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[09/27/12 - 11:01 PM]
Development Update: Thursday, September 27
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!


THE ELEVENTH COMMANDMENT (NBC, New!) - Patrick Harbinson ("Person of Interest") has booked a small screen take on Jeffrey Archer's 1998 novel about Connor Fitzgerald, "who has been leading a secret life as the CIA's most deadly assassin when he decides to pull back to spend more time with his wife and family. But his worlds are about to collide when he is set up by someone within the CIA for an assassination he didn't commit." Universal Cable Productions, Valhalla Entertainment and New Franchise Media are behind the hour, with Gale Anne Hurd and Jeffrey Steiner executive producing alongside Harbinson. (Deadline.com)


MOTOR CITY SHAKEDOWN (CBS, New!) - "Medium" creator Glenn Gordon Caron has landed a new drama at the Eye about "ambitious rookie defense lawyer Issabella Bright, who lands her first big case but is forced to team up with Darren Fletcher, a hardened and reckless lawyer who's fallen from success and now runs his practice out of a booth in a bar." Said effort is based on Jonathan Wakins's book of the same name. Richard Shepard, Sean Furst and Bryan Furst are also on board to executive produce the CBS Television Studios-based hour via their Olé banner with Caron writing and executive producing through his Picturemaker Productions. (Deadline.com)


NEAR DEAD (CBS, New!) - Glenn Gordon Caron ("Medium") has likewise sold a second hour to the Eye about an NYPD detective who "experiences a near-death experience and may have witnessed his wife's murder while 'under' [and] re-enters the force with a new perspective on how to close those cases he wrote off as unsolvable; all the while pursuing answers to who may have killed his wife and why." Caron will write and executive produce via his CBS Television Studios-based Picturemaker Productions with Ridley Scott and David W. Zucker of Scott Free Productions also serving as executive producing. (Deadline.com)


ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK (Netflix) - Kate Mulgrew ("Star Trek: Voyager") has joined the cast of the Jenji Kohan-produced drama, about "an engaged Brooklynite (Taylor Schilling) whose decade-old relationship with a drug-runner (Laura Prepon) in college results in her arrest and multi-year detention in a federal penitentiary." She'll play Red, "a Russian prisoner who runs the kitchen and serves as a mother figurehead for the women." Jason Biggs and Yael Stone also star in the Lionsgate Television-based hour, which is based on the book by Piper Kerman. (Deadline.com)


PAGING DR. FREED (USA) - Justina Machado ("Three Rivers") has scored a role on the comedy pilot, about two gynecologist brothers (Kyle Howard, Joel David Moore) who inherit their father's thriving medical practice after he suffers a heart attack during an attempt at "playing" doctor with his young secretary. She'll play "the no-nonsense office manager and gatekeeper at the practice who acts as the brothers' tough-loving figure at the workplace." Annie Potts, Dorian Missick and Leslie Grossman also star in the Fox 21-based project, which Marc Buckland is directing from a script by Michael Feldman. (Deadline.com)


THE SECRET LIVES OF HUSBANDS AND WIVES (NBC) - Nicole Ari Parker ("The Deep End") has joined the cast of the drama pilot, based on Josie Brown's book 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 Paula, "a tough and strikingly beautiful trophy wife who, after 12 years of a troubled marriage, questions whether to stay with her husband because of love or respect... all while having no idea that he is financially ruined." Perrey Reeves also stars in the project, from the Warner Bros. Television-based Jerry Bruckheimer Television, director Mark Pellington and writer Sascha Penn. (Deadline.com)


SECRET LIVES OF WIVES (Lifetime) - Amber Clayton ("Three Rivers") has joined Salli Richardson-Whitfield on the drama pilot, about the unvarnished truth behind the marriages of four different women, breaking down the creative ways each close friend nurtures, maintains and endures what many see as an impossible convention of modern life. She'll play Keaton, "an aspiring fashion designer who was a virgin until she married the love of her life." Jill Gordon penned the Warner Horizon Television-based hour, which is inspired by Iris Krasnow's book of the same name. (Variety.com)


THE SWAMP (NBC, New!) - Tom Brady (MTV's "Good Vibes") has sold a single-camera comedy to the Peacock about "a scramble-style college marching band and its unlikeliest of mentors" in musically rich New Orleans. Werner Entertainment's Tom Werner and Mike Clements will executive produce the half-hour alongside Brady for Warner Bros. Television. (Deadline.com)


THIS THING CALLED LOVE (NBC, New!) - Marc Buckland ("Grimm") has sold a new dramedy to the Peacock described as "a comedic documentary that explores the minutiae of modern relationships through the eyes of several very disparate couples." He'll write, direct and executive produce the potential hour for Universal Television, home to his recently signed overall deal. (Deadline.com)


UNTITLED DAVID SHORE/PETER TOLAN PROJECT (FOX, New!) - David Shore ("House") and Peter Tolan ("Rescue Me") have teamed for a potential new drama at the network about Mike and John, "who believe they are the best partners the Boston Police Department has ever seen despite one of them getting fired and replaced by a young female cop with issues of her own." Sony Pictures Television, home to their respective overall deals, is behind the hour, which has a penalty attached. Shore and Tolan then will executive produce alongside Michael Wimer, the latter's producing partner at Fedora Entertainment. (Deadline.com)


UNTITLED LAGRAVENESE & GOLDWYN PROJECT (AMC) - Seth Gilliam ("Teen Wolf") has scored a role on the drama pilot, about a District Attorney (Damon Gupton) who uncovers new evidence that prompts the reinvestigation of a sensational murder case. He'll play his younger brother, a handsome uniformed cop. Aunjanue Ellis, Joe Anderson, Marin Ireland and Paul Schneider also star in the AMC Studios-based hour, from director Tony Goldwyn and writer Richard LaGravenese. (Deadline.com)


UNTITLED EVAN KATZ/CHRIS MORGAN PROJECT (ABC, New!) - Evan Katz ("Body of Proof") is set to team with feature writer Chris Morgan ("Fast Five") for a potential drama at the Alphabet about "a former army special forces team who are betrayed, and decide to become thieves, in order to go after the people who are responsible for the deaths of their friends." ABC Studios-based Temple Hill Entertainment is behind the hour with the company's Marty Bowen and Wyck Godfrey executive producing alongside Katz and Morgan. (Deadline.com)


YOUR MEDICAL MIND (CBS, New!) - Neal Baer ("A Gifted Man") and "Reaper" creators Michele Fazekas and Tara Butters have sold a potential drama to the Eye inspired by husband and wife doctors Jerome Groopman and Pamela Hartzband's book about "how their unique approaches to medicine - and different ways of dealing with tough ethical issues - lead them to examine the state of their own marriage." CBS Television Studios is behind the hour with James Mangold and Cathy Konrad also on board to executive produce via their Treeline Film banner. Fazekas and Butters will pen the teleplay off a story they conceived with Baer. Groopman's previous book "The Measure of Our Days" served as the basis for ABC's short-lived drama "Gideon's Crossing" starring Andre Braugher. (Deadline.com)


AND IN OTHER NEWS... - E! reportedly was begun filming on a new series of specials featuring incoming "American Idol" judge Nicki Minaj (Deadline.com); Lauren Graham will guest on "Go On" as a college friend/former co-worker of Matthew Perry's Ryan (EW.com); Olivia Munn has landed an arc on "New Girl" as "Nick's (Jake Johnson) new love interest who is sexy, earthy, charming and can hold her own with the group" (Deadline.com); John Larroquette is slated to appear in seven episodes of NBC's "Infamous" as "a powerful politician who has a dark history with the Bowers family" (Deadline.com); Henry Ian Cusick is bound for three episodes of "The Mentalist" as "a multi-millionaire adventurer playboy who comes under suspicion when a television reporter is murdered" (Deadline.com);

Hudson Thames will recur on "The Secret Life of the American Teenager" as "a good looking boy in Kathy's (Cierra Ramirez) class who asks her to mentor him for the upcoming spelling bee" (Deadline.com); Bruce McGill is guesting on "The Good Wife" as "a living legend of a lawyer who has argued in front of the Supreme Court more times than anyone else" (TVLine.com); Chelan Simmons will guest on Bryan Fuller's new NBC drama "Hannibal" as her "Wonderfalls" character, Gretchen Speck-Horowitz (@BryanFuller); and "So You Think You Can Dance" winners Eliana Girard and Chehon Wespi-Tschopp will appear on a dance-themed installment of "Bones" with Mary Murphy, Tyce Diorio and Dmitry Chaplin also slated to appear (TVLine.com).






  [september 2012]  
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· AMERICAN IDOL (ABC)
· BODY OF PROOF (ABC)
· BONES (FOX)
· DECEPTION (NBC)
· DEEP END, THE (ABC)
· DEVELOPMENT UPDATE (TFC)
· DIVIDE, THE (WE)
· ELEVENTH COMMANDMENT, THE (NBC)
· GIDEON'S CROSSING (ABC)
· GIFTED MAN, A (CBS)
· GO ON (NBC)
· GOOD VIBES (MTV)
· GOOD WIFE, THE (CBS)
· GRIMM (NBC)
· HANNIBAL (NBC)
· HOUSE (FOX)
· MEDIUM (CBS)
· MENTALIST, THE (CBS)
· MOTOR CITY SHAKEDOWN (CBS)
· NEAR DEAD (CBS)
· NEW GIRL (FOX)
· ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK (NETFLIX)
· PAGING DR. FREED (USA)
· PERSON OF INTEREST (CBS)
· REAPER (CW)
· RESCUE ME (FX)
· SECRET LIFE OF THE AMERICAN TEENAGER, THE (ABC FAMILY)
· SECRET LIVES OF HUSBANDS AND WIVES, THE (NBC)
· SECRET LIVES OF WIVES, THE (LIFETIME)
· SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE (FOX)
· STAR TREK: VOYAGER (UPN)
· SWAMP, THE (NBC)
· TEEN WOLF (MTV)
· THIS THING CALLED LOVE (NBC)
· THREE RIVERS (CBS)
· UNTITLED KATZ & MORGAN PROJECT (ABC)
· UNTITLED SHORE & TOLAN PROJECT (FOX)
· WONDERFALLS (FOX)
· YOUR MEDICAL MIND (CBS)





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