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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!
ASTRONAUT WIVES CLUB, THE (ABC/ABC Studios; W: Stephanie Savage; D: Nick Cassavetes) - Desmond Harrington ("Dexter") is the latest to board 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 play Alan Shepherd, "one of the Mercury 7 astronauts and the first American in space. Despite a playboy reputation, he and his wife Louise (yet to be cast) were married for 53 years." Azure Parsons, JoAnna Garcia Swisher, Odette Annable and Zoe Boyle also star. (Deadline.com)
FEED ME (NBC/Universal; W: Sally Robinson; D: Michael Trim) - Debra Monk ("Girls") is the latest addition to the Mary-Louise Parker-led comedy pilot, about a dysfunctional family bound by love and the restaurant they run together. She's set as Alice, the mother of Parker's character, in the project, which also stars Ethan Peck, Ed Quinn and Hart Bochner. (Deadline.com)
HAND OF GOD (Amazon; W: Ben Watkins; D: Marc Forster) - Garret Dillahunt ("Raising Hope") has boarded the drama pilot, about the powerful Judge Harris Pernell (Ron Perlman), a hard-living, law-bending married man with a high-end call girl on the side who has a religious awakening and starts having visions and hearing voices through his ventilator-bound son that could be God speaking to him. He'll play KD, "a young man who went looking for religion to cure his raging temper. He thinks he's found God, but he is still a sociopath, and his temper is still raging." Alona Tal and Julian Morris also star. (Deadline.com)
JACKASS OF ALL TRADES (TBS, New!) - Newcomers Seth Fisher and Danny Mackey have sold a potential comedy to the cable channel about "a devoted stay-at-home dad who, after landing his family in dire financial trouble, resorts to earning a living doing odd jobs off of Craigslist... very odd jobs." Aperture Entertainment's Adam Goldworm and Sunday Night Productions' John Krasinski and Alyson Seeger are executive producing the half-hour with Fisher and Mackey serving as co-executive producers. No format or studio was specified. (Deadline.com)
ONE BIG HAPPY (NBC/Warner Bros.; W: Liz Feldman; D: Scott Ellis) - Comedian Rebecca Corry has booked a role on the comedy pilot, about Lizzy (Elisha Cuthbert), a lesbian, and Luke (Nick Zano), her straight male best friend, who get pregnant just as he meets and marries the love of his life, Prudence (yet to be cast). She'll play Leisha, Lizzy's older sister, who's "married with an 'oops' baby that doesn't stop her from being a bit of a wild child herself." Brandon Smith also stars. (Deadline.com)
SAINT FRANCIS (ABC/ABC Studios; W: Christopher Moynihan; D: TBA) - "Burn Notice" alum Sharon Gless has been tapped for a role on the comedy pilot, about Francis Quinlan (Michael Imperioli), a blue-collar, no-nonsense Long Island cop and family man who butts heads with the modern, liberal world when his 29-year-old sister (Spencer Grammer) gets pregnant out of wedlock. She'll play their mother, Janice, "an Irish Catholic widow/martyr who has taken up permanent residence in Francis' basement." Henry Simmons, Jeremy Luke and Paget Brewster also star. (Deadline.com)
STATE OF AFFAIRS (NBC/Universal; W: Alexi Hawley; D: Joe Carnahan) - Leslie Odom, Jr. ("Smash") is the latest to be cast in the drama pilot, about Charleston Whitney Tucker (Katherine Heigl), a key CIA attache who counsels the president on high-stakes incidents around the world, all while balancing her intense political responsibilities with a complicated personal life. He's set Mitchell Manning, Chief of Staff to the President of the U.S. Tommy Savas, Cliff Chamberlain, Sheila Vand and Adam Kaufman also star. (Deadline.com)
TOOKEN (NBC/Universal; W: Robert Carlock & Tina Fey; D: Tristram Shapeero) - Sara Chase and Lauren Adams have both landed roles on the comedy pilot, about Kimmy Schmidt (Ellie Kemper), a woman who escapes from a doomsday cult and starts life over in New York City. The former will play Cyndee, "Kimmy's best friend from the cult"; with the latter as Gretchen, "a member of the cult for the past 10 years and the only member who has been successfully brainwashed and believes everything she was told." Tituss Burgess also stars. (Deadline.com)
UNTITLED KEVIN WILLIAMSON PROJECT (CBS/Warner Bros.; W: Kevin Williamson; D: Liz Friedlander) - "Nikita" alum Maggie Q has been tapped as the female lead on the drama pilot, a psychological thriller centering around a pair of detectives who handle stalking incidents for the Threat Management Unit of the LAPD. She'll play one of them, Beth Davis, the "opinionated and obsessive, workaholic division captain of LAPD's Threat Assessment Unit who also narrates the story." Dylan McDermott and Mariana Klaveno also star. (Deadline.com)
UNTITLED KZK PROJECT (Netflix/Sony; W: Todd A. Kessler, Daniel Zelman & Glenn Kessler; D: Johan Renck) - Sam Shepard (August: Osage County) will round out the cast of the upcoming drama, about a family of adult siblings whose secrets and scars are revealed when their black sheep brother returns home. He'll play Rayburn family patriarch Robert in the project, which also stars Ben Mendelsohn, Jacinda Barrett, Jamie McShane, Kyle Chandler, Linda Cardellini, Norbert Leo Butz and Sissy Spacek. (Deadline.com)
AND IN OTHER NEWS... - Sony Pictures Television is reportedly looking to revive its failed FX pilot "Powers" as a 10-episode series for PlayStation Network (Deadline.com); "Being Human" executive producer Anna Fricke has inked a two-year overall deal with 20th Century Fox Television where she'll serve as showrunner on the studio's upcoming drama "Hieroglyph" (Deadline.com); Treat Williams will guest on the season finale of "CSI" as "a Sheriff's Deputy back in the late 1980s demonstrated a knack for invention and an aptitude for forensic science" (TVLine.com); Dwight Yoakam is bound for "Under the Dome" as the owner of Chester's Mill's barbershop who has a complicated history with Big Jim (EW.com); and Amanda Righetti play a pediatrician on upcoming crossover episodes of "Chicago Fire" and "Chicago PD" (EOnline.com).
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