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[10/13/15 - 11:29 PM]
Development Update: Tuesday, October 13
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!


DOWN BEAT, THE (CBS, New!) - Paul Downs Colaizzo have booked a potential drama at the Eye about "a former business mogul on a warpath for personal retribution who is determined to take down two warring gangs in the mean streets of Atlanta by offering possible teen recruits an unlikely refuge: a high school marching band." Chris "Ludacris" Bridges and Ryan Seacrest Productions' Ryan Seacrest and Nina Wass are also on board to executive produce for CBS Television Studios. (Deadline.com)


FAMILY SHOW (ABC, New!) - Danny Zuker ("Modern Family") has scored a put pilot commitment from the Alphabet for a single-camera comedy "set behind the scenes of a fictional family sitcom, following crew members on set and at home." 20th Century Fox Television is producing. (Deadline.com)


IN DEEP (FOX, New!) - Kathryn Price and Nichole Millard (The Game Plan) have sold a potential drama to the network about "undercover FBI agents who live double lives, as they investigate a new case each season. The first season would revolve around a murder investigation in the sexy world of competitive surfing on the North Shore of Oahu." 20th Century Fox Television and Lionsgate Television are co-producing. (Variety.com)


MARRIED WITH ROOMMATES (CBS, New!) - Mike Lisbe and Nate Reger ("Cougar Town") have set up a new multi-camera comedy at the Eye about "a young, recently married couple in New York City who realize they can't afford their own place and decide the best option is to start their life together... in an apartment with three roommates." The project is based on Michelle Higgins's piece in The New York Times published back in April. Universal Television-based David Janollari Entertainment is behind the half-hour with Janollari and Storied Media Group's Dennis Kim and Todd Hoffman also serving as executive producers. (Deadline.com)


MAX (HBO, New!) - Lisa Joyce ("Billy & Billie") is set to star in a new single-camera comedy pilot at the pay channel "set in 1963 about the struggles of second wave feminism, centered on an ambitious magazine writer, Maxine Woodruff (Joyce), looking for liberation. Maxine is an enthusiastic, if misguided, low-level magazine employee who stumbles into the forefront of a civil rights movement both she and the world may not be ready for." Murray Miller and Lena Dunham will write and direct the half-hour, respectively, as well as executive produce alongside A Casual Romance Productions' Jenni Konner and Ilene Landress. (Deadline.com)


ON THE LINE (FOX, New!) - Ingrid Escajeda ("Empire") has booked a potential drama at the network about "a female chef, Juna Kim, a man-izing, motorcycle-riding force of nature who must battle the banging and brawling chaos of her restaurant staff, the disdain of her old-school Korean parents, and the return of her estranged ex-husband, all while struggling to push her career beyond the famous burger that made her a star." The 20th Century Fox Television-based project is inspired by the life of renowned chef Sang Yoon, who will receive an executive producer credit. (Deadline.com)


RIVER (Netflix, New!) - Netflix has acquired the exclusive international streaming rights to the six-part drama, about "a brilliant police officer whose genius and fault line is the fragility of his mind - a man haunted by the murder victims whose cases he must lay to rest." Stellan Skarsgård stars as the title character, John River, with Nicola Walker as Jackie "Stevie" Stevenson, Adeel Akhtar as Ira King, Lesley Manville as Chrissie Read, Sorcha Cusack as Bridie, Georgina Rich as Rosa and Eddie Marsan. Abi Morgan is behind the project, from Endemol Shine International and Kudos, which is due to begin streaming on November 18. Jane Featherstone, Manda Levin and Lucy Richer also serve as executive producers with Chris Carey producing and Richard Laxton directing. (Deadline.com)


SHOOTER (USA/Paramount/UCP; W: John Hlavin; D: Simon Cellan Jones) - Shantel VanSanten ("The Flash") has been tapped to star in the book-turned-feature-turned-drama pilot, about Bob Lee Swagger (Ryan Phillippe), an off-the-grid former Marine sniper who is coaxed into action to thwart the killing of the President. Ultimately double-crossed and framed for the attempt, he must call upon all the skills he acquired as a decorated Marine sharpshooter to avoid capture while hunting down and exposing the traitors who set him up. She'll play Julie Swagger, "the wife and best friend of Bob Lee, who provided a stable home life for their daughter, while her husband was deployed." (THR.com)


SMALL TOWN LOVE (ABC, New!) - Emily Halpern and Sarah Haskins ("Trophy Wife") are back in business at the Alphabet with an import of the Swedish series about "about a mother and daughter who become pregnant at the same time from their deadbeat boyfriends. It chronicles how the relentlessly positive Annette and her super sarcastic daughter Fanny and their less-than-stellar baby daddies scrape by in a small working class town." Said effort comes from ABC Studios with Aaron Kaplan of Kapital Entertainment also executive producing. (Deadline.com)


UNTITLED PAUL DOWNS COLAIZZO PROJECT (CBS, New!) - Paul Downs Colaizzo has set up a second potential drama at the Eye about "a charismatic police officer who, after a tragic scandal, sets out to rebuild his personal life and rewrite the rules of policing in his Pittsburgh neighborhood." Sarah Timberman and Carl Beverly of Timberman/Beverly Productions will likewise executive produce for CBS Television Studios. (Deadline.com)


AND IN OTHER NEWS... - The CW has opted to wrap "Beauty and the Beast" following its upcoming 13-episode fourth season (Deadline.com); ABC has given a full 22-episode order to its second-year comedy "Fresh Off the Boat" (Deadline.com); NBC has commissioned five additional scripts for its drama "The Mysteries of Laura," which returned for its sophomore run with a 13-episode order (Deadline.com); Denzel Washington has been tapped to helm an upcoming episode of "Grey's Anatomy" (TVLine.com); and Keegan-Michael Key, Christine Lakin and Ray Liotta will all guest on "Modern Family" later this season (THR.com).






  [october 2015]  
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· BEAUTY & THE BEAST (CW)
· BILLY & BILLIE (AUDIENCE)
· COUGAR TOWN (TBS)
· DEVELOPMENT UPDATE (TFC)
· DOWN BEAT, THE (CBS)
· EMPIRE (FOX)
· FAMILY SHOW (ABC)
· FLASH, THE (CW)
· FRESH OFF THE BOAT (ABC)
· GREY'S ANATOMY (ABC)
· IN DEEP (FOX)
· MARRIED WITH ROOMMATES (CBS)
· MAX (HBO)
· MODERN FAMILY (ABC)
· MYSTERIES OF LAURA, THE (NBC)
· ON THE LINE (FOX)
· RIVER (UNITED KINGDOM) (NETFLIX)
· SHOOTER (USA)
· SMALL TOWN LOVE (ABC)
· TROPHY WIFE (ABC)
· UNTITLED PAUL DOWNS COLAIZZO PROJECT (CBS)





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