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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 BRIDGE (FX) - Gerardo Naranjo ("Miss Bala") has been tapped to direct the drama pilot, about two detectives from the United States and Mexico who must work together to hunt down a serial killer operating on both sides of the border after a dead body is found on the bridge connecting El Paso and Juarez. Meredith Stiehm and Elwood Reid penned the FX Productions-based hour, based on a Swedish series "Bron." Carolyn Bernstein, Jane Featherstone and Lars Blomgren are also among the executive producers. (Deadline.com)
COPELAND PREP (The CW, New!) - Novelist Bret Easton Ellis ("American Psycho") has booked a potential drama at the netlet about "the premier secondary school in the nation, which is so fiercely competitive it's turning its students into monsters - literally - and spreading the disturbing ramifications throughout the town." The Warner Bros. Television-based Fake Empire is behind the hour with the company's Josh Schwartz, Stephanie Savage and Len Goldstein executive producing alongside Ellis and Nicky Weinstock. "Twilight" director Catherine Hardwicke will also serve as executive consultant. (Deadline.com)
THE LAST SHIP (TNT) - Jonathan Mostow ("U-571") has signed on to direct and executive produce the drama pilot, in which a global catastrophe nearly obliterates the earth's population, forcing the crew of a naval destroyer to confront the reality of their new existence in a world where they are among the only survivors. He'll work from a script by Steve Kane and Hank Steinberg, which in turn is based on William Brinkley's novel of the same name. Michael Bay, Andrew Form and Brad Fuller of Platinum Dunes also serve as executive producers. (Deadline.com)
LIFESTYLE LEMONAID (FOX) - Jordon Nardino's single-camera comedy - based on Nikki Joel's tell-all blog about her marriage to top WME talent agent Brandt Joel - has found a new home at FOX with a pilot presentation order. Mark Wahlberg of Closest to the Hole Productions and Steve Levinson of Leverage Management are executive producing the half-hour alongside Nardino. Rob Riggle had previously been tapped to star in the former HBO project but is no longer attached. (Deadline.com)
THE MAKEOVER (ABC) - Camryn Manheim and Frances Fisher have joined the cast of the "Pygmalion"-esque telefilm, about Hannah (Julia Stiles), a professor who, after an unsuccessful bid for Congress, recruits Elliott (David Walton), a sincere yet unpolished man to run in her place during the next election. Manheim will play Colleen Pickering, Hannah's business partner, with Fisher as Elliot's colorful mother, Allie. John Gray is directing the Hallmark Hall of Fame Productions-project from a script by C. Jay Cox ("Sweet Home Alabama"). (THR.com)
THIS MAGIC MOMENT (Halllmark, New!) - Diane Neal, Vincent Spano, Travis Schuldt, Charles Shaughnessy, Molly Burnett, Aliana Huffman and Mitchell Fink have all been cast in a new telefilm at the cable channel, about "a video store owner and budding screenwriter named Clark Gable who falls for a famous actress in town to film a movie while he also deals with residual feelings for an old flame." Neal will play Helen, said actress, in the project, from Larry Levinson Productions. No details were given about the other roles. (THR.com)
MARRIAGE MATERIAL (ABC, New!) - Peter Huyck and Alex Gregory have sold a new single-camera comedy to the Alphabet about "two successful thirtysomethings who are set up by their families." Said half-hour, inspired by Huyck's own life, is set up at ABC Studios, home to their recently signed overall deal. Steven Spielberg's Amblin banner is also producing. (Variety.com)
ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK (Netflix) - Jason Biggs ("Mad Love") has joined the cast of the Netflix original, about Piper (Taylor Schilling), "an engaged Brooklyn resident whose decade-ago relationship with a drug runner in college results in her arrest and multiyear detention in a federal penitentiary." He'll play said fiance, Larry Bloom, in the project, based on Piper Kerman's tome of the same name. Lionsgate Television is behind the hour with Jenji Kohan serving as executive producer. (THR.com)
SECRET LIVES OF HUSBANDS AND WIVES (NBC, New!) - Perrey Reeves ("Entourage") is the first to be cast in the thriller/dramatic soap, about "a murder and the secrets and lies within a tightly woven group of three suburban couples and their families exposed in its aftermath." She'll play Danielle Deaver, a "flirty and funny woman with a tightly wound personality and a dark secret that not even she knows about." Mark Pellington is directing the pilot from a script by Sascha Penn - based on Josie Brown's novel of the same name - for the Warner Bros. Television-based Jerry Bruckheimer Television. (Deadline.com)
UNTITLED BECKY HARTMAN EDWARDS PROJECT (NBC, New!) - Becky Hartman Edwards ("Switched at Birth") has booked a potential drama at the Peacock billed as "a character-driven soap set in a small isolated Colorado town where the residents slowly discover that their lives are being manipulated by forces beyond their control." Sony Pictures Television-based Olive Bridge Entertainment is behind the hour with Will Gluck executive producing alongside Edwards and Richard Schwartz serving as a co-executive producer. (Deadline.com)
UNTITLED DONALD GLOVER PROJECT (NBC, New!) - Matt Hubbard ("30 Rock") is close to a put pilot order from the Peacock for a potential Donald Glover-led comedy loosely based on the "Comunity" actor's life. Universal Television is behind the single-camera project with Peter Traugott and Rachel Kaplan executive producing alongside Hubbard (and presumably Glover). Glover's involvement is in second position to "Community," which returns Friday, October 19 on the network. (TVGuide.com)
AND IN OTHER NEWS... - Jason Sudeikis has closed a deal to return to "Saturday Night Live" through the remainder of the election season, where he plays Republication presidential candidate Mitt Romney (NYTimes.com); "Entourage" creator Doug Ellin is on track to complete the script for his big screen take on the HBO series (Deadline.com); Emma Bell has joined the cast of "Dallas" as "a sheltered classic beauty who was raised by her grandmother and has traveled through Europe since she was a toddler" (Deadline.com); Gilles Marini's Angelo has been upped to series regular on "Switched at Birth" (Deadline.com); Jon Michael Hill has likewise snagged series regular status on CBS's "Elementary" (Deadline.com); Ryan Hansen will guest on "2 Broke Girls" as a "Willy Wonka-esque confectioner whom Max and Caroline cross paths with while touting their own sweet treats" (TVLine.com);
Brian McNamara is bound for "Bones" as "a Steve Irwin-type pet expo proprietor" (TVLine.com); Jonathan Banks and Glenne Headly will guest on "Parks & Recreation" as Ben Wyatt's (Adam Scott) parents (HitFix.com, TVGuide.com); Judd Hirsch and Bill Maher are the latest faces bound for "The Good Wife" (@CBSTweet); June Diane Raphael will recur on "Animal Practice" as a new hire "described as beautiful, tough and sure to keep Justin Kirk's prickly George on his toes" (THR.com); Dylan Baker has joined the cast of ABC's "Zero Hour" as FBI Section Chief Terrence Fisk, "the supervisor of Carmen Ejogo's character, who has a personal connection to the conspiracy case" (TVGuide.com); and Lin-Manuel Miranda will recur on NBC's "Do No Harm" as the hospital's clinical pharmacologist, presumably replacing Mousa Kraish (Deadline.com).
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