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[10/08/14 - 11:28 PM]
Development Update: Wednesday, October 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!


BLOODHOUNDS (CBS, New!) - Brandon Camp ("John Doe") is developing a new drama at the Eye which "centers on a hand-picked task force deputized by the U.S. Marshals who are immune to police protocols and use surveillance, technology and street experience to track down criminals, suspects and fugitives." The project is based on Franck Philippon and Xavier Matthieu's French series of the same name (Les Limiers) with Tagline Television's Chris Henze and Ron West also serving as executive producers for CBS Television Studios. (Deadline.com)


IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT (Showtime, New!) - Writer/director Tate Taylor (The Help) is developing a new TV series based on John Ball's book-turned-Oscar-winning 1967 feature, described as "an exploration of character and race set in modern-day Mississippi." MGM Television is behind the project, which is being eyed for straight-to-series pickup. Warren Littlefield and John Norris will also executive produce with The Littlefield Co.'s Ann Johnson serving as a producer. Caroll O'Connor and Howard Rollins starred in the previous TV incarnation, which ran on NBC and then CBS from 1988 to 1994. (Deadline.com)


MAN IN THE HIGH CASTLE, THE (Amazon; W: Frank Spotnitz; D: David Semel) - Geoffrey Blake has scored a role on the drama pilot, based on Philip K. Dick's Hugo Award-winning novel - about an alternate history in which the Axis Powers occupy the United States, where fascism rules and the few surviving Jews hide under assumed names. He's set as Doc, "a mechanic who supplies doses of Benzedrine to his truckers to keep them on the road," in the project, which also stars Alexa Davalos, Cary Tagawa, Joel de la Fuente, Michael Rispoli, Luke Kleintank and Rupert Evans. (Deadline.com)


SEEDS OF YESTERDAY (Lifetime, New!) - The cable channel has greenlit production on an adaptation of the fourth book in V.C. Andrews's Dollanganger series of novels. Shawn Ku is directing from a script by Darren Stein while Jason Lewis and Rachael Carpani will reprise their roles from "If There Be Thorns" as Christopher and Cathy Dollanganger. Joining them will be James Maslow as Bart Dollanganger. No other auspices were given for the project, from A+E Studios. (Deadline.com)


SLAP, THE (NBC/Universal; W: Jon Robin Baitz; D: Lisa Cholodenko) - Thomas Sadoski ("The Newsroom") is the latest to be cast in the limited series, a complex family drama that explodes from one small incident where a man slaps another couple's misbehaving child. He'll play will play Gary, "something of a hippie, husband to Rosie (Melissa George) and father to Hugo. Cajoled by his wife into attending Hector's birthday party, Gary quickly gets irritated when talk turns to getting into the right preschool and getting ahead. Fueled by too many beers, he gets into a heated discussion with Harry, ready to press charges when Harry slaps his son." Brian Cox, Makenzie Leigh, Mary-Louise Parker, Peter Sarsgaard, Zachary Quinto and Thandie Newton also star. (Deadline.com)


SPLITTING THE DIFFERENCE (ABC, New!) - Kat Coiro (A Case of You) is developing a new comedy based on Tré Miller-Rodriguez's memoir, "which chronicles her life in New York as a 34-year-old widow who reunites with the daughter she gave up for adoption at 18." Universal Television and UnbeliEVAble Entertainment are behind the half-hour, which will center on "a buttoned-down 17-year-old who reunites with her recently widowed 36-year-old biological mom and they become the heart of a patchwork family bound by more than blood." Eva Longoria and Ben Spector are also executive producing the project, which has a penalty attached. (Deadline.com)


UNTITLED LEN WISEMAN/SCOTT ROSENBAUM PROJECT (FOX, New!) - Director Len Wiseman ("Sleepy Hollow") and writer Scott Rosenbaum ("Gang Related") have booked a put pilot commitment from the network for a new drama "set in a foreseeable future, where companies have begun to colonize sections of our known galaxy. A mercenary search and rescue team is dispatched to investigate a distress signal from a prison transport that has crashed on an uncharted planet. This unlikely group of heroes will now have to work together when they encounter a much greater challenge on this mysterious planet than they could have anticipated." 20th Century Fox Television is behind the hour with Wiseman and Rosenbaum executive producing via their respective companies, Sketch Films and Skeeter Rosenbaum Productions. (Deadline.com)


UNTITLED LESLYE HEADLAND PROJECT (NBC, New!) - Leslye Headland (The Bachelorette) is developing a single-camera comedy for the Peacock "in which a failed political blogger restarts her life in NYC as the sex editor for a prestigious and provocative women's magazine." Universal Television is behind the project, which will also be executive produced by Joanna Coles, editor-in-chief of Cosmopolitan, David Bernad and Ruben Fleischer with Holly Whidden serving as a co-producer. (Deadline.com)


AND IN OTHER NEWS... - ABC has cut actor Stephen Collins from an upcoming episode of "Scandal" after reports of the actor being under investigation for child molestation (Deadline.com); Chris Bender and J.C. Spink's Benderspink banner has inked a first-look deal with Universal Cable Productions (Deadline.com); Sarah Clarke and Christina Ferraro will both recur on Amazon's upcoming original series "Bosch" (Deadline.com); Michael Nathanson's Dr. Levi Zinberg has been upped to series regular on Cinemax's "The Knick" (Deadline.com);

Brian Dennehy and Neal McDonough have booked arcs on TNT's newcomer "Public Morals" (Deadline.com); Jane Seymour will drop by "Forever" as Judd Hirsch's "Abraham's (twice) ex-wife, Maureen, whom he can�t seem to stay away from him despite past proof that their sexual tension and fiery passion can be toxic" (EW.com); Anthony Ruvivar is bound for "Nashville" as "a hard-hitting Rolling Stone reporter who isn't afraid to ask his interview subjects the hardball questions" (EOnline.com); and Aisha Dee will visit "Baby Daddy" as "Tucker's (Tahj Mowry) ex-wife, Olivia" (THR.com).






  [october 2014]  
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· BABY DADDY (FREEFORM)
· BLOODHOUNDS (CBS)
· BOSCH (AMAZON)
· DEVELOPMENT UPDATE (TFC)
· FOREVER (ABC)
· GANG RELATED (FOX)
· IF THERE BE THORNS (LIFETIME)
· IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT (SHOWTIME)
· JOHN DOE (FOX)
· KNICK, THE (CINEMAX)
· MAN IN THE HIGH CASTLE, THE (AMAZON)
· NASHVILLE (CMT)
· NEWSROOM, THE (HBO)
· PUBLIC MORALS (TNT)
· SCANDAL (ABC)
· SEEDS OF YESTERDAY (LIFETIME)
· SLAP, THE (NBC)
· SLEEPY HOLLOW (FOX)
· SPLITTING THE DIFFERENCE (ABC)
· UNTITLED LESLYE HEADLAND PROJECT (NBC)
· UNTITLED WISEMAN & ROSENBAUM PROJECT (FOX)





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