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[10/03/12 - 11:22 PM]
Development Update: Wednesday, October 3
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 ANNA NICOLE STORY (Lifetime, New!) - Agnes Bruckner ("Private Practice") has been tapped to play the late Anna Nicole Smith in a proposed biopic of the famed Playboy model. Said effort will track Vicky Lynn Hogan, "a pretty but plain girl growing up in a small Texas town who transforms herself into Anna Nicole Smith - a voluptuous, Marilyn Monroe-esque Playboy pin-up and model." John Rice and Joe Batteer penned the project, which comes from the Sony Pictures Television-based Storyline Entertainment. Craig Zadan, Neil Meron and Judith Verno are the executive producers. (Deadline.com)


LOST HORIZON (NBC, New!) - Director M. Night Shyamalan ("The Last Airbender") is set to team with screenwriter John Glenn ("Eagle Eye") for a new drama described as a modern-day "Moby Dick" revolving around a small fishing village on the East Coast. Sony Pictures Television is behind the project, which has a put pilot commitment. Shyamalan then will direct from a script by Glenn and executive produce alongside Ashwin Rajan via their Blinding Edge Pictures banner. (Deadline.com)


STALKERS (Lifetime) - Jodi Lyn O'Keefe ("Prison Break") has joined the cast of the original movie/backdoor pilot, about Diane Harper (Drea de Matteo), "a hot-headed cop with a troubled past, and a polished, ambitious DA (O'Keefe) who team up to bring a stalker, obsessed with her former lover, to justice." Mark Tonderai will direct the Pilgrim Studios-based project, which is based on Rhonda Saunders's book "Whisper of Fear: The True Story of the Prosecutor Who Stalks the Stalkers." David Wiener penned the adaptation with Craig Piligian executive producing. (Deadline.com)


TAMING OF THE SHREW (ABC, New!) - Marc Hyman ("Meet the Fockers") has landed a potential comedy at the Alphabet about "a tyrannical CEO and the office staff who try to tame her." Red Om Films' Julia Roberts and 3 Arts Entertainment's Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas are also on board to executive produce the half-hour, which is set up at ABC Studios. Red Om's Lisa Gillan and Marissa Yeres Gill will also serve as producers. (Deadline.com)


UNTITLED SAMUEL BAUM PROJECT (CBS, New!) - Samuel Baum ("Lie to Me") has sold a new medical drama to the Eye about a fictional Surgeon General who, alongside his team, "battle the powerful forces of politics and business, fighting to protect the health of everyday Americans." CBS Television Studios is behind the hour, home to Baum's recently signed overall deal. (Deadline.com)


UNTITLED JAY SCHERICK/DAVID RONN PROJECT (CBS, New!) - Jay Scherick and David Ronn ("The Smurfs") have sold a new multi-camera comedy to the Eye about "two very opposite brothers forced by circumstance to move their two very opposite families into the same house." The untitled half-hour is set up at Sony Pictures Television, the result of a blind script deal, where they'll write and executive produce. (Deadline.com)


AND IN OTHER NEWS... - Pamela Adlon is bound for "Parenthood" as "an acerbic and rude woman who moves into the building next to the Braverman brothers' music studio" (TVLine.com); Ellen Greene will recur on NBC's "Hannibal" as "a novelist and member of Boston's cultural elite" who's a pal of Mads Mikkelsen's titular cannibal (TVLine.com); Patrick Fischler and Tony Denison are set to guest on "Castle" in a mafia-themed outing during November sweeps (TVLine.com); Ally Sheedy's Mr. Yang will return for "Psych's" musical episode (@DuleHill); Tilky Jones has booked an arc on "Nashville" as "a philanthropic football player reminiscent of New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning" (Variety.com);

Colin O'Donoghue's Captain Hook has been upped to series regular on "Once Upon a Time" (EW.com); Marissa Jaret Winokur will guest on "Guys With Kids" as "the new head of the co-op board where the guys live" (TVGuide.com); Alex Kingston will visit "NCIS" during November sweeps as "a woman of questionable morals" (TVLine.com); and Anna George is guesting on "Rules of Engagement" as as Timmy's (Adhir Kalyan) mother (THR.com).






  [october 2012]  
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· ANNA NICOLE (LIFETIME)
· CASTLE (ABC)
· DEVELOPMENT UPDATE (TFC)
· GUYS WITH KIDS (NBC)
· HANNIBAL (NBC)
· LIE TO ME (FOX)
· LOST HORIZON (NBC)
· NASHVILLE (CMT)
· NCIS (CBS)
· ONCE UPON A TIME (ABC)
· PARENTHOOD (NBC)
· PRISON BREAK (FOX)
· PRIVATE PRACTICE (ABC)
· PSYCH (USA)
· RULES OF ENGAGEMENT (CBS)
· STALKERS (LIFETIME)
· SURGEON GENERAL, THE (CBS)
· TAMING OF THE SHREW (ABC)
· UNTITLED SCHERICK & RONN PROJECT (CBS)





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