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[02/09/12 - 10:51 PM]
Development Update: Thursday, February 9
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!
THE AMERICANS (FX) - Feature helmer Gavin O'Connor ("Warrior") has been tapped to direct the pilot, a drama about the complex marriage of two KGB spies posing as Americans in suburban Washington DC in the early 1980's. He'll work from a script by Joe Weisberg who's executive producing alongside Darryl Frank, Graham Yost and Justin Falvey. DreamWorks Television, Fox Television Studios and FX Productions are co-producing. (Deadline.com)
ANIMAL KINGDOM (NBC) - Justin Kirk ("Weeds") has been tapped for the lead role on the single-camera comedy pilot, about a veterinarian who loves animals but usually hates their owners. He'll play the man in question, George Coleman ("a debonair veterinarian"), in the Universal Television-based project, from co-creators Alessandro Tanaka and Brian Gatewood and co-directors Anthony and Joe Russo. Said role is not expected to interfere with his duties on the upcoming eighth season of the Showtime comedy. (Deadline.com)
ANTICHRIST (ABC) - Max Thieriot and Gabriella Wilde have both been cast in the drama pilot, about "an astrophysics grad student in New York City who learns that he is the chosen one to destroy the forces of evil." He'll play Carter Henderson, the man in question, with Wilde as his girlfriend, Wynter-Lee Cardigan. Roland Emmerich and Harold Kloser are behind the hour, which is set up at the ABC Studios-based The Mark Gordon Co. (Deadline.com)
THE ASSET (FOX) - Feature helmer Neil Burger ("Limitless") has signed on to direct the pilot, a drama set in the New York office of the CIA and centers on a female agent. Josh Friedman is behind the hour, which is set up at 20th Century Fox Television. (Deadline.com)
BOB FROM CORPORATE (Syfy, New!) - Eric Rochford has booked a potential drama at the cable channel about "a clandestine organization, known only as 'Corporate,' that solves dangerous mysteries caused by science and technology gone awry, topped by an enigmatic leader who operates with a strong moral code and 'a very big gun.'" Jamie Paglia, James Middleton, Rich Silverman and director Matt Hastings are on board to executive produce the Universal Cable Productions-based hour, which Rochford penned on spec. (Variety.com)
CHICAGO FIRE (NBC) - Jeffrey Nachmanoff ("Homeland") is set to direct the firefighter drama, from Dick Wolf's Universal Television-based Wolf Films. He'll work from a script by co-creators Derek Haas and Michael Brandt. Nachmanoff previously helmed the Molly Parker-led drama pilot "Meet Jane" for Lifetime. (Deadline.com)
DEVIOUS MAIDS (ABC) - Paul McGuigan ("Scandal") is set to helm the drama pilot, about four Latina women who are maids in Beverly Hills. He'll work from a script by Marc Cherry, who's executive producing alongside David Lonner, John Mass, Larry Shuman, Michael Garcia and Sabrina Wind for ABC Studios. (Deadline.com)
DILFS/LADYFRIENDS (NBC) - Scott Ellis ("2 Broke Girls") is set to helm both multi-camera pilots. The latter, from Kari Lizer and Warner Bros. Television, tracks two longtime female friends (Andrea Anders, TBA) who are living very different lives but couldn't live without each other. The former, from creator Charlie Grandy and Jimmy Fallon's Universal Television-based Holiday Road banner, depicts 30-something dads struggling with not being grown up enough to parent, but they are. Ellis also helmed a third pilot this cycle, the Kirstie Alley-led "The Manzanis" for ABC. (Deadline.com)
DOWNWARDLY MOBILE (NBC) - Sitcom veteran Gail Mancuso ("Are You There, Chelsea?") has signed on to direct the Roseanne Barr-led comedy pilot, about a lower middle class family living in a mobile home community. Eric Gilliland, John Argent, Steven Greener and Barr are among the executive producers for 20th Century Fox Television. (Deadline.com)
THE FRONTIER (NBC) - Jake McLaughlin, Bridget Regan, Al Weaver, Gina Bramhill, Ethan Embry and Megan Ferguson have booked the principal roles on the drama pilot, which chronicles the journey of a group of disparate travelers from Missouri to Oregon in 1840. McLaughlin will play Cooper Hale ("34, strong, driven"), a farmer looking to start a new life with his wife and son; with Regan as Hannah Strong ("a beautiful woman in her late twenties"), a doctor's wife and mother of an eight-year-old girl; Al Weaver as Ben ("sweet and awkward"), a writer assigned to cover the journey by its benefactor; Bramhill as Emily ("a no-nonsense, independent sort"), who's betrothed to a man she's never met, much to Ben's chagrin; and Embry as D.J. Jackson ("late thirties, bittersweet, sardonic") and Ferguson as Peyton ("a Georgia girl, half Scarlett O'Hara, half Tallulah Bankhead") as a married couple who are each secretly gay. Thomas Schlamme is helming the Sony Pictures Television-based hour from a script by Shaun Cassidy. (Deadline.com)
GOLDEN BOY (CBS) - Kevin Alejandro ("True Blood") has joined the cast of the drama pilot, which tracks one man's meteoric rise of a uniform cop to detective to police commissioner. He's set as Tony Arroyo ("Puerto Rican, snappy dresser, First Grade detective, pure alpha dog"), a detective "who is disturbed by the new guy's arrival and plots to derail his career." Chi McBride co-stars in the Warner Bros. Television-based hour, from director Richard Shepard and creator Nick Wootton. (Deadline.com)
LAST RESORT (ABC) - Autumn Reeser ("No Ordinary Family") is the latest addition to the drama pilot, about the crew of a nuclear submarine, who, after disobeying a suspicious order, become fugitives, take over the NATO Listening Post and declare themselves an independent nuclear nation. She's on board as Kylie Sinclair, "a well-educated, charming lobbyist for her family's weapons manufacturing company; contacts all over D.C; very ambitious; looks out for herself." Andre Braugher, Daisy Betts and Daniel Lissing also star in the Sony Pictures Television-based hour, from director Martin Campbell and co-creators Karl Gajdusek and Shawn Ryan. (Deadline.com)
MOCKINGBIRD LANE (NBC) - The Peacock has rolled production the pilot, an imaginative reinvention of "The Munsters" as a visually spectacular one-hour drama, to June. Said decision is tied to casting difficulties. Bryan Singer is helming the Universal Television-based hour from a script by Bryan Fuller. (Deadline.com)
MY IDIOTIC TWENTIES (CBS) - Chris Smith and Randall Park have each scored roles on the single-camera comedy pilot, about "Jake (Michael Angarano), a commitment-phobic ad agency exec who, after breaking up with his girlfriend Laura, realizes he has to continue working with her one cubicle away." They'll play his co-workers Graham ("25, Southern player, very confident") and Jun ("hipster Korean, like way cooler than you'll ever be") in the 20th Century Fox Television-based half-hour, from writer/director Nicholas Stoller. (Deadline.com)
THE NEW NORMAL (ABC) - Nick Kocher ("I Just Want My Pants Back") is the first to be cast in the Adam Sztykiel-penned comedy pilot, about a group of 24-year-old guys who move to a new city, one of them choosing to stay in relationship even though his girlfriend is now 2,000 miles away. He'll play Andrew ("24, a people-pleaser and over-thinker"), one of said fellows. 20th Century Fox Television is producing the single-camera project, production of which is showrunner-contingent. (Deadline.com)
THE NEW NORMAL (NBC) - Ellen Barkin is in final negotiations to join the cast of the drama pilot, about a blended family of a gay couple and the woman who becomes a surrogate to help them start a family. She'll play the latter's grandmother, Jane Forrest ("has six opinions on everything and most of them are fucked-up"), in the project, which also stars Andrew Rannells as one half of the aforementioned couple. Ryan Murphy is directing the 20th Century Fox Television-based half-hour from a script he co-wrote with Ali Adler. (Deadline.com)
PRODIGY/BULLY (FOX) - Mike O'Malley has closed a deal to star in his comedy pilot, about Audie Murphy, a young boy genius who uses his brains and brawn to get whatever he wants. He'll play his father, Tommy ("40, blunt, half-muscle/half-fat"), in the half-hour, which comes from John Wells Productions and Warner Bros. Television. O'Malley penned the half-hour and serves as a co-executive producer. (Deadline.com)
UNTITLED FALCONE & DORF PROJECT (CBS) - Ben Falcone and Larry Dorf's comedy, about "a single 37-year-old man who loses everything he has in the real estate collapse and finds himself back home in the house he grew up in... with his parents," has been ordered to pilot. In addition, Falcone himself has signed on to star in the project, which is set up at Warner Bros. Television. Said duo serve as supervising producers with Falcone's wife, Melissa McCarthy, as a co-executive producer. (Deadline.com)
AND IN OTHER NEWS... - Mercedes Ruehl is set to recur on "Luck" as the mother of Ritchie Coster's Renzo, a role which will be upped to regular for its second season (Deadline.com); "Breaking Bad" creator Vince Gilligan has inked an 18-month overall deal with producer Sony Pictures Television, financial details of which weren't released (Deadline.com); Jessica Tuck will guest on "Grimm" as the mother of Claire Coffee's Adalind (EW.com); Mary Elizabeth Ellis will drop by "Happy Endings" as a persistently friendly childhood friend of the gang who rubs Penny (Casey Wilson) the wrong way (TVLine.com); and Catherine Dent will recur on "Touch" as the sister-in-law of Kiefer Sutherland's character (TVLine.com).
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