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[09/26/13 - 11:42 PM]
Development Update: Thursday, September 26
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 BASS PLAYER, HIS NEIGHBORS, THEIR LANDLORD & THEIR LOVERS (NBC, New!) - Pam Veasey ("CSI: NY") has sold a multi-camera comedy to the Peacock about "three guys and two women in their 20s who live in a brownstone in 2014 in the Foggy Bottom neighborhood of Washington, D.C., as they navigate relationships and careers in pursuit of love, sex, money and power. What these friends don't know is that in 2036, one of them will become the 50th President of the United States while the rest are unknowingly part of the vetting process of the future president." Warner Bros. Television is behind the half-hour with Jerry Bruckheimer and Jonathan Littman of the studio-based Jerry Bruckheimer Television executive producing alongside Veasey. KristieAnne Reed will also serve as a co-executive producer. (Deadline.com)


BOSCH (Amazon; W: Eric Overmeyer & Michael Connelly; D: TBA) - Veteran character actor Titus Welliver has been tapped for the title role of the drama pilot, based on Michael Connelly's novels about Harry Bosch (Welliver), a veteran police homicide detective with the Los Angeles Police Department. Fabrik Entertainment's Henrik Bastin and Mikkel Bondesen also serve as executive producers. (Deadline.com)


CLEMENTINE (ABC, New!) - Dean Georgaris (Tristan + Isolde) has booked a potential drama at the Alphabet about "a profoundly troubled 28-year-old psychic who sees her life to begin to change in unexpected ways when she decides to stop running from her past." The project is set up at ABC Studios with Mark Gordon and Nick Pepper executive producing alongside Georgaris via the former's The Mark Gordon Company banner. (Deadline.com)


CONSTANTINE (NBC, New!) - Daniel Cerone ("The Mentalist") and David S. Goyer ("Da Vinci's Demons") are set to team for a small screen take on the DC Comics character John Constantine, "an enigmatic and irreverent con man-turned-reluctant supernatural detective who is thrust into the role of defending us against dark forces from beyond." Warner Bros. Television is behind the hour, which has a penalty attached should it not go to pilot. Keanu Reeves previously played said role in Francis Lawrence's 2005 feature film of the same name. (Deadline.com)


COUNTING BACKWARDS (ABC, New!) - Ryan Tavlin is developing a small screen take on his 2007 feature of the same name, about "a lovable loser who, after being diagnosed with a rare terminal illness, moves back home to start living the good life that he should have been all along and starts writing a novel about the end of the world." Deborah Spera and Maria Grasso of the Sony Pictures Television-based One-Two Punch Productions will also serve as executive producers. (Deadline.com)


DEATH PACT (FX/FX Productions; W: Rob Long & Tad Safran; D: Randall Einhorn) - Steve Talley ("Friend Me") has joined the cast of the Tracy Morgan-led comedy pilot, about a formerly lazy, pot-dealing assistant high school coach, who returns to his hometown as a decorated war hero. He runs across three down-on-their-luck friends and former students and sucks them into his new radical self-help philosophy, which involves harsh consequences for failure. He'll play one of them, Ted Dunbar, "a middle-management type at an insurance company, frustrated that he hasn't had a raise in three years or been able to score a date with a pretty co-worker." (Deadline.com)


FARGO (FX/FX Productions/MGM; W: Noah Hawley; D: Adam Bernstein) - Martin Freeman ("Sherlock") is set to star opposite Billy Bob Thornton in the limited series, an adaptation of the classic Academy Award winning feature film of the same title by Joel & Ethan Coen. He'll play Lester Nygaard (Freeman), "a small town insurance salesman henpecked by his wife, whose life is changed when a mysterious stranger, Lorne Malvo (Thornton), comes to town." Said role is likened to William H. Macy's Jerry Lundegaard character from the film. (Deadline.com)


GUILT (FOX, New!) - Feature writers Nichole Millard and Kathryn Price (The Game Plan) have sold a new Amanda Knox-esque drama to the network billed as "a sexy, soapy, twisted thriller about an American girl who is studying abroad in London. When her Irish roommate is brutally murdered, she finds herself the prime suspect and focus of an international media frenzy." Lionsgate is behind the hour with Wonder Monkey's Steve McPherson executive producing alongside said duo. (Deadline.com)


INSECURITY (CBS, New!) - "NCIS" alum Jesse Stern is back in business with the Eye for a new drama which "centers on an obsessive compulsive former Federal Agent turned Head of Security at a Boston art museum who uses his unique professional and personal background - he was raised by criminals - to help solve complex local and federal cases across the country." Said effort is set up at CBS Television Studios and Oasis Media with Shane Brennan also serving as an executive producer via his Shane Brennan Productions banner. (Deadline.com)


LOVE IS (ABC, New!) - Ryan Tavlin has booked a potential drama at the Alphabet "which explores the tenuous and complex dynamic of love and dating through two radio hosts with diametrically opposing views." He'll write and presumably executive produce alongside Deborah Spera and Maria Grasso of the Sony Pictures Television-based One-Two Punch Productions. (Deadline.com)


NO ANGELS (ABC, New!) - Toby Whithouse's U.K. dramedy - about "a raucous group of four female nurses working together and sharing the same house" - is being developed as a single-camera comedy at the Alphabet. Kat Likkel and John Hoberg ("The Neighbors") are spearheading the adaptation, which is set up at ABC Studios and Amblin Television. The latter's Justin Falvey and Darryl Frank are also on board to executive produce the half-hour as is Julie Anne Robinson, who's also attached to direct. (Deadline.com)


TAKE DOWN (FOX, New!) - Newcomer Joe Webb has sold a new drama to the network "which tells the story of the Eden Prairie, IL, the small town that housed one of the biggest frauds in American history." Deborah Spera and Maria Grasso of the Sony Pictures Television-based One-Two Punch Productions will also serve as executive producers. (Deadline.com)


UNTITLED RICHARD MURPHY PROJECT (NBC, New!) - Richard Murphy has sold a potential comedy to the Peacock that "revolves around retirement-aged men and women still searching for love, financial security and a place to call their own in the hip community of Silverlake, CA." He'll write and presumably executive produce alongside Deborah Spera and Maria Grasso of the Sony Pictures Television-based One-Two Punch Productions. (Deadline.com)


UNTITLED TOM DONAGHY PROJECT (ABC, New!) - Tom Donaghy ("The Whole Truth") has set up a potential drama at the Alphabet about "a big city criminologist who is brought in to help local police crack a case involving a shocking string of disappearances. But the chief detective she's been hired to help is her father - and they haven't talked in 10 years." ABC Studios is behind the hour with Stearns Castle's Michael McDonald and The Mark Gordon Company's Mark Gordon and Nick Pepper also serving as executive producers. (Deadline.com)


WIFE NANNY (FOX, New!) - Spike Feresten ("Talkshow with Spike Feresten") has booked a multi-camera comedy at the network about "a sports executive who secretly hires a gay best friend for his wife in a misguided attempt to improve his marriage." The project, which has a penalty attached, is set up at Universal Television with Aggregate Films' Jason Bateman and James Garavente executive producing alongside Feresten and Peter Morgan. (Deadline.com)


AND IN OTHER NEWS... - Alanna Masterson will recur on "The Walking Dead" as "a new survivor in the world of the walking dead," a role which has the option to become a series regular (Deadline.com); Reginald VelJohnson and Meredith Baxter have been cast as the parents of Toks Olagundoye's Jackie Joyner-Kersee in a Thanksgiving-themed episode of "The Neighbors" (EW.com); Linda Bell Blue will depart "Entertainment Tonight" and "omg! Insider" at the end of their current seasons, to be succeeded by D.J. Petroro (Deadline.com); Patton Oswalt will guest on "Brooklyn Nine-Nine" as a fire marshal who butts heads with Andy Samberg's Jake Peralta (EW.com); Dylan Neal has booked a four-episode arc on "Arrow" as famed DC villain Dr. Anthony Ivo (ScreenCrush.com);

Laura Benanti is bound for "Elementary" as "a nanny whose CEO boss is found dead while wearing S&M gear" (TVGuide.com); Ana Ortiz will guest on "Revenge" as "a confident, fearless public relations specialist who's brought in by Conrad to do damage control for the Graysons" (TVLine.com); Michelle Hurd will drop by "Raising Hope" as a sketchy FBI agent in an upcoming Hitchcock-themed episode (TVLine.com); Charisma Carpenter will visit "Blue Bloods" as "a blowsy, flashy and overly needy beauty who beckons long-ago fling Danny for help when her fiancée decks her in a fit of 'roid rage" (TVLine.com); and Loretta Devine will drop by two episodes of USA's upcoming comedy "Sirens" as Hank's (Kevin Daniels) no-nonsense, church-going mother (TVGuide.com).






  [september 2013]  
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· ARROW (CW)
· BASS PLAYER, HIS NEIGHBORS, THEIR LANDLORD & THEIR LOVERS, THE (NBC)
· BLUE BLOODS (CBS)
· BOSCH (AMAZON)
· BROOKLYN NINE-NINE (NBC)
· CLEMENTINE (ABC)
· CONSTANTINE (NBC)
· COUNTING BACKWARDS (ABC)
· CSI: NEW YORK (CBS)
· DA VINCI'S DEMONS (STARZ)
· DEATH PACT (FX)
· DEVELOPMENT UPDATE (TFC)
· ELEMENTARY (CBS)
· ENTERTAINMENT TONIGHT (SYNDICATION)
· FARGO (FX)
· FRIEND ME (CBS)
· GUILT (FREEFORM)
· INSECURITY (CBS)
· INSIDER, THE (SYNDICATION)
· LOVE IS (ABC)
· MCKENNA FILES, THE (ABC)
· MENTALIST, THE (CBS)
· NCIS (CBS)
· NEIGHBORS, THE (ABC)
· NO ANGELS (BBC AMERICA)
· NO ANGELS (ABC)
· RAISING HOPE (FOX)
· REVENGE (ABC)
· SHERLOCK (PBS)
· SIRENS (USA)
· TAKE DOWN (FOX)
· TALKSHOW WITH SPIKE FERESTEN (FOX)
· UNTITLED RICHARD MURPHY PROJECT (NBC)
· WALKING DEAD, THE (AMC)
· WHOLE TRUTH, THE (ABC)
· WIFE NANNY (FOX)





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