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[10/23/12 - 11:15 PM]
Development Update: Tuesday, October 23
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!


CLAN, THE (ABC, New!) - Oscar-winner Terry George ("The Shore") is developing "a sweeping drama set in the Highlands of medieval Scotland, where the great clans battle one another -- and the Viking invaders" at the Alphabet. ABC Studios is behind the hour, which actress Charlize Theron is also on board to executive produce alongside George via her Denver & Delilah banner. (THR.com)


FAMILY TREE (HBO) - Nina Conti, Tom Bennett, Amy Seimetz, Matt Griesser, Maria Blasucci and Lisa Palfrey have all landed roles on Christopher Guest's upcoming comedy, which follows the recently unemployed and single Tom Chadwick (Chris O'Dowd) who looks into his ancestry after suffering an identity crisis. Conti will play Tom's sister; with Bennett as his best friend; Seimetz as Ally, an aspiring writer who works in a bookstore; Griesser as Greg, Tom's American cousin; Maria Blasucci as Greg's girlfriend; and Lisa Palfrey as the wife of Tom's father (Michael McKean). Don Lake, Ed Begley Jr., Fred Willard and Jim Piddock also star in the project. (Deadline.com)


MIXOLOGY (ABC, New!) - Screenwriters Jon Lucas and Scott Moore ("The Hangover") has snagged a put pilot order for a new comedy which "follows five guys and five girls trying to find love at a trendy Manhattan bar across the course of one night." They'll both write and executive produce for ABC Studios. (Deadline.com)


NOW WHAT? (ABC, New!) - Jane Fonda ("The Newsroom") is set to star in a potential comedy at the Alphabet about a woman (Fonda) who winds up moving in with her daughter, refusing to leave until the two work out their differences after she publicly criticizes her mother in a blog post. Abby Gewanter ("Pushing Daisies") penned the single-camera project, which is set up at ABC Studios, Tollin Productions and FremantleMedia North America. Mike Tollin, Ben Spector and Scott Ellis are also on board to executive produce, the latter of which is attached to direct. (Variety.com)


PARADISE FALLS (FOX, New!) - Writer Margaret Nagle ("Boardwalk Empire") and documentary filmmaker Joe Berlinger ("Paradise Lost") are set to team for a new drama about "a down-on-his-luck documentary filmmaker who is sent by a crime reality show to cover the trial of a heinous crime that has engulfed the tourist town of Paradise Falls, Pennsylvania." Universal Television is behind the potential hour which Nagle will write and executive produce with Berlinger, whose experiences on "Paradise Lost" inspired the series, serving as a co-executive producer. Margaret Riley of Brillstein Entertainment Partners will likewise executive produce. (Deadline.com)


REIGN (The CW, New!) - Laurie McCarthy ("GCB") and Stephanie Sengupta ("Hawaii Five-0") are set to team for what's being billed as "a fantastical reimagining of the teenage Mary Queen of Scots." CBS Television Studios is behind the hour, which will track "the secret history of survival at French Court amidst fierce foes, dark forces, and a world of sexual intrigue." They'll write and executive produce. (Deadline.com)


RETURN OF DANIEL SHEPHERD, THE (HBO, New!) - David Hubbard (CBS's "The Widow Detective") has sold a potential drama to the pay channel about "a family thrown into disarray when their son returns home after 13 years missing. When his abductors turn up murdered, he is the prime suspect." Said effort is set up at Sony Pictures Television with the studio-based Maria Grasso and Deborah Spera also executive producing via their One-Two Punch Productions banner. (Deadline.com)


SECRET LIVES OF WIVES, THE (Lifetime) - David Conrad ("The Ghost Whisperer") is the latest addition to the drama pilot, which will explore 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. He'll play Michelle's (Kim Raver) husband Wil, "an erudite, handsome English lit professor who Michelle nursed through a serious illness 15 year earlier." Amber Clayton, Callum Blue, Derek Smith, Lauren Bittner, Salli Richardson-Whitfield and Valerie Cruz also star in the Warner Horizon Television-based hour, which is based on the book by Iris Krasnow. (Deadline.com)


UNTITLED ALAN YANG PROJECT (NBC, New!) - Alan Yang ("Parks & Recreation") has booked a potential comedy at the Peacock about "a strict 'Tiger Dad' who, after a near-death experience, tries to reprogram his super-responsible son to be more like his fun-loving immature roommates." Universal Television is behind the half-hour with Greg Daniels and Tracy Katsky of Deedle Dee Productions and Howard Klein of 3 Arts Entertainment set to executive produce alongside Yang. (Deadline.com)


UNTITLED ELLEN RAPOPORT PROJECT (NBC, New!) - Ellen Rapoport ("Three Moons Over Milford") has sold a semi-autobiographical comedy to the Peacock about Allie, "a nerdy, twentysomething overachiever who is befriended and taken in by two promiscuous party girls." Television 360's Daniel Rappaport and Meghan Lyvers and Vandalia Films' Jennifer Garner and Juliana Janes are also on board to executive produce the half-hour, which is set up at Universal Television via the latter's first-look deal with the studio. (Deadline.com)


UNTITLED MARGARET NAGLE PROJECT (CBS, New!) - Margaret Nagle ("Boardwalk Empire") has set up a potential hour at the Eye about "three different but devoted sisters whose lives are turned upside down when the father who abandoned them during their childhood returns, seeking more than forgiveness." Said drama, set in the world of medicine and billed as a modern-day reworking of Jane Austen's "Sense and Sensibility," is set up at Warner Bros. Television. (Deadline.com)


AND IN OTHER NEWS... - Barry Sloane's Aiden Mathis has been upped to series regular on "Revenge" (Deadline.com); Matt Dallas has booked a three-episode arc on "Baby Daddy" as "the typical perfect guy" who sweeps Riley (Chelsea Kane) off her feet (THR.com); F. Murray Abraham will guest on "Do No Harm" as "a ruthless Russian gangster" (EW.com); Ernie Hudson has been cast the father of Tempestt Bledsoe's Marney on "Guys With Kids" (TVGuide.com); and Annie Wersching is set to recur on "Dallas" as "an ambitious and sexy transportation commissioner" (TVLine.com).






  [october 2012]  
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· BABY DADDY (FREEFORM)
· BOARDWALK EMPIRE (HBO)
· CLAN, THE (ABC)
· DALLAS (TNT)
· DEVELOPMENT UPDATE (TFC)
· DO NO HARM (NBC)
· FAMILY TREE (HBO)
· GCB (ABC)
· GHOST WHISPERER (CBS)
· GUYS WITH KIDS (NBC)
· HAWAII FIVE-0 (CBS)
· MIXOLOGY (ABC)
· NEWSROOM, THE (HBO)
· NOW WHAT? (ABC)
· PARADISE FALLS (FOX)
· PARKS & RECREATION (NBC)
· REIGN (CW)
· RETURN OF DANIEL SHEPHERD, THE (HBO)
· REVENGE (ABC)
· SECRET LIVES OF WIVES, THE (LIFETIME)
· THREE MOONS OVER MILFORD (ABC FAMILY)
· UNTITLED ALAN YANG PROJECT (NBC)
· UNTITLED ELLEN RAPOPORT PROJECT (NBC)
· UNTITLED MARGARET NAGLE PROJECT (CBS)
· WIDOW DETECTIVE, THE (CBS)





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