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[02/24/14 - 11:47 PM]
Development Update: Monday, February 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!


ASTRONAUT WIVES CLUB, THE (ABC/ABC Studios; W: Stephanie Savage; D: Nick Cassavetes) - Nick Cassavetes (The Other Woman) has been tapped to helm the opening installment of the summer drama, which tells the true story of the women behind NASA's early astronauts and the struggles they face when their lives and families are catapulted into the spotlight overnight. He'll work from a script by Stephanie Savage. JoAnna Garcia Swisher stars. (Deadline.com)


BABYLON FIELDS (NBC/20th; W: Gerald Cuesta & Michael Atkinson; D: Michael Cuesta) - Skeet Ulrich ("Law & Order: LA") will star opposite Meagan Good in the drama pilot, in which the dead are resurrected and try to resume their former lives. He'll play the dual roles of Father Harries, "a local priest, and his estranged identical twin brother Graham, a junkie who returns from the dead." (Deadline.com)


BATTLE CREEK (CBS/Sony; W: David Shore & Vince Gilligan; D: TBA) - Janet McTeer ("The White Queen") has boarded the drama pilot, about a detective and an FBI agent with very different world views who are teamed up to clean up the semi-mean streets of Battle Creek, Michigan. She's set as Commander Guziewicz, Commander of the Battle Creek Police Department. Kal Penn also stars. (Deadline.com)


CLEMENTINE (ABC/ABC Studios; W: Dean Georgaris; D: Michael Dinner) - Mykelti Williamson ("Justified") is the latest addition to the drama pilot, about Clementine Ross (Sarah Snook), a habitual criminal who digs into the mystery of her origins after she becomes the target of a group of zealots who fear she possesses latent supernatural abilities that she will one day harness for either profound good or monstrous evil. He's set as Ray Allison, "a hard-working, recently divorced detective with the Philadelphia Police Department and a potential love interest to Clementine." Also starring are David Strathairn, Edwin Hodge, Kathleen Munroe, Kevin Alejandro and Nick Gehlfuss. (Deadline.com)


COERCION (NBC/Universal; W/D: George Nolfi) - Hope Davis and Margarita Levieva are set to star opposite Gavin Stenhouse in the drama pilot, about the O'Connor family and their son, Alex, a decorated American war hero and CIA analyst who is a true patriot and loves his country and family. Unbeknownst to him, both of his parents and his sister are part of a dormant Russian sleeper cell that has just been reactivated. They'll play his flat-out beautiful mother Katya and flirty sister Natalie in the project, which is based on the Israeli format "The Gordin Cell." (Deadline.com)


DIG (USA/UCP; W: Gideon Raff & Tim Kring; D: TBA) - S.J. Clarkson ("Mistresses") has been tapped to helm the debut installment of the series, about an FBI agent stationed in Jerusalem (Jason Isaacs) who, while investigating a murder of a young female archeologist, uncovers a conspiracy 2000 years in the making. Tim Kring and Gideon Raff are behind the six-episode project, which will shoot in Jerusalem as well as in other international locations. (Deadline.com)


FLASH, THE (The CW/Warner Bros.; W: Andrew Kreisberg, Geoff Johns & Greg Berlanti; D: David Nutter) - Michelle Harrison ("Emily Owens M.D.") has landed a role on the drama pilot, a small screen take on the DC Comics hero Barry Allen (Grant Gustin), a Central City assistant police forensics investigator-turned-superhero. He'll play his mother, Nora Allen, in the project, which also stars Candice Patton, Carlos Valdes, Danielle Panabaker, Jesse L. Martin, John Wesley Shipp, Rick Cosnett and Tom Cavanagh. (Deadline.com)


HOME (FOX/Warner Bros.; W: Aron Eli Coleite; D: TBA) - Aron Eli Coleite's drama - "a family thriller/soap that delves into the secrets lingering behind the facade of a suburban family" - has received an order for an off-season pilot plus additional scripts and a bible. Said hour is set up at the Warner Bros. Television-based Jerry Bruckheimer Television with Coleite, Bruckheimer and Jonathan Littman executive producing and KristieAnne Reed serving as a co-executive producer. (Deadline.com)


HOW TO GET AWAY WITH MURDER (ABC/ABC Studios; W: Peter Nowalk; D: Michael Offer) - Charlie Weber ("90210") has snagged a role on the drama pilot, about a group of ambitious law students and their brilliant, mysterious criminal defense professor, Annalise Dewitt (yet to be cast), who become entangled in a murder plot that will rock their entire university and change the course of their lives. He'll presumably play Frank Delgado, her associate, a macho, takes-no-shit type of guy, a local Philly boy done good. Aja Naomi King, Alfred Enoch, Jack Falahee, Karla Souza and Matt McGorry also star. (Deadline.com)


LOVE IS RELATIVE (NBC/20th; W: Dan Mazer; D: TBA) - Leslie Bibb ("About a Boy") is the first to board the multi-camera comedy pilot, about a wife and husband who begin to see their marriage in a whole new way after her newly divorced brother moves in. She'll play said wife, Rose, "a strong-willed, opinionated, fearless, wry-humored, say anything kind of woman and the mother of 6-year-old Maggie and 18-month-old Dylan." (Deadline.com)


MADAM SECRETARY (CBS/CTS; W: Barbara Hall; D: David Semel) - Tim Daly ("Private Practice") has scored a role on the drama pilot, about the personal and professional life of maverick Secretary of State Elizabeth Faulkner McGill (Tea Leoni) as she drives international diplomacy, wrangles office politics and balances a complex family life. He'll play her husband Henry McGill, "a professor of medieval religious history." (Deadline.com)


MARRY ME (NBC/Sony; W: David Caspe; D: Seth Gordon) - Sarah Wright and Tymberlee Hill have both been cast in the comedy pilot, about a young couple - Jake (Ken Marino) and Annie (Casey Wilson) - who get engaged, something they quickly realize is harder than it looks. The former will play Dennah, "Annie's best friend who has a take it or leave it attitude toward marriage"; with Hill as Kay, "Annie's eccentric but well-meaning neighbor." John Gemberling and Tim Meadows also star. (THR.com)


MORE TIME WITH FAMILY (CBS/20th; W: Cathy Yuspa & Josh Goldsmith & Tom Papa; D: James Burrows) - Sitcom legend James Burrows ("Friends with Better Lives") has signed on to direct the comedy pilot, about a husband and father (Papa) making a career change to spend more time with his family. Alyson Hannigan also stars. (Deadline.com)


MY THOUGHTS EXACTLY (ABC/ABC Studios; W: Jeff Lowell; D: TBA) - Chloe Wepper is the latest to be cast in the pilot, a romantic comedy which exposes the unfiltered internal monologues of a young couple, Peter (Jake McDorman) and Dana (Analeigh Tipton), embarking on a new relationship. She'll play Chloe, Peter's young sister, in the project, which also stars Jade Catta-Preta and Nicolas Wright. (Deadline.com)


MYSTERIES OF LAURA, THE (NBC/Warner Bros.; W: Jeff Rake; D: McG) - Laz Alonso ("Deception") has scored a role on the drama pilot, about Laura Diamond (Debra Messing), a female homicide detective who's great at her job but struggles to deal with her cheating husband and five-year-old identical twin boys. He'll play "Handsome" Billy Sands, her partner on the job. Said casting stems from a talent holding deal the actor previously signed with the network. (Deadline.com)


ONLY HUMAN (CBS/CTS; W: David Marshall Grant; D: TBA) - Jamie Lee Curtis ("NCIS") is the first to be cast in the drama pilot, about four siblings who had their entire lives documented by a filmmaker until age 32, when the documentary stops and everyone comes to find the four's real lives are quite different from the way they had been portrayed on TV. She'll play their mother, Caroline Lang, a part time clinician and runs the hospital with the authority of a woman with a distinguished career behind her. (Deadline.com)


SEA OF FIRE (ABC/Sony; W: Jenna Bans; D: Allison Liddi-Brown) - Amanda Detmer ("Necessary Roughness") is the latest addition to the drama pilot, which chronicles the fallout from three teenage girls starring in a pornographic film, an event that tears their families apart and leads to a disappearance and a murder in their small town of Serenity Falls. She'll play Adine McAllister, the Betty Cleaver-esque wife of Reverend Bobby (Jeffrey Nordling) and the mother to Jane (yet to be cast), the aforementioned missing girl. Christina Chang, Isabelle Cornish, Jack Davenport, Jennifer Carpenter, Keir Gilchrist, Kevin G. Schmidt, Lilli Birdsell and Zoe Soul also star. (Deadline.com)


SECRETS & LIES (ABC/ABC Studios; W: Barbie Kligman; D: Charles McDougall) - Clifton Collins, Jr. ("Red Widow") has landed a role on the drama pilot, about Ben Garner (Ryan Phillippe), a family man who finds the body of a young boy and quickly becomes the prime murder suspect. He'll play Dave Carlyle, "Ben's childhood friend and tenant in Ben's pool house who is unwaveringly supportive of Ben." (Deadline.com)


VISITORS, THE (ABC/ABC Studios; W: Soo Hugh; D: Mark Romanek) - Lily Rabe ("American Horror Story") has booked the female lead in the drama pilot, billed as a race against the clock to defeat an unseen alien enemy out to destroy the world by using the Earth's most precious resource: children. She'll play Claire Bennigan, "an FBI agent and single mother who is torn between work and home life." Barry Sloane, Catalina Denis, Derek Webster, Kyle Harrison Breitkopf and Milo Ventimiglia also star. (Deadline.com)


YOUR FAMILY OR MINE (TBS/Sony; W: Greg Malins; D: Gail Mancuso) - Gail Mancuso ("Modern Family") is set to helm the pilot, a family comedy with an unusual structure: each episode focuses on a different side of the family. She'll work from a script by Greg Malins, which is based on an Israeli format. (Deadline.com)


AND IN OTHER NEWS... - Jane Lynch will drop by Disney Channel's "Girl Meets World" in a yet-to-be revealed role (@JaneMarieLynch).






  [february 2014]  
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· 90210 (CW)
· ABOUT A BOY (NBC)
· ALLEGIANCE (NBC)
· AMERICAN HORROR STORY (FX)
· ASTRONAUT WIVES CLUB, THE (ABC)
· BABYLON FIELDS (NBC)
· BATTLE CREEK (CBS)
· CLEMENTINE (ABC)
· DECEPTION (NBC)
· DEVELOPMENT UPDATE (TFC)
· DIG (USA)
· EMILY OWENS, MD (CW)
· FLASH, THE (CW)
· FRIENDS WITH BETTER LIVES (CBS)
· GIRL MEETS WORLD (DISNEY)
· HOME (TNT)
· HOW TO GET AWAY WITH MURDER (ABC)
· JUSTIFIED (FX)
· LAW & ORDER: LOS ANGELES (NBC)
· LOVE IS RELATIVE (NBC)
· MADAM SECRETARY (CBS)
· MANHATTAN LOVE STORY (ABC)
· MARRY ME (NBC)
· MISTRESSES (ABC)
· MODERN FAMILY (ABC)
· MORE TIME WITH FAMILY (CBS)
· MYSTERIES OF LAURA, THE (NBC)
· NCIS (CBS)
· NECESSARY ROUGHNESS (USA)
· ONLY HUMAN (CBS)
· PRIVATE PRACTICE (ABC)
· RED WIDOW (ABC)
· SEA OF FIRE (ABC)
· SECRETS & LIES (ABC)
· WHISPERS, THE (ABC)
· WHITE QUEEN, THE (STARZ)
· YOUR FAMILY OR MINE (TBS)





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