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[11/08/13 - 11:24 PM]
Development Update: Friday, November 8
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!


AN AMERICAN EDUCATION (ABC, New!) - The Alphabet has given a pilot order to a domestic take on the BBC Three single-camera comedy "Bad Education," about British transplant Alfie Wickers, "an unorthodox young teacher in the San Diego public school system. Alfie loves his students but his youthful, often naive enthusiasm and unconventional methods put him at odds with the test-obsessed administrators. He juggles his time between mentoring his students, bucking the system and pursuing the attractive new chemistry teacher." Jack Whitehall will reprise said role from the original incarnation as well as co-write the script alongside Peter Huyck and Alex Gregory. They'll likewise executive produce alongside Tiger Aspect Productions' Ben Cavey for ABC Studios. (Deadline.com)


EXTANT (CBS/CTS; W: Mickey Fisher; D: TBA) - Hiroyuki Sanada (The Wolverine) is the latest addition to the upcoming drama, about an astronaut (Halle Berry) who returns home from a year-long solo mission in space and tries to reconnect with her husband and son in their everyday life. Her experiences in space and home lead to events that ultimately will change the course of human history. He'll play "a wealthy technological genius who put his wealth to work privatizing the world's space programs into a single entity." Pierce Gagnon also stars. (Deadline.com)


POWER (Starz/CTS; W: Courtney Kemp Agboh; D: TBA) - Sinqua Walls, Kathrine Narducci and Adam Huss have all landed roles on the Omari Hardwick-led drama, about James "Ghost" St. Patrick, a wealthy New York City nightclub owner who caters to the city's elite who also is the kingpin of the most lucrative drug network in New York for a very high-level clientele. Walls will play Shawn, "once a promising college basketball player, who was injured and now works is Ghost's personal chauffeur"; with Narducci as Frankie, "a sexy lesbian with a high-level government job, a U.S. Attorney, in charge of an ongoing investigation into the drug trade"; and Huss as Josh, "the sharp new manager of Ghost's nightclub." Joseph Sikora, Lela Loren and Naturi Naughton also star. (Deadline.com)


SECRETS OF HAPPY FAMILIES (CBS, New!) - Owen Ellickson ("The Office") is looking to bring Bruce Feiler's book - "a collection of recommended practices for modern-day parents" - to the small screen at the Eye. The comedy, from CBS Television Studios, will revolve around "a blue-collar family that has their patience tested when a parenting expert moves in next door with his wife and kids." David Brownfield will also serve as an executive producer with Feiler himself as a consultant. (Deadline.com)


UNTITLED DAN LAGANA PROJECT (CBS, New!) - Dan Lagana ("Zach Stone Is Gonna Be Famous") has booked a potential comedy at the Eye about "a newly married couple who navigates the changes in their relationship and the chaos in their household as they raise a toddler and a teenager at the same time." CBS Television Studios-based The Tannenbaum Company is behind the half-hour with the company's Eric Tannenbaum and Kim Tannenbaum executive producing alongside Lagana. (THR.com)


UNTITLED DAVID MARSHALL GRANT PROJECT (CBS, New!) - David Marshall Grant ("Smash") has sold a potential drama to the Eye about "a counter-insurgency expert who comes back from Afghanistan to his old police precinct and begins to use techniques he employed overseas to try to control gang violence at home." CBS Television Studios is behind the hour with former network executive David Brownfield and Tribeca Productions' Robert De Niro and Jane Rosenthal executive producing alongside Grant. Berry Welsh is also attached as a co-executive producer. (Deadline.com)


AND IN OTHER NEWS... - Alan Alda will guest star on "The Blacklist" as "another man from Raymond 'Red' Reddington's (James Spader) past" (AccessHollywood.com); Maria Menounos will return to "The Mindy Project" as "a fictionalized version of herself who will immediately steal the heart of Adam Pally's frat boy man, Peter" (TVLine.com); and country music star Charlie Worsham will drop by "Bones" as "an aspiring country-western crooner who winds up the centerpiece of a Jeffersonian investigation" (TVLine.com).






  [november 2013]  
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· AMERICAN EDUCATION, AN (ABC)
· BLACKLIST, THE (NBC)
· BONES (FOX)
· DEVELOPMENT UPDATE (TFC)
· EXTANT (CBS)
· MINDY PROJECT, THE (HULU)
· OFFICE, THE (NBC)
· POWER (STARZ)
· SECRETS OF HAPPY FAMILIES (CBS)
· SMASH (NBC)
· UNTITLED DAN LAGANA PROJECT (CBS)
· UNTITLED DAVID MARSHALL GRANT PROJECT (CBS)
· ZACH STONE IS GONNA BE FAMOUS (MTV)





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