or


[10/12/12 - 11:14 PM]
Development Update: Friday, October 12
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 CHURCH (NBC, New!) - Feature writer Howard Franklin ("The Big Year") has sold a potential drama to the Peacock which "chronicles the struggles of a family who is part of a seemingly innocuous and upstanding organization that they come to realize is a controlling cult." The Universal Television-based Wolf Films is behind the hour with the company's Dick Wolf, Peter Jankowski and Danielle Gelber executive producing alongside Franklin. (Variety.com)


THE CISKO KID (CBS, New!) - Diego Gutierrez ("Without a Trace") is spearheading a new small screen take on O. Henry's iconic Mexican caballero, which has been adapted into numerous film and TV incarnations - most recently in 1994 as a TV movie with Jimmy Smits in the title role and Cheech Marin as his sidekick Pancho. Gutierrez's take will focus Cisco, an Afghanistan veteran who teams with his best friend/fellow Marine, Sam, to defend the city's disenfranchised after his father is murdered. CBS Television Studios is behind the hour with Ventanarosa's Salma Hayek and Jose Tamez as well as Donners' Company's Lauren Shuler Donner and Jack Leslie executive producing alongside Gutierrez. Separately, Gutierrez is also developing "Flesh and Bones" at FX with producers Eli Roth and Eric Newman. (Deadline.com)


CONTINUING FRED (ABC Family) - Mimi Gianopulos ("What to Expect When You're Expecting") has booked the lead role on the comedy pilot, about 20-something Winifred "Fred" Harris, a newly-graduated slacker with an overbearing family who surprisingly finds purpose when she begins to teach at a local elementary school. Bill Daly is behind the multi-camera project, which was picked up last month. (Deadline.com)


FIVEHEAD (ABC, New!) - "America's Next Top Model's" Tyra Banks and Kenya Barris are set to re-team for a new single-camera comedy at the Alphabet which "chronicles the impressionable teenage years of Banks in the halls of her high school and at home, focusing on her family and the long journey that took Banks from awkward teen to one of the world's most recognizable supermodels." ABC Studios is behind the half-hour which Barris will pen off a story conceived alongside Banks with the duo executive producing for Bankable Productions. (Deadline.com)


GRANNY IS MY WINGMAN (CBS, New!) - Kayli Stollak's blog - which documents the 25-year-old New Yorker's experiences with online dating alongside her 76-year-old grandmother - is being eyed as a potential multi-camera comedy at the Eye. Donald Todd ("Hart of Dixie") is on board to co-write the half-hour, which is set up at the Warner Bros. Television-based Jerry Bruckheimer Television, alongside Stollak. Todd, Bruckheimer and Jonathan Littman will executive produce with KristieAnne Reed and Stollak serving as co-executive producer and supervising producer, respectively. (Deadline.com)


LE GRAND (ION) - A deal to import the Jean Reno-led, eight-episode drama, about a tough elite cop who stops at nothing to solve mysterious murder cases in Paris, has become the focus of a $4 million transatlantic breach-of-contract lawsuit. Producer Atlantique Productions has alleged ION Media Networks backed away from a license deal for the series over "creative concerns, such as the 'intelligibility' of Reno's accent." ION has yet to comment on the lawsuit. René Balcer is behind "Le Grand," which was shot in English entirely on location in Paris. (THR.com)


LIFESTYLE LEMONAID (FOX) - Erin Richards ("Breaking In") has been tapped for the lead role on the comedy pilot presentation, based on Nikki Joel's tell-all blog about her marriage to top WME talent agent Brandt Joel. She'll play Nikki in the HBO-turned-FOX project, described as "a life force with a sense of mischief who's sexy, defensive and sometimes argumentative but always protective of her fashionista son." Jordon Nardino penned the half-hour, which is also executive produced by Mark Wahlberg and Steve Levinson as well as the Joels. (Deadline.com)


THE SECRET LIVES OF HUSBANDS AND WIVES (NBC) - Laura Allen ("Awake") has booked the final principal role on the drama pilot, based on Josie Brown's book about the secrets and lies of three suburban couples exposed in the aftermath of a murder. She'll play Alison Dunn, "a grounded and levelheaded mother and wife who happens to be hiding the darkest secret of all." Martin Henderson co-stars as her husband with Nicole Ari Parker, Jesse L. Martin, Perrey Reeves and James Tupper playing the other couples, the Cookes and the Deavers. Producer Jerry Bruckheimer, director Mark Pellington and writer Sascha Penn are all behind the hour, which comes from Warner Bros. Television. (Deadline.com)


UNDATEABLE (NBC, New!) - Ellen Rakieten and Anne Coyle's book, subtitled "311 Things Guys Do That Guarantee They Won't Be Dating Or Having Sex," is being developed as a multi-camera comedy at the Peacock. Adam Sztykiel ("Due Date") is penning the project, which has a penalty attached and is "described as a bromantic comedy about two very different guys who are bonded by their common inability to attract women." Doozer's Bill Lawrence and Jeff Inglod are also on board to executive produce for Warner Bros. Television. (Deadline.com)


UNTITLED STEVE CONRAD PROJECT (HBO, New!) - Steve Conrad has booked a potential comedy at the pay channel from Mike White's RipCord Productions ("Enlightened"). No details were given about the project, which will be developed under White's recently signed overall deal with HBO. White and David Bernad then will presumably executive produce the untitled half-hour alongside Conrad. (Deadline.com)


WONDERLAND (NBC, New!) - Screenwriter Whit Anderson is developing a new drama at the Peacock billed as a sequel to Lewis Carroll's "Alice in Wonderland" centering on a new character, Clara, "who must wage war against Wonderland's reigning Queen, the woman we once knew as Alice." ABC Studios is behind the hour, with Dare to Pass' Anthony E. Zuiker and Matt Weinberg as well as Brillstein Entertainment Partners' JoAnn Alfano and Margaret Riley also among the executive producers. Anderson previously penned the much-ballyhooed feature reboot of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" in 2010 which didn't move forward. (Deadline.com)


AND IN OTHER NEWS... - Adult Swim has commissioned a seventh season of its veteran stop motion series "Robot Chicken" (@AdultSwim); Katie Cassidy's Juliet Sharp will return for the series finale of "Gossip Girl" (EW.com); Keith David will guest on "Touch" as "a grizzled ex-Navy Seal who's also an old friend of Kiefer Sutherland's character" (TVLine.com); Hal Holbrook is bound for TNT's "Monday Mornings" as "a prestigious neurosurgeon who is a mentor to Alfred Molina's Dr. Hooten" (TVLine.com); Ben Schwartz will drop by Netflix's upcoming "Arrested Development" revival (TVLine.com); Emily Evan Rae has booked an arc on "Parenthood" as a member of the student council who interacts with Max Burkholder's Max (TVLine.com); and Richard Harmon has checked into A&E's "Bates Motel" as Richard Slymore, "the cool, intelligent and artsy BMOC at the high school Norman Bates (Freddie Highmore) enrolls at after he and his mother move to town" (TVLine.com).






  [october 2012]  
S
M
T
W
T
F
S
 


· AMERICA'S NEXT TOP MODEL (VH1)
· ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT (NETFLIX)
· AWAKE (NBC)
· BATES MOTEL (A AND E)
· BREAKING IN (FOX)
· BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER (UPN)
· CHURCH, THE (NBC)
· CISCO KID, THE (CBS)
· CONTINUING FRED (ABC FAMILY)
· DEVELOPMENT UPDATE (TFC)
· ENLIGHTENED (HBO)
· FIVEHEAD (ABC)
· FLESH & BONES (FX)
· GOSSIP GIRL (CW)
· GRANNY IS MY WINGMAN (CBS)
· HART OF DIXIE (CW)
· JO (FRANCE) (HULU)
· LIFESTYLE LEMONAID (FOX)
· MONDAY MORNINGS (TNT)
· PARENTHOOD (NBC)
· ROBOT CHICKEN (ADULT SWIM)
· SECRET LIVES OF HUSBANDS AND WIVES, THE (NBC)
· TOUCH (FOX)
· UNDATEABLE (NBC)
· UNTITLED STEVE CONRAD PROJECT (HBO)
· WITHOUT A TRACE (CBS)
· WONDERLAND (NBC)





[10/20/26 - 03:19 PM]
"College GameDay Built by The Home Depot" Delivers Its Third Most-Watched Regular-Season Episode Ever from BYU
ESPN networks had 3 of the top 4 games this week, the second most-watched regular season Saturday on record (based on minutes).

[10/20/26 - 03:08 PM]
Ohio State's Win Over Indiana Scores Most-Watched College Football Game of the Week
Viewership peaked at 14,269,000 viewers from 3:30-3:45 PM ET on FOX.

[10/20/26 - 02:01 PM]
Video: "Possible Love" - Final Trailer - Netflix
A laid-off worker and his wife cross paths with a documentary filmmaker and her spouse and confront their hidden desires.

[10/20/26 - 01:01 PM]
FX's "American Horror Story" Sets 14th Installment on FX and Hulu
The "AHS: 13" premiere claimed a spot on Nielsen's Streaming Top 10 charts and represented Ryan Murphy's biggest launch ever on Hulu and Disney+.

[10/20/26 - 12:54 PM]
"Lioness" Roars to Record-Breaking Season Three
Viewership climbed every week of the eight-episode season, culminating in a series-record finale, which drew 9.7 million viewers in its first seven days, the largest audience for any episode in the show's history.

[10/20/26 - 12:01 PM]
Netflix Top 10: Week of October 12 - Get the Ransom Ready: "Animals" Takes the No. 1 Spot for a Second Week
"Below" stayed at the top of the English TV list with 21.2 million views - the highest viewership in a single week for a Canadian original title.

[10/20/26 - 11:01 AM]
Video: Paramount+ Releases Official Trailer for "He Said, She Said: Till Death Do Us Part"
The documentary follows a no-holds-barred custody battle between two high-powered lawyers, which extends beyond the courtroom into social media and the court of public opinion.

[10/20/26 - 10:58 AM]
Starz Announces Distribution Agreement Reached with Verizon
"We are pleased to have reached a mutually beneficial agreement that brings Starz's premium programming to Verizon Fios customers," said Alison Hoffman, President, Starz Networks.

[10/20/26 - 10:31 AM]
MGM+ Presents "Secret Service" - The Series Premieres November 22, 2026 on MGM+
Gemma Arterton, Rafe Spall, Mark Stanley, Aoife Hinds, and Avi Nash star in the series.

[10/20/26 - 10:02 AM]
Video: MGM+ Unveils Official Trailer for "New Wave" Featuring Music Revolutionaries from Billy Idol, The Police, Devo, Duran Duran and More
This series from This Machine Filmworks tells the fascinating story of New Wave music and the decade from 1977 to 1987 that brought alternative culture into the mainstream.

[10/20/26 - 09:30 AM]
Nick Kroll Tapped to Host and Executive Produce "LOL: Last One Laughing" US Edition on Prime Video
"I have loved this show in other countries and cannot wait to get the funniest people in the US together and watch them not laugh," says Kroll. "This format is pure joy and I'm thrilled to be a part of it!"

[10/20/26 - 09:01 AM]
Video: Trailer & Key Art Debut - Hulu's "The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives: Orange County"
The new unscripted series premieres on Hulu and Hulu on Disney+ for bundle subscribers in the US, and Disney+ internationally on November 12.

[10/20/26 - 09:00 AM]
The History Channel Honors Veterans Day with Two-Hour Event "Forged by War: The Navy SEALs" Premiering Wednesday, November 11
Across two-hours this special presentation focuses on the pivotal moments that forged the U.S. Navy SEALs while reflecting on the courage, sacrifice and camaraderie shared by veterans across every branch of service.

[10/20/26 - 09:00 AM]
Hardy, Little Big Town and The Red Clay Strays to Perform on "New Year's Eve Live: Nashville's Big Bash," Thursday, Dec. 31 on CBS
Additional performers will be announced at a later date.

[10/20/26 - 08:01 AM]
Video: "Battle of the Streaming Stars" - Official Trailer - The Roku Channel
Terry Crews hosts as 12 streaming stars split into teams and battle through challenges inspired by iconic TV moments for the Golden Roku Remote.