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[03/29/11 - 11:28 PM]
Development Update: Tuesday, March 29
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!


ARCHER (FX) - The cable channel has renewed the animated comedy for an expanded 16-episode third season. Three installments will reportedly run behind "It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia" this fall with the remaining 13 due in early 2012.


THE ASSISTANTS (CBS) - Jason Jones ("The Daily Show With Jon Stewart") has booked the final principal role on the comedy pilot, about four assistants who toil for a celebrity couple. He'll play Gale Meeks ("aggressive and muscular but starting to flab up"), one half of the aforementioned couple with the previously cast Heather Locklear as his wife Ali Vance ("pretty and self-involved"). Said roles are likened to Rob Riggle and Sarah Jessica Parker in the script. David Henrie, Emily Rutherfurd, Lamorne Morris, Sarah Wright and T.J. Miller also star in the CBS Television Studios-based half-hour, which Pamela Fryman is directing from a script by Tucker Cawley.


HOMEGROWN (CBS) - Gerald McRaney ("Undercovers") has been tapped for the lead role on the comedy pilot, about a blue collar man who wrestles with how to parent his unmarried grown daughter, Eileen (Becki Newton), and her 12-year-old son while sharing a house with them, his wife and his recently widowed mother. He'll play said fellow, Joe Reilly ("a strong, solid guy"), in the half-hour, which also stars Shane McRae and Tricia O'Kelley. Andy Ackerman is directing from a script by Jackie and Jeff Filgo for Warner Bros. Television.


THE LAST DAYS OF MAN (ABC) - Nancy Travis ("The Bill Engvall Show") is set to star opposite Tim Allen in the comedy pilot, about "a man (Allen) fighting for his manhood in a world being increasingly dominated by women." She'll play his wife Vanessa in the half-hour, which is set up at 20th Century Fox Television. Jack Burditt penned the script while John Pasquin is attached to direct and executive produce.


LOST & FOUND (ABC) - Dean Collins ("The War at Home") has booked a role on the comedy pilot, about Jolene "Jo" Hauser (Jordana Spiro), a New York bartender and party girl who has her life upended when Leo Huntington, the 18-year-old son she gave up for adoption - and who happens to be conservative - finds his way into her life. He'll play the aforementioned Leo in the half-hour, from Warner Bros. Television, creator Marisa Coughlan and director Ted Wass. Collins takes over from Gary Clayton, who was recast after the pilot's table read. Diana Maria Riva, Josh Casaubon and Todd Grinnell also star.


PERSON OF INTEREST (CBS) - Natalie Zea ("Justified") has landed a role on the drama pilot, about an ex-CIA agent (Jim Caviezel), presumed dead, who is recruited by a crazy billionaire (Michael Emerson) to help fight crime in New York City. She'll guest star as "a district attorney whose investigation of a particularly troubling homicide may cost her life." David Semel is directing the Warner Bros. Television-based hour from a script by Jonah Nolan for the Warner Bros. Television-based Bad Robot Productions.


TOWNIES (FX, New!) - "It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia's" David Hornsby, Scott Marder and Rob Rosell are developing a potential new animated comedy at the cable channel about "two earnest yet misguided 15-year-old best friends who have no parental supervision, and they are left to raise themselves through the most awkward years of their lives." No other specifics were given about the half-hour, which is being eyed as a companion for fellow animated entry "Archer."


UNTITLED PETER KNIGHT PROJECT (CBS) - Kevin Corrigan ("Fringe") is the latest addition to the comedy pilot, about the assorted employees at a high-powered venture capital firm. He's on board as Nugzy, a "mutanty looking mailroom lifer," in the project, from CBS Television Studios and Sony Pictures Television. Neil Patrick Harris is directing from a script by Peter Knight while Ben Rappaport, Larry Wilmore, Michelle Trachtenberg and Tim Peper also star.


UNTITLED TIM GOOR PROJECT (NBC) - Jere Burns ("Surviving Suburbia") has scored a role on the comedy pilot, about Adam Foote (Andrew J. West), a young doctor who spends as much time taking care of his parents as he does his patients. He'll play his professorial father, George, in the half-hour, which comes from Universal Media Studios and creator Dan Goor. Jean Smart also stars as George's wife, Barbara, with Brad Morris as their other son Matt (the only non-doctor of the family) and Audrey Esparza as Liz, a nurse.


WORK IT (ABC) - Kate Reinders ("Sherri") has snagged a role on the comedy pilot, about two out-of-work car salesmen - Angel (Amaury Nolasco) and Lee (Ben Koldyke) - who realize that in order to find employment again, they'll need to dress as women to land jobs as pharmaceutical reps. She'll play Kelly ("effusive, ray of sunshine"), one of the guys' new co-workers in the Warner Bros. Television-based project. John Carapulo, Kacie Lynch, Kirstin Eggers, Rebecca Mader and Rochelle Aytes also star in the Andrew Reich/Ted Cohen-penned half-hour, to be directed by Beth McCathy-Miller.






  [march 2011]  
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· ARCHER (FXX)
· ASSISTANTS, THE (CBS)
· BILL ENGVALL SHOW, THE (TBS)
· DEVELOPMENT UPDATE (TFC)
· FAMILY PRACTICE (NBC)
· FRINGE (FOX)
· HOMEGROWN (CBS)
· IT'S ALWAYS SUNNY IN PHILADELPHIA (FXX)
· JUSTIFIED (FX)
· LAST MAN STANDING (FOX)
· LOST & FOUND (ABC)
· PERSON OF INTEREST (CBS)
· SHERRI (LIFETIME)
· SURVIVING SUBURBIA (ABC)
· UNDERCOVERS (NBC)
· UNSUPERVISED (FX)
· UNTITLED PETER KNIGHT PILOT (CBS)
· WAR AT HOME, THE (FOX)
· WORK IT (ABC)





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