or


[03/24/11 - 11:50 PM]
Development Update: Thursday, March 24
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!


BAD MOM (ABC) - Johnny Pemberton ("It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia") has snagged a role on the comedy pilot, about Julia (Jenna Elfman), a single mother of two, who's forced to actually raise her kids once her mother, Marian (Frances Conroy) - who had been filling said void, decides she wants her life back. He's presumably playing Indiana ("short, wispy moustache"), the teenage drop out son of Julia's friend Linda (Sharon Horgan) who's either smoking pot or feebly trying to put the moves on Julia. Tom Everett Scott also stars in the ABC Studios-based half-hour, which Chris Koch is directing from a script by Horgan.


BLACK JACK (Comedy Central, New!) - Producer/director David Gordon Green ("Pineapple Express") is reportedly close to a cast-contingent pilot commitment from the cable channel for a new single-camera comedy about the title character "who, after 20 years as the most kick-ass special ops agent the US government has had on its payroll, finally goes too far and is de-commissioned. He's sent home to begin the most treacherous mission he's ever faced -- normal life." Michael Starrbury penned the half-hour which Green will direct with his Rough House partners Danny McBride, Jody Hill and Matt Reilly also on board to executive produce.


CHEW (Showtime, New!) - John Layman and Rob Guillory's comic book - about federal agent Tony Chu, a "cibopath" able to get psychic impression from the things he eats who is assigned to the most usual and bizarre crimes - is being developed as a comedy at the pay channel. Terri Hughes Burton and Ron Milbauer ("Eureka") penned the adaptation, which is expected to be "tweaked under Showtime's guidance," with Stephen Hopkins attached to direct. Said trio will also executive produce alongside Circle of Confusion's David Engel with Hopkins's producing partner Kate Garwood producing.


COOPER & STONE (The CW) - David Ramsey ("Outlaw") has booked a role on the drama pilot, about two pop culture savvy detectives - Jenna Cooper (Alex Breckenridge) and Stone (Vanessa Ferlito) - working in Chicago's Northside precinct. He'll play Frank Mazzara, a "gruff, veteran uniform cop" who was once Stone's training officer. Riley Smith co-stars in the CBS Television Studios-based hour, from director John Dahl and writer Laurie Arent.


GOOD CHRISTIAN BITCHES (ABC) - Mark Deklin ("Lone Star") is the latest addition to the drama pilot, about Amanda Vaughn (Leslie Bibb), a widowed mother of two who - to get a fresh start - moves back to the affluent Dallas neighborhood where she grew up. He'll play Blake Caruth ("dashingly handsome"), Amanda's first crush who's now married to Cricket (Miriam Shor), a former Plain Jane who was tormented by Amanda as a teen. Alan Poul is directing the ABC Studios-based hour, from writer Robert Harling. Annie Potts, David James Elliott, Jennifer Aspen, Kristin Chenoweth and Marisol Nichols also star.


THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN EARS (AMC, New!) - Scott Rosenberg ("Happy Town") has booked a potential drama at the cable channel about "a record executive with kids who tries to balance work and family life." Said hour, which is based on the Danish series of the same name, is set up at Fox Television Studios.


PAN AM (ABC) - Jack Orman has signed a new two-year, seven-figure overall deal with producer Sony Pictures Television. The pact covers his duties on the pilot, a period drama about the pilots and flight attendants working at the iconic Pan Am airline in the 1960s, should it go to series as well as any future development.


VOYAGE (AMC, New!) - John Shiban ("Breaking Bad") is developing a new drama at the network described as "a grounded look at human beings' first contact with extraterrestrial life seen through the eyes of an ambitious female scientist and her team at Jet Propulsion Laboratories." Sony Pictures Television is behind the hour with Lynda Obst producing. "Voyage" is one of six projects being eyed by AMC for potential pilot orders, including the aforementioned "The Man With the Golden Ears" and the previously announced "The Fourth Estate," from creator Gideon Yago, Landscape Entertainment and FremantleMedia North America.


WONDER WOMAN (NBC) - Justin Bruening ("Knight Rider") has been tapped as Steve Trevor in the drama pilot, about the DC Comics heroine of the same name. Trevor is the government agent who crash landed on Themyscira, home of the mythical Amazons; fell in love with one of them, Diana (Adrianne Palicki); and brought her back with him to New York. They've since broken up as Diana now operates out of L.A. and Steve is a lawyer for the Justice Department. Cary Elwes, Elizabeth Hurley, Pedro Pascal and Tracie Thoms also star in the Warner Bros. Television-based hour, which Jeffrey Reiner is directing from a script by David E. Kelley.






  [march 2011]  
S
M
T
W
T
F
S
  


· BAD MOM (ABC)
· BLACK JACK (COMEDY CENTRAL)
· BREAKING BAD (AMC)
· CHEW (SHOWTIME)
· COOPER & STONE (CW)
· DEVELOPMENT UPDATE (TFC)
· EUREKA (SYFY)
· FOURTH ESTATE (AMC)
· GCB (ABC)
· HAPPY TOWN (ABC)
· IT'S ALWAYS SUNNY IN PHILADELPHIA (FXX)
· KNIGHT RIDER (NBC)
· LONE STAR (FOX)
· MAN WITH THE GOLDEN EARS, THE (AMC)
· OUTLAW (NBC)
· PAN AM (ABC)
· VOYAGE (AMC)
· WONDER WOMAN (NBC)





[11/03/26 - 03:57 PM]
Tami Roman Returns to Executive Produce and Star in Lifetime's Sequel to Its Highest-Rated Original Movie of 2026 - "Double Double Trouble 2" Set to Debut in 2027
Slated to premiere in 2027, Roman will reprise her role as identical twins Drea and Ali.

[11/03/26 - 03:01 PM]
USA Sports Delivers Most-Watched WNBA Playoff Game Ever; 3.3 Million Viewers Watch Valkyries Win Title in First-Ever Game 7
Viewership was up 128% vs. the 2025 WNBA Finals deciding game (LV-PHX Game 4).

[11/03/26 - 02:42 PM]
"College GameDay" Continues Historic Run Over Halloween at IU, ABC Takes Top Spot and Delivers Three of Top Five Most-Watched Games
ESPN topped all networks in Week 9, with ABC delivering three of the week's five most-watched games and winning the noon and afternoon windows.

[11/03/26 - 12:01 PM]
Netflix Top 10: Week of October 26 - "Lupin" Part 4 Captures the No. 1 Spot in This Week's Top 10
"The One About Matthew Perry" debuted in the No. 1 spot on the English TV list, gathering 9.5 million views.

[11/03/26 - 11:01 AM]
CBS Up +12% from Its Week #2 Last Year - Network Places 14 of the Top 20 Series; Top Two Comedies; Top Three New Series
CBS episodes topped the Nielsen live plus 7-days of multiplatform viewership for the week of October 12-18.

[11/03/26 - 10:31 AM]
Netflix Announces Straight-to-Series Order for Coming-of-Age Adaptation "Prep"
The coming-of-age story is about scholarship girl Lee Fiora's high school years at Ault, a prestigious New England boarding school, and her journey to navigate friendship, crushes and class as a fish out of water among her privileged, confident classmates.

[11/03/26 - 09:01 AM]
Video: "High Country" - Season 2 Official Trailer - Hulu
Nine months after closing the Artemis case, Detective Andie Whitford is drawn into a shocking double murder aboard a houseboat on drought-stricken Lake Eildon.

[11/03/26 - 08:31 AM]
Video: Mickey and Pluto Stir Up Holiday Mayhem with "Mickey's Home Alone" Trailer, Premiering Thanksgiving Day
The new holiday special premieres Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, November 26, at 6:00 p.m. EST/PST on Disney Jr. and streams the next day on Disney+.

[11/03/26 - 08:01 AM]
Video: "Rob Lowe: The Outsider" - Official Trailer - Netflix
This definitive documentary goes beyond the highlight reel to reveal what it really took for Rob Lowe to survive Hollywood - and become one of its most enduring stars.

[11/03/26 - 06:01 AM]
"Blue Eye Samurai" Unleashes Season 2 Release Date
Mizu's bloody quest for revenge will bring her to London on January 19, 2027.

[11/03/26 - 04:02 AM]
"Operation TAP": Netflix's First Film in Portugal Is Already in Production
The film is loosely based on the true story of the hijacking of a TAP flight in 1980, carried out by a 16-year-old boy with a head full of dreams.

[11/03/26 - 01:02 AM]
Video: Netflix Unveils the Official Teaser for "The Law of Beasts" - Kasper Bajon's Series Premieres November 18
Two friends, two perspectives, and a case that resurfaces after 25 years.

[11/03/26 - 01:01 AM]
"Chapapote", the New Film by Daniel Sanchez Arevalo and Starring Tamar Novas, Begins Filming
The year is 2002. The oil tanker Prestige breaks in two off the Galician coast, and an oil slick covers its beaches. All of them, that is, except one: the beach in the small town of Agarimo.

[11/02/26 - 06:21 PM]
Surprise! Korean Epic "The Remarried Empress" to Premiere One Day Early Exclusively on Disney+ and Hulu
Originally scheduled to premiere on Wednesday, November 4, "The Remarried Empress" will now debut on Tuesday, November 3 as a special thank you to fans for their overwhelming support.

[11/02/26 - 03:48 PM]
Video: Peacock Debuts Official Fall Sizzle for "Days of Our Lives"
Featuring drama, romance, mystery, and suspense, "Days" follows the lives, loves, and conflicts of the Horton, Brady, DiMera, Kiriakis, and Hernandez families and their many friends and colleagues.