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[10/07/11 - 10:53 PM]
Development Update: Friday, October 7
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!


GATEWAY (TNT) - Keir O'Donnell, David Denman, Shannon Lucio and Eric Lange are the latest additions to the pilot, a period drama set in the Colorado town of the same name in the 1880s about the "Flynn brothers - Terence (Denman), Daniel (O'Donnell) and Jake (previously cast Cam Gigandet) - who step in to save their town when their sheriff father is murdered, pitting them against a corrupt cattle baron determined to make the town his own." Lucio will play Terence's wife with Lange as the town banker. Writer Bruce C. McKenna and director Danny Cannon are behind the Warner Horizon Television-based hour, which also stars Keith Carradine. (Deadline.com)


KEPT MEN (NBC, New!) - Kevin Heffernan and Steve Lemme ("Super Troopers") have sold a multi-camera comedy to the Peacock about "two friends who become supported by their respective wives after their business closes down." The duo will write and executive produce alongside 3 Arts Entertainment. (Deadline.com)


LAID (NBC, New!) - Ali Rushfield ("Help Me Help You") is looking to import Marieke Hardy and Kirsty Fisher's Australian comedy, about "a woman whose ex-boyfriends/one-night stands start dying under suspicious circumstances, prompting her to launch an investigation with her roommate and try to stop the murder spree." BermanBraun's Lloyd Braun, Gail Berman and Gene Stein then will executive produce alongside Rushfield and Jeremy Fox and Kary Mchoul of Digital Rights Group. (Deadline.com)


THE MANZANIS (ABC) - Rhea Perlman is set to reunite with her "Cheers" co-star Kirstie Alley in the comedy pilot, which stars Alley as Angela Manzani, "an opinionated wife/mother who, along with her Italian American family, moves to a quiet New Jersey neighborhood where they clash with their new, WASPy neighbors." Perlman then is on board to play Angela's mother-in-law Camille Manzani. Marco Pennette and Dave Flebotte are behind the multi-camera project, which is set up at ABC Studios and Brillstein Entertainment Partners with Pennette, Flebotte, JoAnn Alfano, Aaron Kaplan and Jason Weinberg executive producing. (Deadline.com)


THE SECRET LIVES OF HUSBANDS AND WIVES (ABC, New!) - Josie Brown's novel, about a murder in suburban California and the secrets exposed in its aftermath, is being developed for the small screen by Warner Bros. Television-based Jerry Bruckheimer Television. Sascha Penn (The CW's "Confessions of a Back-Up Dancer") is behind the hour, with Bruckheimer and Jonathan Littman executive producing and KristieAnne Reed serving as a co-executive producer. (Deadline.com)


SUBURBAN SHOOTOUT (ABC, New!) - The Alphabet is taking a stab at importing the U.K. comedy, about "a woman who escapes the city and her past for suburban bliss only to discover she (with the help of her new neighbors) has to resort to using unconventional methods and her past skills to achieve the life she so desires." Judy Greer toplined a potential U.S. incarnation for HBO written by Michelle Ashford and directed by Barry Sonnenfeld in 2008 that didn't go to series. Byron Balasco ("Detroit 1-8-7") is spearheading ABC's hour-long take with Kapital Entertainment's Aaron Kaplan and Feelgood Fiction's Laurence Bowen and Philip Clarke also serving as executive producers for ABC Studios. (Deadline.com)


UNCLE A-HOLE (FOX, New!) - Joe Kelly ("How I Met Your Mother") has scored a script commitment from the network for a single-camera comedy about "a guy who reconnects with his sister's college drop out son." Sony Pictures Television is behind the half-hour, which Kelly penned on spec and will executive produce. (THR.com)


UNTITLED JEFF EASTIN PROJECT (USA, new!) - "White Collar" creator Jeff Eastin is close to a pilot order from the cable channel for a new drama "which follows agents from various federal and local agencies (DEA, FBI, LAPD) who all live at an undercover house in Southern California." Fox Television Studios, where Eastin's overall deal is based, is behind the project. No other details were given. (Deadline.com)


UNTITLED JOSH LIEB PROJECT (FOX, New!) - Josh Lieb ("The Daily Show With Jon Stewart") has booked a new comedy at the network about "a newly divorced father of two who asks his twentysomething sister to move in with him and help him restart his life." Warner Bros Television, Electric Dynamite and Reveille are all behind the half-hour, which Lieb will write and executive produce in first position to his NBC effort with Thune (see below for specifics). Electric Dynamite's Jack Black is also among the executive producers. (Deadline.com)


UNTITLED JOSH LIEB/NICK THUNE (NBC, New!) - Former "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart" executive producer Josh Lieb is set to team with comedian Nick Thune for a new comedy at the Peacock about "a heartbroken hipster (Thune) who quits his job and city life and moves to a small Oregon town." The pair will co-write the half-hour, which has a penalty attached, with Lieb serving as an executive producer and Thune a co-executive producer. Warner Bros Television is producing. (Deadline.com)


UNTITLED SILICON VALLEY PROJECT (Bravo, New!) - The cable channel is reportedly developing for a new reality series set "in America's most emerging area -- Silicon Valley." A casting notice posted to Craigslist says producers are "looking for people in their late 20's - to early 40's... living in Silicon Valley... and who have a full time job and a full time lifestyle." No auspices however were given. (Mashable.com, THR.com)


UNTITLED KATE ROBIN/JAKE KASDAN PROJECT (FOX, New!) - Kate Robin ("Six Feet Under") and Jake Kasdan ("New Girl") are developing a new drama at the network about "the female secret service agents who work on the protective detail of the First Lady." 20th Century Fox Television is behind the Robin-penned hour, which has a penalty attached. Kasdan then will executive produce alongside Robin and may also direct. The duo previously teamed for the HBO comedy pilot "Spring/Fall" starring Tea Leoni and Hope Davism which remains in contention at the pay channel. (Deadline.com)


AND IN OTHER NEWS... - Today's two-season pickup of "The Simpsons" comes on the heels of the actors' decision to accept a 30% pay cut from their current $400,000 per episode salaries and forgo their efforts to gain a piece of the series' lucrative back-end (THR.com); production on CBS's "How to Be a Gentleman" will shut down after its ninth episode - filming tonight - as the show's shift to Saturday nights at 8:30/7:30c translates to a de facto cancellation (Deadline.com); Alice Evans has been cast as Esther, Klaus and Rebekah's mother, on "The Vampire Diaries" (TVLine.com); Billy Dee Williams will play himself, one of Kenny's (Dan Fogler) all-time favorite heroes, on ABC's "Man Up!" (EW.com); plus Malik Yoba will swing by "Nikita" as "a tough and unpredictable ICE agent who interferes with Alex's (Lyndsy Fonseca) quest for vengeance" (TVLine.com).






  [october 2011]  
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F
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· DETROIT 187 (ABC)
· DEVELOPMENT UPDATE (TFC)
· GATEWAY (TNT)
· GRACELAND (USA)
· HELP ME HELP YOU (ABC)
· HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER (CBS)
· HOW TO BE A GENTLEMAN (CBS)
· KEPT MEN (NBC)
· LAID (PEACOCK)
· MAN UP! (ABC)
· MANZANIS, THE (ABC)
· NEW GIRL (FOX)
· NIKITA (CW)
· SECRET LIVES OF HUSBANDS AND WIVES, THE (NBC)
· SIMPSONS, THE (FOX)
· SIX FEET UNDER (HBO)
· SPRING FALL (HBO)
· START-UPS: SILICON VALLEY (BRAVO)
· SUBURBAN SHOOTOUT (WE)
· SUBURBAN SHOOTOUT (HBO)
· UNCLE A-HOLE (FOX)
· UNTITLED JOSH LIEB PROJECT (FOX)
· UNTITLED LIEB & THUNE PROJECT (NBC)
· UNTITLED ROBIN & KASDAN PROJECT (FOX)
· VAMPIRE DIARIES, THE (CW)
· WHITE COLLAR (USA)





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