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[12/17/15 - 11:35 PM]
Development Update: Thursday, December 17
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!


AMERICAN LION (HBO, New!) - Sean Penn is set to play the 7th President of the United States in a six-hour mini-series at the pay channel and Lionsgate Television about Andrew Jackson, "a self-made man, a western outsider, a violent warrior and a beloved general who became the country's first People's President. With the fate of the United States uncertain, the willful and mercurial Jackson fought an intractable Congress and special interests to preserve the Union at all costs - leaving a mixed and deeply controversial legacy." Said effort is based on Jon Meacham's Pulitzer Prize-winning biography of the same name, subtitled "Andrew Jackson in the White House," with additional source material from Robert V. Remini's biography of Jackson. Doug Miro and Carlo Bernard are penning the script and will executive produce alongside Penn and Matt Jacobson. Meacham serves as a consultant. (Deadline.com)


APPARITION (FOX, New!) - Albert Torres (Henry Poole Is Here) has set up a potential drama at the network about "a successful New Orleans doctor who is reluctantly pulled into the world of paranormal investigation when she discovers a secret family history that awakens an ability to connect with the afterlife. She teams up with an uncle she never knew she had and a former TV ghost hunter to help troubled souls, dead and live, find peace in this life and the next." 20th Century Fox Television is behind the hour with 3 Arts Entertainment's Tom Lassally likewise executive producing. (Deadline.com)


THROWING SHADE (TV Land, New!) - Erin Gibson and Bryan Safi's podcast-turned-Funny or Die series - which "covers women's rights, gay rights, pop culture and politics and treats them with much less respect than they deserve" - is being developed for television by the cable channel. Said duo will host a planned pilot presentation with Andrew Steele, Anna Wenger, Joe Farrell and showrunner Charlie Siskel executive producing. (THR.com)


AND IN OTHER NEWS... - Hulu has passed on a fourth season for its animated comedy series "The Awesomes" however "producers are in discussions with other potential distributors" (Deadline.com); Jean-Marc Vallée has committed to helming all seven episodes of HBO's "Big Little Lies" (Deadline.com); and Maya Rudolph will guest on "The Grinder" as "Stewart's (Fred Savage) therapist who he's been relying on ever since Dean (Rob Lowe) came to town" (THR.com).






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· AMERICAN LION (HBO)
· APPARITION (FOX)
· AWESOMES, THE (HULU)
· BIG LITTLE LIES (HBO)
· DEVELOPMENT UPDATE (TFC)
· GRINDER, THE (FOX)
· THROWING SHADE (TV LAND)





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