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[10/24/12 - 11:07 PM]
Development Update: Wednesday, October 24
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!


BLENDED (ABC, New!) - Christopher Moynihan ("Man Up!") is returning to the Alphabet for a potential comedy in which "four twentysomethings are thrust together when their grown parents marry." ABC Studios is behind the half-hour, home to Moynihan's overall deal. Tagline Television's Willie Mercer, Chris Henze, J.B. Roberts, Ron West and Kelly Kulchak presumably will also executive produce. (Deadline.com)


BRAINSTORM (USA, New!) - Sian Heder ("Men of a Certain Age") has sold a new drama to the cable channel about "brilliant neurologist Angie Hunter as she diagnoses the seemingly impossible mysteries of the brain, but her laser-like focus and unconventional wit rubs her patients the wrong way." Universal Cable Productions and Tagline Television are behind the hour with Willie Mercer, Chris Henze, J.B. Roberts, Ron West and Kelly Kulchak presumably executive producing alongside Heder. (Deadline.com)


GARAGE BAR (ABC, New!) - Zach Braff ("Scrubs") is back in business with the Alphabet for a new comedy about "a group of friends who start to experience the ups and downs of fame when one of them becomes a pop star." He'll write, direct and executive produce the potential half-hour - but not star - for 20th Century Fox Television. (Deadline.com)


LISA JONES CLUB, THE (ABC, New!) - Barbara Marshall ("Terra Nova") has booked a potential drama at the Alphabet about "down-on-their-luck suburban wives who embark on a criminal spree to make ends meet." She'll write and serve as a co-executive producer for Universal Cable Productions and Tagline Television. The latter's Willie Mercer, Chris Henze, J.B. Roberts, Ron West and Kelly Kulchak presumably will executive produce. (Deadline.com)


MEAN MOMS (USA, New!) - Comedian Elizabeth Beckwith has landed a potential comedy at the cable channel which "chronicles what happens when the 'mean girls' from high school years become the 'mean moms' at your kids' school." Said half-hour comes from Universal Cable Productions and Tagline Television with Willie Mercer, Chris Henze, J.B. Roberts, Ron West and Kelly Kulchak presumably executive producing alongside Beckwith. (Deadline.com)


RAKE (FOX, New!) - The proposed Greg Kinnear-led import of the Australian drama has found a home at FOX where it has a pilot production commitment. Said hour, produced by Sony Pictures Television and Essential Media, follows "brilliant, iconoclastic and innately self-destructive" criminal defense lawyer Cleaver Greene (Kinnear), who "has a mind-numbing lack of discretion and a total inability to pause before speaking his mind." Peter Duncan, co-creator of the original series, will pen the script and executive produce alongside Richard Roxburgh and Ian Collie. Kinnear will receive a co-executive producer credit while showrunner Paul Attanasio is no longer attached. (Deadline.com)


S.H.I.E.L.D. (ABC) - Ming-Na Wen ("Stargate Universe") has boarded the pilot, a drama set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, following the small screen adventures of the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division. She'll play Agent Melinda May (formerly Althea Rice), an ace pilot, a "soulful and slightly damaged" weapons expert and a soldier who can - and has - gone beyond the call of duty. Clark Gregg also stars in the ABC Studios-based hour, from co-writers Joss Whedon, his brother Jed Whedon and Maurissa Tancharoen. Jeffrey Bell and Marvel Television's Jeph Loeb also serve as executive producers. (Deadline.com)


TRIGGER MEN (IFC, New!) - Kyle Winters and Mike Anderson's comic book - which follows the lives of two hitmen, Matt Whit and Jason McCarty, as they navigate the absurd world of contract killing - is being developed as a dark comedy at the cable channel. Michael Davis ("Shoot 'Em Up") is spearheading the project, which also comes from Tagline Television's Willie Mercer, Chris Henze, J.B. Roberts, Ron West and Kelly Kulchak. (Deadline.com)


UNTITLED ANNIE MUMOLO PROJECT (ABC) - Kat Likkel and John Hoberg ("Better with You") has signed on to executive produce the Annie Mumolo-penned comedy, which has been rolled from last season. They'll serve as showrunners of the ABC Studios-based half-hour with Tagline Television's Willie Mercer, Chris Henze, J.B. Roberts, Ron West and Kelly Kulchak also presumably executive producing. No details about the project were given. (Deadline.com)


UNTITLED JASON JONES PROJECT (FOX, New!) - "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" mainstay Jason Jones is set to write and star in a potential comedy at the network about "a successful single guy (Jones) in Manhattan who never wanted a family until his sister's two kids are thrust upon him when she is called back to active duty." Carousel Television's Steve Carell and Thom Hinkle and Depth of Field's Chris Weitz, Paul Weitz and Andrew Miano also serve as executive producers on the half-hour, which has been set up at 20th Century Fox Television. (Deadline.com)


UNTITLED ROBERT PADNICK PROJECT (NBC, New!) - Robert Padnick ("The Office") has sold a potential comedy to the Peacock about "four hopeful city-dwellers who step through the endless mine field of their romantic entanglements." Said half-hour, which has a penalty attached, comes from Universal Television with Greg Daniels and Tracy Katsky of Deedle Dee Productions and Howard Klein of 3 Arts Entertainment set to executive produce alongside Padnick. (Deadline.com)


UNTITLED THOMAS BRADSHAW PROJECT (HBO, New!) - Playwright Thomas Bradshaw ("The Bereaved") is set to pen a potential drama at the pay channel about "a wealthy academic who has become the first black president of a prestigious liberal arts college, thrusting he and his family are thrust into national headlines all while engaging in agonizing personal battles and struggling with dark obsessions." Harpo Films is behind the hour which the company's Oprah Winfrey and Kate Forte will executive produce with Bradshaw serving as a co-executive producer. (THR.com)


VINE, THE (TNT, New!) - Jeremy Bernstein ("Leverage") has sold a potential drama to the cable channel about "a lifestyle blogger who mobilizes her vast readership to solve crimes after the death of her father." He'll write and serve as a co-executive producer alongside Chris Swain and Larry Bond with John Rogers and Tagline Television's Willie Mercer, Chris Henze, J.B. Roberts, Ron West and Kelly Kulchak presumably also among the executive producers. (Deadline.com)


AND IN OTHER NEWS... - TNT has opted not to pick up the option on co-star Garcelle Beauvais for the third season of "Franklin & Bash" (@GarcelleB); twin brothers Taylor and Evan Hart have booked a three-episode arc on "House of Lies" as millionaire nightclub owners (Variety.com); Ryan Cartwright will guest on "The Big Bang Theory" as a classmate of Kaley Cuoco's newly school bound Penny (THR.com); Adam Ferrera will recur on "Nurse Jackie" as an NYPD officer/love interest for Edie Falco's titular character (TVLine.com); Conan O'Brien and Andy Richter are both slated to appear in Netflix's "Arrested Development" revival (TeamCoco.com); Rick Worthy has been cast as the estranged father to Kat Graham's Bonnie on "The Vampire Diaries" (TVGuide.com); Freda Foh Shen likewise has scored the role of Joan Watson's (Lucy Liu) mother on "Elementary" (TVLine.com); and Dallas Roberts and Anika Noni Rose are the latest actors due back on "The Good Wife" (TVGuide.com).






  [october 2012]  
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· ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT (NETFLIX)
· BETTER WITH YOU (ABC)
· BIG BANG THEORY, THE (CBS)
· BLENDED (ABC)
· BRAINSTORM (USA)
· DEVELOPMENT UPDATE (TFC)
· ELEMENTARY (CBS)
· FRANKLIN & BASH (TNT)
· GARAGE BAR (ABC)
· GOOD WIFE, THE (CBS)
· LEVERAGE (TNT)
· LISA JONES CLUB, THE (ABC)
· MAN UP! (ABC)
· MARVEL'S AGENTS OF SHIELD (ABC)
· MEAN MOMS (USA)
· MEN OF A CERTAIN AGE (TNT)
· NURSE JACKIE (SHOWTIME)
· OFFICE, THE (NBC)
· RAKE (ACORN TV)
· RAKE (FOX)
· SCRUBS (ABC)
· STARGATE UNIVERSE (SYFY)
· TERRA NOVA (FOX)
· TRIGGER MEN (IFC)
· UNTITLED ANNIE MUMOLO PROJECT (ABC)
· UNTITLED JASON JONES PROJECT (FOX)
· UNTITLED ROBERT PADNICK PROJECT (NBC)
· UNTITLED THOMAS BRADSHAW PROJECT (HBO)
· VAMPIRE DIARIES, THE (CW)
· VINE, THE (TNT)





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