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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!
666 PARK AVENUE (ABC) - Vanessa Williams ("Desperate Housewives") is the latest addition to the drama pilot, about a young couple (Rachael Taylor, Dave Annable) who accept an offer to manage one of the most historic apartment buildings in New York City where they begin to experience supernatural occurrences. She's set as Olivia Doran ("maybe 55, but seems ageless; coldly beautiful, sophisticated, and still has a potent sexuality about her"), the wife of the building's owner, Gavin (Terry O'Quinn). Said casting is tied to her talent holding deal with the Alphabet. David Wilcox penned the hour for Warner Bros. Television while Alex Graves is attached to direct. Mercedes Masohn and Robert Buckley also star. (Deadline.com)
BATES MOTEL (A&E) - Carlton Cuse ("Lost") and Kerry Ehrin ("Parenthood") have signed on as executive producers of the "Psycho" prequel, which will give viewers an intimate understanding of how Norman Bates's psyche developed from his childhood through his teen years. They'll oversee the Universal Television-based hour, which was originally penned by Anthony Cipriano. Mark Wolper and Roy Lee also serve as executive producers on the project, envisioned initially as a six-episode event. (THR.com)
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST (ABC) - Alan Dale and Wendy Crewson have both landed roles on the pilot, a drama set in a mythical city where its princess, Grace (Ruth Bradley), is tasked with quelling a rebellion. He'll play her father, Emperor Dorian ("emaciated; wispy; really, really sick"), who's been poisoned - presumably by the rebels - leaving Grace in charge. Crewson then is set as Mara, a member of Dorian's advisory council - complete with regal-looking clerical habit - who served as Grace's teacher growing up. Chris Egan, Darius Campbell, F. Murray Abraham, Karen LeBlanc and Meegan Warner also star. Yves Simoneau is directing the ABC Studios-based hour from a script by Jonathan E. Steinberg. (Variety.com)
THE CARRIE DIARIES (The CW) - Matt Letscher ("Brothers & Sisters") has booked a role on the drama pilot, which stars AnnaSophia Robb as a teenage Carrie Bradshaw in the 1980s. He's on board as her father, Tom ("traditionally handsome with a whiff of vulnerability and sadness"), a lawyer who suggests Carrie intern at his friend's Manhattan firm. Austin Butler, Brendan Dooling, Ellen Wong, Freema Agyeman, Katie Findlay and Stefania Owen also star in the Warner Bros. Television-based hour, from writer Amy B. Harris and director Miguel Arteta. (Deadline.com)
DEVIOUS MAIDS (ABC) - Susan Lucci ("All My Children"), Drew Van Acker ("Tower Prep") and Brett Cullen ("Make It or Break It") have all landed roles on the drama pilot, about four maids (Ana Ortiz, Dania Ramirez, Roselyn Sanchez, Judy Reyes) with ambition and dreams of their own while they work for the rich and famous in Beverly Hills. She'll play Genevieve Delacourt, Zoila's (Reyes) employer, an aging beauty who's driving herself crazy over the loss of her looks. Acker then is set as her handsome, well-meaning son Remi, whom Zoila's daughter Valentina (Edy Ganem) pines after. And finally, Cullen is on board as Michael Slate ("elegant and kind") who hires Marisol (Ortiz) after his old maid left with his ex-wife Olivia (yet to be cast). Angelique Cabral, Brianna Brown and Rebecca Wisocky also star in the ABC Studios-based hour, from director Paul McGuigan and writer Marc Cherry. (Deadline.com)
GUILTY (FOX) - Sharon Leal ("Hellcats") has snagged a role on the drama pilot, about William "Billy" Remz (Cuba Gooding, Jr.), a morally questionable defense attorney who, after being falsely convicted of fraud and stripped of his license, uses unorthodox methods to continue working cases. She'll play Sara, Billy's estranged wife and mother of his six-year-old daughter, Zoe. Eva Amurri Martino, Jay Harrington and Julian Morris co-star in the project, from Warner Bros. Television, director McG and writer Marc Guggenheim. (Deadline.com)
HOW TO LIVE WITH YOUR PARENTS FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE (ABC) - Brad Garrett ("'Til Death") has signed onto the comedy pilot, about Polly (Sarah Chalke), a recently divorced, single mom, who moves in with her eccentric parents, a couple who's full of life but knows no boundaries. He'll play Max ("always in motion, explosive"), Polly's stepfather, who owns a successful chain of nightclubs. Elizabeth Perkins also stars as Polly's mom Elaine with Jon Dore as her ex Julian and Rachel Eggleston as their daughter Natalie. Julie Anne Robinson is directing the Claudia Lonow-penned half-hour, from the 20th Century Fox Television-based Imagine Television. (Deadline.com)
REBOUNDING (FOX) - Will Forte ("Saturday Night Live") has booked the lead role on the comedy pilot, about a man recovering from the death of his fiance with help from friends on his pick-up basketball team. He'll play said fellow, Danny Markle ("reasonably good looking, a man in crisis who is raw and exposed"), alongside the previously cast Aly Michalka, Hayes MacArthur, Malcolm Barrett and Matt L. Jones. 20th Century Fox Television is behind the half-hour, to be directed by Jason Winer from a script by Joe Port and Joe Wiseman. (Deadline.com)
REVOLUTION (NBC) - Tim Guinee ("The Good Wife") has been cast in the Jon Favreau-helmed drama pilot, about a group of people struggling to survive and reunite with loved ones in a world where all forms of energy have mysteriously ceased to exist. His role however wasn't specified. Anna Lise Phillips, Billy Burke, Giancarlo Esposito, Graham Rogers and Tracy Spiradakos co-star in the Eric Kripke-penned hour, from the Warner Bros. Television-based Bad Robot Productions. (Deadline.com)
SCRUPLES (ABC) - Claire Forlani, Boris Kodjoe and Jessica McNamee have all been cast in the drama pilot, about the staggeringly luxurious life of a Beverly Hills boutique in 1978 and the people who work in it. Forlani will play Billy Winthrop Ikehorn ("35, beautiful, svelte, and chic"), the fashion emporium's owner; with Kodjoe as Josh Hillman, her late husband Ellis's lawyer who's overseeing his estate; and McNamee as Maggie MacGregor, Billy's vivacious friend, an aspiring TV journalist whose 60-year-old self narrates the show from the present day. Bob Brush and Mel Harris are behind the Warner Bros. Television-based hour, to be directed by Michael Sucsy. Karine Vanasse and Noot Seear also star. (Deadline.com)
THE SMART ONE (ABC) - Matt Oberg and Stephanie Beatriz have both been cast in the comedy pilot, about Jude (Portia de Rossi), a brilliant and successful woman who has to go to work for her less brainy but more popular sister, Candy (Malin Akerman) - a former beauty queen, weather girl and now big city mayor. Oberg will play Jude's former operative Martin - a good-looking, slick D.C. power-player who never betrays what he's feeling, if anything - who likewise goes to work for Candy. Beatriz then is set as Natalee ("gorgeous, sincere, enthusiastic, free-spirited"), Candy's "campaign advisor," who's actually her hairdresser. David Arquette and Jean Smart also star in the Warner Bros. Television-based half-hour, from director Michael Fresco and writer Don Todd. (THR.com)
UNTITLED JOSH BERMAN/ROB WRIGHT PROJECT (FOX) - Zach Gilford ("Off the Map") has been cast in the drama pilot, about Grace Devlin (Jordana Spiro), one of Chicago's top young cardiothoracic surgeons who, to save her gambling-indebted brother (Jesse Lee Soffer), is forced to moonlight as a mob doctor. He'll play Brett Robinson ("handsome blueblood"), a doctor who works with Grace at the Chicago Medical Center. Jaime Lee Kirchner, James Carpinello and William Forsythe also star in the Sony Pictures Television-based hour, to be directed by Michael Dinner. (THR.com)
ZERO HOUR (ABC) - Michael Nyqvist and Jacinda Barrett have each boarded the drama pilot, about Hank Foley (Anthony Edwards), a skeptical magazine editor who, after his wife is improbably kidnapped, finds himself swept up in a conspiracy dating back to World War II. Barrett will play said wife, Laila, with Nyqvist as White Vincent, the shark-eyed mercenary who takes her. Paul T. Scheuring is behind the ABC Studios-based hour, which also stars Addison Timlin, Carmen Ejogo and Scott Michael Foster. Pierre Morel is directing. (Deadline.com)
AND IN OTHER NEWS... - Mía Maestro, Mekhi Phifer and Gregg Henry are all bound for the new season of "White Collar," due this summer (EW.com; TVLine.com); Kevin McKidd and Chandra Wilson both returning to the director's chair on "Grey's Anatomy" (THR.com); Alyssa Milano will return as Oz's (Christian Slater) scheming wife on "Breaking In" later this season (TVLine.com); Cary Elwes has been tapped as the latest target for the "Leverage" team (EW.com); Fox Television Studios is developing a domestic take on Telemundo's blockbuster 2011 telenovela "La Reina del Sur" (Deadline.com); and Entertainment One and Piller/Segan/Shepherd have acquired the rights to Karin Slaughter's Grant County series of six books with an eye towards the small screen (Deadline.com).
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