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[08/03/11 - 11:33 PM]
Development Update: Wednesday, August 3
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) - Michael Rapaport ("The War at Home") has joined the cast of the comedy pilot, about "four lifelong friends who help each other navigate life at 40, which isn't all they expected it to be." He'll play one of them, a married, neurotic everyman. Ed Burns also stars in the half-hour from Doug Ellin.
90210 (The CW) - Sarah Hagan ("Buffy the Vampire Slayer") is the latest actress to score a role on the show's upcoming fourth season. She'll play Alana, "one of Naomi's (AnnaLynne McCord) new sorority sisters at California University [who] is described as a born leader who proudly flaunts her extensive vocabulary and book smarts." Other new faces this season include Justin Deeley and Megalyn Echikunwoke.
AMERICAN HORROR STORY (FX) - Tim Minear, Jennifer Salt, James Wong and Jessica Sharzer have all been tapped as writers on the upcoming drama. Minear will serve as consulting producer with Salt and Wong as a co-executive producers and Sharzer as a supervising producer. Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk co-created the hour and are executive producing.
BAG OF BONES (A&E) - Anika Noni Rose ("The Good Wife") has scored a role on the upcoming mini-series. She'll play Sara Tidwell, "a blues singer who haunts a bestselling novelist (Pierce Brosnan) embroiled in a bitter custody battle." Anabeth Gish and Melissa George also star in the project, based on the Stephen King novel of the same name, from director Mick Garris and writer Matt Venne.
GAME OF THRONES (HBO) - German actor Tom Wlaschiha ("Enemy at the Gates") is the latest addition to show's upcoming second season. He'll play Jaqen, "one of the criminals being transported along with Arya (Maisie Williams) to The Wall."
A GIFTED MAN (CBS) - Raul Esparza, Tom Nelis, Jenna Stern and Brian Curlan are among the initial wave of guest stars set for the series, co-star Patrick Wilson revealed during the show's panel at the TCA Summer Press Tour. No details about their roles however were given.
THE MANZANIS (ABC, New!) - "Dancing With the Stars" alumnus Kirstie Alley is set to star in a potential multi-camera comedy at the Alphabet about "a very opinionated wife/mother who, along with her family, the Manzanis, moves to repressed country-club town." Marco Pennette and Dave Flebotte are behind the multi-camera project, from ABC Studios and the studio-based Brillstein Entertainment. Said effort was originally set up at the network last year but ultimately didn't move forward and was redeveloped with Alley in mind. Pennette and Flebotte then will executive produce alongside Brillstein's new TV president JoAnn Alfano, Aaron Kaplan and Alley's manager Jason Weinberg.
THE MIDDLE (ABC) - Ray Romano is set to reteam with his "Everybody Loves Raymond" co-star Patricia Heaton in the show's third season opener. He'll play Nicky Kohlbrenner, "a guy from Frankie's (Heaton) past who single-handedly ruined Frankie and Mike's (Neil Flynn) honeymoon." Said one-hour season premiere airs Wednesday, September 21.
NECESSARY ROUGHNESS (USA) - Jason Gedrick ("Desperate Housewives") has booked a three-episode arc on the summer drama. He'll play Dr. J.D. Aldrigde, "Dani's former grad school professor who unexpectedly falls back into her life" who also "butts heads with Marc Blucas' Matt, her onetime fling and obvious soulmate." His first appearance is slated for the show's August 17 installment.
REVENGE (ABC) - Robbie Amell ("How I Met Your Mother") has landed a recurring role on the freshman drama. He'll play Adam, "a wealthy lad on track to attend Yale who becomes involved in a messy love triangle with rich girl Charlotte Grayson (Christa B. Allen) and blue-collar boy Declan Porter (Connor Paolo)," beginning with the show's second episode.
UNFORGETTABLE (CBS) - Annie Parisse ("Law & Order") is set to recur on the freshman drama, the show's producers revealed during their session of the TCA Summer Press Tour. She'll play the girlfriend/fiancee of Dylan Walsh's character, who was previously involved with Poppy Montgomery's Carrie Wells.
UNTITLED SANAA HAMRI PROJECT (ABC Family, New!) - Sanaa Hamri, Jaylynn Bailey and Terry Rossio are set to team for a potential musical telefilm at the cable channel. Said effort revolves around Harper Hutton, "who drinks a mysterious elixir that shaves decades off of her life. Under a spell, she attends the wedding of her estranged daughter in disguise, with the intent of stopping her from marrying a playboy." Hamri will direct from a script by Bailey and Rossio with Debra Martin Chase ("Just Wright") executive producing alongside Hamri and Rossio.
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[07/22/26 - 11:31 AM]
Never Fear, "Clash of the Thundermans" Premiere Date and Key Art Are Here!
The new feature-length film from Paramount Television Studios will premiere Thursday, September 3 on Paramount+ and debut on Nickelodeon at 7 p.m. (ET/PT) that same day.
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[07/22/26 - 11:30 AM]
ESPN Delivers Most-Watched NBA Summer League Championship Game Since 2017
The Golden State Warriors' victory over the Memphis Grizzlies averaged 676,000 viewers on ESPN, according to Nielsen Big Data + Panel.
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[07/22/26 - 11:01 AM]
Video: "Special Ops True" - Official Trailer - Paramount+
The world remembers these missions. The people who lived them remember every second.
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[07/22/26 - 11:01 AM]
Video: Exclusive First Look at All-New We TV and All Reality Unscripted Series "Age Inappropriate" Highlighting the Real Lives of Five Age-Gap Couples
The series premieres Friday, August 7 at 9:00 PM ET/PT on We TV, streaming same-day exclusively on All Reality.
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[07/22/26 - 10:01 AM]
What's New on HBO Max This August
Highlights include the premiere of "Lanterns"; the return of "Conan O'Brien Must Go"; and the streaming debuts of "The Strangers: Chapter 2," "Normal," and "Mother Mary."
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[07/22/26 - 10:01 AM]
Benicio Del Toro to Star in New Comedy Series "Protective Custody"
Also starring and executive produced by Ben Stiller, and hailing from Emmy Award-winner Mike Judge, Emmy Award-winner Steve Hely and Dave King, comes a new Apple TV series about a disgraced financier navigating life after arrest.
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[07/22/26 - 09:49 AM]
Great American Media Announces Fourth Installment of Hit Franchise, "Ainsley McGregor Mysteries: The Model Maker," Starring Candace Cameron Bure, Aaron Ashmore, and Robin Dunne, Inspired by Characters Created by Bestselling Author, Candace Havens
"Ainsley McGregor Mysteries: The Model Maker" will stream and be broadcast across Great American Pure Flix, Great American Family, and GFAM+ in early 2027.
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[07/22/26 - 09:46 AM]
Paramount+ Greenlights New Series "Laird" with Kenneth Branagh Set to Star and Executive Produce
Set in the modern Scottish Highlands, "Laird" is an epic family saga in which a proud Scot defies a shadowy American billionaire hellbent on buying up the glens.
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[07/22/26 - 09:31 AM]
Video: "Let's Marry Harry" - Official Trailer - Netflix
With help from Alex Cooper ("Call Her Daddy") and his best friends, can Harry Jowsey ("Perfect Match") find true love and settle down in marriage?
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[07/22/26 - 09:01 AM]
HBO Original Comedy Special "Whitmer Thomas: Terminal Crew of Dudes" Debuts August 14
In his second HBO stand-up special, comedian, musician, and actor Whitmer Thomas digs into his small-town Alabama upbringing... and his ongoing quest to be cool.
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[07/22/26 - 09:01 AM]
Video: "The Chosen in the Wild with Bear Grylls" - Official Trailer - Prime Video
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[07/22/26 - 09:00 AM]
The Definitive Documentary on Global Icon Julie Andrews Is Coming to Disney+ in 2027
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[07/22/26 - 08:34 AM]
Apple TV Lands Rights to Rebecca Yarros' Forthcoming Novel
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[07/22/26 - 07:04 AM]
Investigation Discovery to Re-Examine Aileen Wuornos in New Docuseries "Unmasking a Monster: Aileen Wuornos"
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[07/22/26 - 06:01 AM]
Prime Video Announces Exclusive Access Documentary Film Following Lily Allen
The retrospective documentary will chart Lily's extraordinary journey, from the "Queen of MySpace" who changed the rules of the music industry, to the cultural force she is today.
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