for her as house manager. T.J. Miller also stars in the Tucker Cawley-penned half-hour, which is set up at CBS Television Studios.
BOARDWALK EMPIRE (HBO) - Michael Zegen ("Rescue Me") has scored a role on the show's upcoming second season. He'll play Benny, "a tough, smart urban kid... as aspiring Jewish gangster," who will ultimately grow up to be the notorious gangster known as "Bugsy" Siegel. No other specifics were given.
BREAKING IN (FOX) - Co-creator Adam F. Goldberg has inked a two-year overall deal with Sony Pictures Television. The pact covers his duties on the soon-to-launch comedy, which likewise comes from director Seth Gordon, as well as his future development. No financial details were given.
THE CROSSING (NBC) - Rachelle Lefevre ("Off the Map") has been cast in the pilot, a period drama set in Circle Bend, Missouri following the Civil War and revolves around Jason Edding, a former soldier who is welcomed as its savior - whether he likes it or not. She'll play Anna, a widowed leather goods store owner with a young daughter (Claire Wellin), who becomes involved with Jason. Her casting is in second position to the ABC drama. Peter Horton is helming the Universal Media Studios-based hour from a script by Joshua Brand.
GOOD CHRISTIAN BITCHES (ABC) - Leslie Bibb and Annie Potts have both joined the cast of the drama pilot, based on Kim Gatlin's book about Amanda Vaughn, a widowed mother of two who - to get a fresh start - moves back to the affluent Dallas neighborhood where she grew up. Bibb will play said role with Potts as her overbearing mother, Gigi. The duo joins the recently cast Jennifer Aspen in the hour, which Alan Poul will helm off a script by Robert Harling.
GRACE (ABC) - Abigail Spencer ("Hawthorne") has booked the female lead on the drama pilot, about Michael Grace (Eric Roberts), a famous choreographer whose womanizing ways have produced three daughters - Sarah, a lawyer; Shay, a photographer; Eden, a teenager - all with different mothers. She's on board as the eldest daughter Sarah ("smart, funny, intense"), a former dancer-turned-Beverly Hills lawyer who opts to buy her father's failing studio and run it. Lesli Linka Glatter is directing the ABC Studios-based hour from a script by Krista Vernoff.
HAIL MARY (CBS) - Veteran character actor Stephen Tobolowsky has joined the cast of the drama pilot, about Mary Beth Baker (Minnie Driver), a suburban single mom who teams up with her murdered son's best friend to solve crimes. He'll play Barney Cox, the strip mall private investigator Mary Beth initially hired to look into her son's death - and ultimately goes to work for. Jeff Wadlow is behind the hour, which is set up at Warner Bros. Television.
HART OF DIXIE (The CW) - Jaime King ("My Generation") has scored a role on the drama pilot, about Zoe Hart (Rachel Bilson), a young big-city doctor who inherits a medical practice in the oddball town of BlueBell, Alabama. She's on board as Lemon Breeland, an overly effusive member of the Blue Belles, elite young ladies chosen to keep the town's history alive. Wilson Bethel also stars in the Warner Bros. Television-based hour, which Jason Ensler is directing from a script by Leila Gerstein.
HOW TO BE A GENTLEMAN (CBS) - Rhys Darby ("Flight of the Conchords") has snagged a role on the comedy pilot, about Alan (David Hornsby), an uptight guy learning to live his life with the help of his old high school classmate. He'll play Mike, the "earnest, brow-beaten" husband of Alan's sister, Janet. Dave Foley and Nancy Lenehan co-star in the CBS Television Studios-based project, which was penned by Hornsby.
IDENTTIY (ABC) - Jay Paulson ("Happy Town") has booked a role on the drama pilot, a procedural set at the Identity Crimes Division, the FBI's first cyber-crime unit mixed with traditional investigators. He's believed to be playing the character formerly known as Jose Rodriguez ("rookie, cocky, good-looking; a young pagan who'll sleep with anything"), the junior member of said team. Orlando Jones and potentially Wentworth Miller also star in the ABC Studios-based hour, from writer John Glenn.
MISSING (ABC) - Ashley Judd has closed her deal to topline the drama, about "a suburban mother who, after her son disappears in Italy while studying abroad, rushes to Europe to track him down" where "it soon becomes clear she is no ordinary soccer mom, but a former CIA agent who will stop at nothing to bring her son home alive." The Alphabet has ordered 10 episodes of the series, from ABC Studios, creator Greg Poirier and fellow executive producers Gina Matthews and Grant Scharbo. Steve Schill is directing the pilot and will likewise executive produce.
NO ORDINARY FAMILY (ABC) - Co-creator Greg Berlanti has inked a massive four-year, eight-figure overall deal with Warner Bros. Television. The pact, which begins in June, calls for the prolific writer/producer to develop new series projects for the studio, home to his current feature work. Berlanti had been based at ABC Studios, where he shephered "Brothers & Sisters," "Eli Stone" and "Dirty Sexy Money" for sibling ABC.
THE OVER/UNDER (USA) - Steven Pasquale ("Rescue Me") has booked the lead role on the drama pilot, about Paul Keller, "a day trader with a massive gambling problem who is fired from his job six months after a bad trade costs his firm millions. Shut out of the job market, he and his beautiful, photographer wife retreat to a neighborhood on the cusp of gentrification. He finds an unlikely partner and starts to turn his life around in an unexpected way." Anthony Carrigan also stars as Marino Puzzo, the aforementioned partner with whom he opens a high-end bookie business. In addition, Bronwen Hughes ("Fairly Legal") has been tapped to direct the pilot, which was written by Sheila Callaghan. Fox Television Studios and Universal Cable Productions are co-producing.
PAN AM (ABC) - Christina Ricci has officially set to star in the period drama pilot, about the pilots and flight attendants working at the iconic Pan Am airline in the 1960s. She'll play Maggie, a 24-year-old fiery redhead, who while "on duty is a beautiful, perfectly groomed and poised stewardess, and off duty is an earthy, bohemian living among the beatniks and intellectuals of Greenwich Village." Thomas Schlamme is helming the Jack Orman-penned hour, which also stars Margot Robbie and Michael Mosley. Sony Pictures Television is producing.
S.I.L.A. (NBC) - Daniella Alonso ("My Generation") and Matthew Levy ("Sons of Tucson") have both landed roles in the pilot, a drama depicting a complex web of crime, policework and politics in Los Angeles. She'll play Daniela Garza ("a former newscaster type"), the press liason for Virgilio Zaragoza, the Mayor of Los Angeles; with Levy as Max Broadkey, an adrenaline junky who's happiest when viewing life by remote. Stephen Gaghan wrote and will direct the hour for 20th Century Fox Television. Danny Pino also stars.
UNTITLED SUSANNAH GRANT PROJECT (CBS) - Jennifer Ehle ("The King's Speech") has booked the female lead on the drama pilot, about Michael Halstead (Patrick Wilson), "an ultra-competitive surgeon whose life is changed forever when his ex-wife, a doctor running a free clinic, dies and begins teaching him what life is all about from the hereafter." She'll play Michael's aforementioned ex-wife, Anna Lindberg ("confident, wildly attractive, despite the lack of fuss she spends on her appearance... or maybe because of it"). Susannah Grant penned the CBS Television Studios-based hour, which Jonathan Demme is attached to direct.
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[04/25/25 - 10:01 AM] Video: "Earnhardt" - Official Trailer - Prime Video Start your engines. "Earnhardt" premieres May 22 on Prime Video.
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[04/25/25 - 09:12 AM] One Hell of A Week in New York City with "The Walking Dead: Dead City" Beginning Sunday, April 27 through Wednesday, April 30 AMC is partnering with iconic NYC establishments and events, including the Empire State Building, Citi Field, the NYCRUNS Brooklyn Experience Half Marathon, PopUp Bagels and more, featuring merchandise giveaways and the show's iconic Walkers.
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[04/25/25 - 09:01 AM] Video: "Sirens" - Official Trailer - Netflix Worried about her sister's too-close relationship with her billionaire boss, a scrappy everywoman seeks answers at a lavish seaside estate.
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[04/25/25 - 08:00 AM] Peacock Sets Streaming Debut Dates for Focus Features' "Black Bag" and Universal Pictures' "Love Hurts" Steven Soderbergh's "Black Bag" streams exclusively on Peacock beginning May 2; while Jonathan Eusebio's "Love Hurts" is due on May 9.
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[04/24/25 - 01:04 PM] Saddle Up! New Docuseries "Not Her First Rodeo" Lands at Hulu and Freeform From ABC News Studios, "Not Her First Rodeo" is a six-part docuseries inside the adrenaline-fueled world of professional bull riding.
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[04/24/25 - 12:12 PM] Jeffrey Dean Morgan Asks Where the X Am I? in NBC's New Travel Competition Series "Destination X," Premiering Tuesday, May 27 at 10 P.M. ET/PT Viewers can catch an exclusive sneak peek of the series after the Kentucky Derby on Saturday, May 3 at 8 p.m. ET, 7 p.m. CT and MT, and 7:30 p.m. PT on NBC.
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[04/24/25 - 12:00 PM] "Yellowjackets" Sets Record with Most Watched Season in Series History on Paramount+ with Showtime The series is now the number two most-streamed global Showtime original ever, only behind "Dexter: Original Sin."
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[04/24/25 - 11:00 AM] The "83rd Annual Golden Globes" to Air Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, on CBS Nominations for the Golden Globes will be announced on Monday, December 8.
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[04/24/25 - 10:31 AM] Video: "Football Parents" - Official Teaser - Netflix When it comes to their children's amateur football careers, this group of parents has no shame, no chill - and a peculiar sense of team spirit.
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[04/24/25 - 10:30 AM] FOX Unveils Its Summer 2025 Schedule, Featuring New and Returning Unscripted Series and All-New Episodes of "Animation Domination" Favorites Look for new episodes of "Bob's Burgers," "Grimsburg," "Family Guy" and "The Great North" beginning Thursday, May 29.
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[04/24/25 - 10:14 AM] Love, Desire, and Shocking Twists in TLC's New Series, "90 Day: Hunt for Love" Set in Tulum, Mexico, these love-hungry alums have loved, lost and learned a few lessons along the way.
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[04/24/25 - 10:04 AM] New Season of "Gold Rush: Mine Rescue with Freddy & Juan" Premieres Friday, May 9 at 9PM ET/PT on Discovery Channel With gold prices surging to new records, the modern-day rush is on.
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[04/24/25 - 10:01 AM] Oxygen True Crime's "Unknown Serial Killers of America" Premieres Sunday, May 18 at 7 P.M. ET/PT Each hour-long episode of "Unknown Serial Killers of America" profiles the horrific stories of these unconscionable criminals, and delves into what transformed them into evil monsters.
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[04/24/25 - 10:01 AM] Video: "Love Death + Robots" Volume 4 - Official Trailer - Netflix The Emmy-winning anthology of twisted tales from strange worlds returns, with stories featuring MrBeast and the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
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[04/24/25 - 10:01 AM] "Saturday Night Live" Closes Out Milestone 50th Season with Three Back-to-Back Shows in May Walton Goggins and Scarlett Johansson will follow the previously announced Quinta Brunson as hosts.
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