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[09/25/13 - 11:55 PM]
Development Update: Wednesday, September 25
By The Futon Critic Staff (TFC) |
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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!
ANGEL TIME (CBS, New!) - Director Joe Carnahan ("The Blacklist") and writers Liz W. Garcia and Joshua Harto ("Memphis Beat") are looking to bring Anne Rice's "Songs of the Seraphim" novels - "a New Orleans-set high-stakes, operatic drama about Toby O'Dare, a soulless assassin with a tragic past who finds himself on a road to redemption" - to the small screen. The project is set up at CBS Television Studios with Carl Beverly and Sarah Timberman of Timberman-Beverly Productions executive producing alongside Rice and said trio. (Deadline.com)
BATTLE CREEK (CBS) - Vince Gilligan ("Breaking Bad") and David Shore ("House") have joined forces for a new drama at the Eye about "two detectives with very different world views who are teamed up to clean up the semi-mean streets of Battle Creek, Michigan." Sony Pictures Television and CBS Television Studios are behind the hour, which reportedly has a 13-episode commitment. The pair co-wrote the pilot - the former of which is expected to direct - with Gran Via Productions' Mark Johnson also serving as an executive producer. Gilligan and Johnson previously developed the project a decade ago at the network. (Deadline.com)
THE BLACK BOX (ABC; W: Amy Holden Jones; D: Simon Curtis) - Terry Kinney ("NYC 22") has scored a role on the limited series, about Dr. Elizabeth Black (Kelly Reilly), a world-famous neuroscientist who unwraps the mysteries of the brain as she juggles complex issues of her own. He's set as Dr. Owen Morely, "the hostipal medical director and Elizabeth's former teacher/mentor." Vanessa Redgrave also stars. (THR.com)
THE BROTHERS BRINK (ABC, New!) - Scott Prendergast ("Wilfred") is developing a new comedy at the Alphabet about two brothers who "after growing up at each other's throats are now trying to forge a friendship." The presumably single-camera project comes from the ABC Studios-based Mandeville Films with Todd Lieberman, David Hoberman and Laurie Zaks also among the executive producers. (THR.com)
GIRLS WITHOUT BOYS (ABC, New!) - Emily Goldwyn and Sasha Spielberg, daughters of John Goldwyn and Steven Spielberg, have booked a single-camera comedy at the Alphabet about "three brilliant but socially challenged girls as they navigate the world outside of single sex education with the help of their eccentric teachers and parents." Caroline Williams ("Arrested Development") is supervising the half-hour, which is set up at the Warner Bros. Television-based Le Train Train Productions. The company's Rashida Jones and Will McCormack then will executive produce with Jeff Grosvenor producing. (Deadline.com)
HOUDINI (ABC, New!) - Jeff Addis and Will Matthews are developing a new drama at the network which "follows legendary illusionist Harry Houdini when he partners with an unusually gifted female detective to solve the cases that baffle the LAPD in what is described as a fast-paced modern-day procedural." Todd Lieberman, David Hoberman and Laurie Zaks are also on board to executive produce via their ABC Studios-based Mandeville Films. (THR.com)
LIFE IS MURDER (ABC, New!) - David Grae ("Castle") has snagged a script order from the Alphabet for a mother-daughter crime drama "in which the daughter works as a robbery-homicide detective and the mother is a criminal psychologist/profiler." Grae is writing and executive producing alongside Todd Lieberman, David Hoberman and Laurie Zaks for the ABC Studios-based Mandeville Films. (THR.com)
MIDDLESCENCE (CBS, New!) - Jeff Astrof ("Ground Floor") has scored a put pilot commitment from the Eye for a multi-camera family comedy about "a married couple that struggles to raise four adolescents: their two kids, her older brother and his mother." Warner Bros. Television is behind the half-hour, with Bill Lawrence and Jeff Ingold of the studio-based Doozer Productions banner also serving as executive producers. (Deadline.com)
THE MONEY (HBO; W: David Milch; D: Justin Chadwick) - Nathan Lane ("The Good Wife") is the latest addition to the drama pilot, about American mogul and patriarch James Castman (Brendan Gleeson), who wields power and influence to expand his media empire and control his family. He'll play Gordon McCarren, "a reporter for VistaCorp's New York Herald whose job hangs by a thread. He hasn't had a byline in weeks, and he's desperate to garner evidence to support a hot scoop." Frank Rich, Art Linson and John Linson also serve as executive producers on the project. (Deadline.com)
MOST LIKELY (TBS) - Josh Heald's multi-camera comedy - about a former "most likely to succeed" star student who returns to his hometown after losing his job and winds up working for the former (and still) "most popular" jock - has been ordered to pilot by the cable channel. Warner Horizon Television and Conaco Productions are behind the half-hour, from executive producers Conan O'Brien, Jeff Ross and David Kissinger. (Deadline.com)
OASIS (CBS, New!) - John Hlavin (Underworld: Awakening) has set up a new drama at the Eye about "the inhabitants of a new self-sustaining perfect community who discover there may be danger and mystery to the greater purpose of this Oasis." The Warner Bros. Television-based Jerry Bruckheimer Television is behind the hour with Bruckheimer and Jonathan Littman executive producing alongside Hlavin and KristieAnne Reed serving as a co-executive producer. (Deadline.com)
PARK ROAD (NBC, New!) - Mitchell Burgess and Robin Green ("Blue Bloods") have received a script order - with a penalty attached - from the Peacock for a new drama about "three orphaned siblings forced to flee their big city life when the eldest of the three accidentally kills an Albania mobster in a drug scuffle. With the body in their trunk, they escape to Park Road, an isolated ex-urban neighborhood where no one turns out to be as benign and ordinary as they seem." The project, from Sony Pictures Television and eOne Television, is based on the Danish series of the same name. The latter's Carrie Stein and Becca Tesarfreund then will presumably executive produce alongside Burgess and Green. (Deadline.com)
SONGBYRD (E!/UCP; W: Krista Vernoff; D: Michael Morris) - Rumer Willis ("90210") has been cast in the drama pilot, about Lauren Byrd (Bethany Joy Lenz), a young, prolific songwriter of some of the best love songs struggles to find love in her personal life after her inspiration is revealed to be a lie. She'll play her sister Mickey, "a smart, somewhat introverted young woman who is trying to figure out what's next in her life after an episode forced her to drop out of law school, [who] now works for her sister, helping her keep her life together as she secretly works on her own singing and songwriting." (Deadline.com)
UNTITLED JILL GORDON PROJECT (Bravo, New!) - Jill Gordon ("Cupid") is developing a new drama at the cable channel about "an eccentric New England family that decides to take justice into its own hands when its matriarch is murdered. When the murderer is freed on a technicality, they decide to hunt down the killer together, as a family." Dan Lin's Warner Bros. Television-based Lin Pictures is behind the hour, which he'll executive produce alongside Gordon and Jennifer Gwartz. (Deadline.com)
UNTITLED W. BLAKE HERRON PROJECT (TNT, New!) - W. Blake Herron (The Bourne Identity) has scored a pilot order from the cable channel for a new drama about "an agent of unknown identity that is trained and ready to serve - deployed only at the careful discretion of the Vice President, following the instructions of the original founding fathers - in times of extreme crisis, when traditional law and government aren't in position to help." Armyan Bernstein ("Castle") will also serve as an executive producer on the hour, to be developed in house. (Deadline.com)
WARRIORS (ABC, New!) - Chris Keyser ("Lone Star") has booked a potential drama at the Alphabet about "American soldiers and their families as well as the doctors and nurses who live and work at a national military hospital." ABC Studios is behind the hour with Mandeville Films' Todd Lieberman, David Hoberman and Laurie Zaks also serving as executive producers. (THR.com)
WHITE EYE (ABC, New!) - Danish writer Stefan Jaworski has set up a potential drama at the Alphabet about "a secret NSA unit spearheaded by a strong-willed female agent and her paranoid male counterpart who use state-of-the-art technology to access every online camera on the planet." Todd Lieberman and David Hoberman's ABC Studios-based Mandeville Films is behind the hour, which they'll executive produce alongside Laurie Zaks and Jaworski. (THR.com)
YOUNG & HUNGRY (ABC Family; W: David Holden; D: TBA) - Emily Osment ("Hannah Montana") is the first to be cast in the comedy pilot, about Nick, a well-off young tech entrepreneur, hires Gabi, a feisty young food blogger, to be his personal chef. She'll play the latter role, billed as "blunt and klutzy and has an outrageous sense of style. But not only does she have a true gift for cooking, she has the ability to figure out what it is people want to eat." Ashley Tisdale, Eric Tannenbaum, Jessica Rhoades and Kim Tannenbaum also serve as executive producers. (Deadline.com)
AND IN OTHER NEWS... - Robert De Niro will succeed the late James Gandolfini on HBO's seven-hour mini-series "Criminal Justice" (Deadline.com); Bryan Cranston will return to "How I Met Your Mother" as architect/Ted's former boss Hammond Druthers (@CBSTweet); Netflix's chief content officer Ted Sarandos says there is "no question" there would be more "Arrested Development" on the service, either as a new series of episodes or a movie (Reuters.com); Barry Shabaka Henley will guest on "The Crazy Ones" as "a used-car-lot owner who's one of Simon's (Robin Williams) first clients" (TVLine.com);
Jim Gaffigan will drop by FOX's "Us & Them" as a neighbor to Pam (Jane Kaczmarek) and Michael (Kurt Fuller) who seems normal but actually has a dark secret (TVLine.com); Robin Weigert will return as Voight's (Jason Beghe) handler on "Chicago Fire" spin-off "Chicago PD" as well as co-star on Showtime's "Trending Down" as Thom's (Phillip Seymour Hoffman) co-worker at the advertising agency (Deadline.com); and Annabelle Stephenson is bound for "Revenge" as "a no-nonsense beauty and spitfire who was raised in Long Island but far from Hampton's society" (Deadline.com).
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