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[02/09/16 - 11:39 PM]
Development Update: Tuesday, February 9
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!


BARRY (HBO; W: Alec Berg & Bill Hader; D: Bill Hader) - Glenn Fleshler has booked a role on the comedy pilot, about an ex-Marine (Bill Hader) who works as a low-rent hitman in the Midwest; lonely and dissatisfied in his life he begrudgingly travels to Los Angeles to kill someone and ends up finding an accepting community in a group of eager hopefuls within the L.A. theater scene. He'll play Goran, a Russian gangster. (Deadline.com)


CHARITY CASE (A.K.A. UNTITLED COURTENEY COX PROJECT) (FOX/ABCS/20th; W: Robert Padnick; D: James Griffiths) - The Courteney Cox-led comedy - about when Hailey (Cox) inherits her late billionaire husband's charity, she quickly finds that changing the world is far less glamorous than she had imagined - has been ordered to pilot by the network. Cox, writer Robert Padnick and director James Griffiths are executive producing the single-camera project, which is now a co-production of ABC Studios and 20th Century Fox Television.


CRUSHED (Hulu/Lionsgate; W: Tina Gordon Chism; D: TBA) - Colm Feore, Alex Kingston and Jacob Vargas have all boarded the Regina Hall-led comedy pilot, about an African-American family, led by brother and sister Will and Celia (Hall), who stumbles into a successful wine business in Napa. Feore will play Roberto Stella, "an eccentric, savvy wine-maker whose successful label underpays for Will's perfect grapes to make his special reserve wine"; with Kingston as Cricket Stella, "Roberto's bored Napa Valley wife, who amuses herself by having an affair with Will, only to parlay it into a power play"; and Vargas as Jose Alturo, "a Mexican-American vineyard manager of the venerable Stella Winery who's tired of working for the man, so he moonlights with the fledgling Black Estate to make a better life for his family." (Deadline.com)


DUMB PRINCE (NBC/Universal; W: Charlie Grandy; D: Amy Poehler) - Nico Evers-Swindell, Tim Baltz and Jessie Ennis have all been cast in the single-camera comedy pilot, about a reluctant Crown Prince's attempt to run the family business his way, thereby throwing his highly publicized and dysfunctional family into chaos. Said effort is "set in the country of Modaria, known for the manufacture of mopeds and tiny cars, where the Faber family has ruled for generations." Evers-Swindell will play Prince Karl, "who returns home from a year's exile in America after having passed out at the coronation of his seemingly hapless father, King Adrian." Baltz then is set as Prince Marco, "the second son of Modaria's ruling family"; with Ennis as Princess Jana, "the youngest child of the royal family." (Deadline.com)


INTERESTINGS, THE (Amazon/TriStar; W: Lyn Greene & Richard Levine; D: Mike Newell) - Matt Barr is the latest addition to the drama pilot, based on Meg Wolitzer's bestselling book about a group of friends who meet at an arts camp when they're 15 in 1974 and their relationships throughout the next three decades. He'll play Goodman Wolf, the brother of Ash Wolf. (Deadline.com)


JURY, THE (ABC/ABCS/Sony; W: Mark Bianculli & V.J. Boyd; D: Neil Burger) - Jeremy Sisto ("Wicked City") has joined the cast of the drama pilot, which follows a single murder trial a season as seen through the eyes of the individual jurors, exploring the biases and experiences that influence the jurors' judgment, and how their preconceptions change along the way. He'll play one of the jurors, Dan, "who is widely liked within the group." (Deadline.com)


PRESENCE (UNLIC) (ABC/ABCS; W/D: John Ridley) - Marcus Anderson and Rick Gonzalez have both been cast in the drama pilot, about Presence Foster (Stephanie Sigman), a former Army Counter Insurgency Operative who finds herself navigating a widely divergent and highly colorful cross section of Los Angeles as she unintentionally begins a career as an unlicensed (unlic) Private Investigator. Anderson will play Tre Davis, "Presence's openly gay, half-brother who works as an event planner for high end clubs"; with Gonzalez as Manny Acevedo, "Presence's best friend, a small business owner who runs a very funky consignment space, lounge, emporium." (Deadline.com)


RIVERDALE (The CW/WBT; W: Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa; D: TBA) - Lili Reinhart and Cole Sprouse have booked two of the principal roles on the drama pilot, a bold, subversive take on Archie, Betty, Veronica and their friends from the comics, exploring the surreality of small-town life as well as the darkness and weirdness bubbling beneath Riverdale's wholesome facade. She'll play Betty Cooper, who's "sweet, studious, eager-to-please and wholesome with a huge crush on her longtime best friend, Archie"; while he's set as Jughead Jones, "a heartthrob with a philosophical bent and former best friend of Archie Andrews." (Deadline.com)


SUPERIOR DONUTS (CBS/CTS; W: Bob Daily, Garrett Donovan & Neil Goldman; D: James Burrows) - Comedian Jermaine Fowler is set to star in and co-executive produce the multi-camera comedy pilot, which follows the relationship between the owner of a donut shop, his new young employee and their patrons in a gentrifying neighborhood of Chicago. He'll play Franco, "a high-energy, fast-talking force of nature who sees Superior Donuts as a symbol of everything he loves about the neighborhood - it's authentic and real. As Arthur's new (and only) employee, he's going to make it his mission to drag the shop - and Arthur - into the 21st century." In addition, James Burrows has been tapped to direct. (Deadline.com)


UNTITLED ROLLING STONE PROJECT (Showtime, New!) - Banks Tarver and Ken Druckerman's Left/Right Productions ("The Circus: Inside the Greatest Political Show on Earth") has scored a pilot order for a "pop culture-focused docuseries in the vein of Rolling Stone." Gus Wenner, son of Rolling Stone founder Jan Wenner, will executive produce alongside Tarver and Druckermann. No other specifics were given. (Deadline.com)


UNTITLED TRACEY WIGFIELD PROJECT (NBC/Universal; W: Tracey Wigfield; D: TBA) - Adam Campbell ("Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt") is the first to be cast in the single-camera comedy pilot, which centers on a mother-daughter relationship that is challenged when an overly involved New Jersey mom gets an internship at her daughter's workplace, a cable news network. He'll play Greg, "the recently-named executive producer of the show. Harvard-educated and the son of a famous news anchor father, Greg is energetic and driven, constantly trying to put out fires and manage the show's difficult anchor. Greg and Katie butt heads when he hires her mother as an intern." (Deadline.com)


AND IN OTHER NEWS... - Nickelodeon has ordered a 14-episode third season of "Nicky, Ricky, Dicky & Dawn" (Deadline.com); Michael Engler has been tapped to helm ABC's drama pilot "Notorious" (Deadline.com); Jackie Earle Haley has been cast as Odin Quincannon in AMC's "Preacher" (THR.com); Ava Acres and Isabella Blake-Thomas are both bound for "Once Upon a Time" as the tweenage versions Regina and Zelena (TVLine.com); and Andy Mientus will return to "The Flash" as Hartley Rathaway, a.k.a. Pied Piper, later this season (TVLine.com).






  [february 2016]  
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· BARRY (HBO)
· CHARITY CASE (FOX)
· CIRCUS, THE (SHOWTIME)
· CRUSHED (HULU)
· DEVELOPMENT UPDATE (TFC)
· DUMB PRINCE (NBC)
· FLASH, THE (CW)
· GREAT NEWS (NBC)
· INTERESTINGS, THE (AMAZON)
· JURY, THE (ABC)
· NICKY, RICKY, DICKY & DAWN (NICKELODEON)
· NOTORIOUS (ABC)
· ONCE UPON A TIME (ABC)
· PREACHER (AMC)
· PRESENCE (ABC)
· RIVERDALE (CW)
· SUPERIOR DONUTS (CBS)
· UNBREAKABLE KIMMY SCHMIDT (NETFLIX)
· UNTITLED ROLLING STONE PROJECT (SHOWTIME)
· WICKED CITY (ABC)





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