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[03/03/16 - 11:28 PM]
Development Update: Thursday, March 3
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!


APB (FOX/20th; W: David Slack; D: Len Wiseman) - Tamberla Perry has signed onto the drama pilot, about when a tech billionaire purchases a troubled police precinct in the wake of a loved one's murder, but can this eccentric and enigmatic figure's cutting edge approach fix the broken ways of these blue blooded veterans? She'll play Tasha Goss, "an officer with the 13th Precinct, where her partner is the hot-headed Officer Roderick Brandt (Taylor Handley)." (Deadline.com)


BULL (CBS/CTS; W: Paul Attanasio & Phil McGraw; D: TBA) - Geneva Carr (Love & Other Drugs) is the first to be cast in the drama pilot, based on Dr. Phil McGraw's early days as head of one of the most prolific trial consulting services of all time. She'll play Marissa Moore, "a psychologist, neurolinguistics expert and licensed sex therapist working on Dr. Bull's (not yet cast) team." (Deadline.com)


CHANCE (Hulu/Fox 21; W: Alexandra Cunningham & Kem Nunn; D: Lenny Abrahamson) - Gretchen Mol ("Boardwalk Empire") has been cast in the Hugh Laurie-led drama, about Eldon Chance, a San Francisco-based forensic neuropsychiatrist. After an ill-advised decision regarding an alluring patient who may or may not be struggling with a multiple personality disorder, Chance finds himself in the crosshairs of her abusive spouse, who also happens to be a ruthless police detective. She'll play said patient, Jaclyn Blackstone. (Deadline.com)


COLONY (The CW/CTS; W: Doris Egan; D: TBA) - Georgina Haig ("Reckless") has been tapped as the female lead on the drama pilot, a thriller which follows a team of explorers who arrive on Mars to join the first human colony on the planet, only to discover that their predecessors have vanished. She'll play Gina Nolan, "the mission's botanist, a woman who is intense, motivated and sharp. Nolan's a true explorer, believing it is the destiny of mankind to investigate the universe - but before she can become a Mars colonist, she must prove herself." (Deadline.com)


CRUEL INTENTIONS (NBC/Sony; W: Jordan Ross, Lindsey Rosin & Roger Kumble; D: Roger Kumble) - Coby Bell ("Mad Dogs") has scored a role on the drama pilot, a small screen revival of the 1999 cult feature about Bash Casey (Taylor John Smith), the son of Annette Hargrove (Kate Levering) and Sebastian Valmont (Ryan Phillippe in the film), who is introduced to a world of sex, money, power and corruption he never could have imagined after discovering his late father's legacy in a hidden journal. He's set as "Kathryn Merteuil's (Sarah Michelle Gellar) husband, Pascal Barrett, a dashing and smug California power lawyer, who is the attorney for billionaire Edward Valmont. Polite and concerned when he first meets young Bash Casey, Pascal quickly drops his pleasant facade with Kathryn as the two plan their strategy." (Deadline.com)


CRUSHED (Hulu/Lionsgate; W/D: Tina Gordon Chism) - Bashir Salahuddin has been cast in 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. He'll play the aforementioned Will, "a chemist and Harvard med school drop-out who goes off the grid squatting at his parents' abandoned Napa property until his sister, Celia, persuades him to use his knowledge to help her build a legit winery." (Deadline.com)


DEATH OF EVA SOFIA VALDEZ, THE (ABC/ABCS; W: Charise Castro Smith; D: TBA) - Angelica Celaya ("Constantine") is the latest to be cast in pilot, a sexy revenge drama with a supernatural twist about a Cuban-American family on the rise as they navigate multiple business ventures in Miami, familial rivalries and dark secrets from the past that come back to haunt them. She'll play Dominique, "a 'shadow woman' who mysteriously enter Eva Sofia's life and although she is ancient, she take the shape of a younger woman that will cut you or be with you - whatever it takes to lure another desperate soul into her collection." (Deadline.com)


DREAM TEAM (ABC/WBT; W: Bill Wrubel & Kari Lizer; D: Marc Buckland) - Carlos Leal has scored a role on the single-camera comedy pilot, about champion soccer coach Marty Schumacher (Justin Long), who now has to start from scratch with a diverse group of eight-year-olds and their disparate parents. He'll play Carlos Diaz, "Olga's (Michelle Buteau) husband an affable and easy-going owner of a successful restaurant." (Deadline.com)


EXORCIST, THE (FOX/20th; W: Jeremy Slater; D: Rupert Wyatt) - Kurt Egyiawan (Beasts of No Nation) has been cast in the drama pilot, a propulsive, serialized psychological thriller following two very different men - Father Tomas Ortega (Alfonso Herrera) and Father Marcus Lang (Ben Daniels) - tackling one family's case of horrifying demonic possession, and confronting the face of true evil. He's set as Father Bennett, "a liaison for the Vatican." (Deadline.com)


GHOST (The CW/WBT; W: Kevin Williamson; D: David Nutter) - Megan West ("How to Get Away with Murder") has scored the female lead in the drama pilot, about Sarah Roberts, a young woman who seeks help from Clark Patterson (Bailey Chase), a parapsychologist, when she begins to experience paranormal phenomena. She'll play said woman. (Deadline.com)


GOOD PLACE (NBC/Universal; W: Michael Schur; D: Drew Goddard) - Manny Jacinto has been tapped for a role on the upcoming comedy, about Eleanor (Kristen Bell), a woman from New Jersey who comes to realize that she hasn't been a very good person. She decides to turn over a new leaf by learning what it actually means to be "good" or "bad," and then trying to make up for her past behavior. Ted Danson plays Michael, who, through an unlikely set of circumstances, comes to be Eleanor's guide through her self-designed self-improvement course. He's set as "the sweet and good-natured Jason. His dream is to make a living as a DJ in South Florida. Not an intellectual guy by any means, he probably only went to school thru 11th grade and then repeated a couple times. We like him - we just don't want to be him." (Deadline.com)


INFAMOUS, THE (A&E/A+E; W: Joshua Zetumer; D: Anthony Hemingway) - Jason O'Mara ("Complications") has scored a lead role on the pilot, a drama set against real events in turbulent 1990s Los Angeles leading up to the LA Riots, and centers on two complicated men on a collision course: an ambitious reformed gangster poised to break out of South Central (Bokeem Woodbine) and the LAPD detective hell-bent on taking him down. He's set as the latter, Bill Slidell, "a hard-charging LAPD officer who is notorious for attracting trouble. A good cop who believes himself to be morally upright, Bill also has some questionable views on race and mountains of family baggage to contend with." (Deadline.com)


MIRANDA'S RIGHTS (NBC/Universal; W: Katie Lovejoy; D: Jennifer Getzinger) - Jamie Chung and John Gabriel have both boarded the drama pilot, about an idealistic group of lawyers who not only work together but live together at their start-up firm. Chung will play Lana Harris, "an attorney, the alpha-female at YLG (Young Law Group), she is Tanner's (not yet cast) fiancée. Blunt, a total boss bitch, Lana is fiercely protective of her career and, more importantly, the firm - which is why she takes an immediate dislike to Miranda (Rebecca Breeds)." Gabriel then is set as Marcus Reed, "a former attorney with YLG, he's a guy who thinks money and power will make him happy (because it will). He bailed on YLG to work at the more prestigious and better-paying Klein & Associates, headed up by none other than Tanner's mother." (Deadline.com)


RIVERDALE (The CW/WBT; W: Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa; D: TBA) - Marisol Nichols ("Teen Wolf") has been cast in the drama pilot, a bold, subversive take on Archie (K.J. Apa), Betty (Lili Reinhart), Veronica (Camila Mendes) 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's set as Hermione Lodge, "Veronica's upscale mother. Hermione has now returned to Riverdale, eager to start afresh with her daughter following the scandalous incarceration of her husband." (Deadline.com)


SPARK (ABC/ABCS; W: Michael Cooney; D: TBA) - Lena Olin and Tom Brittney are the latest additions to the drama pilot, a lavish primetime soap of passion, greed and hope set in the alternate reality of Steampunk, circa 2016, telling the story of two rival families battling for power and the woman who takes them down. Olin will play Hazel Stockton, "an up-by-her-bootstraps self-made woman who now controls the powerful Stockton Coal Company. She uses her wealth more altruistically than her arch rivals at Lavelle Gas - but despite her philanthropic outreaches to the city's poor, she still craves absolute power, and is not above using strong-arm tactics to achieve it. However, when deadly sabotage starts claiming innocent lives across the city, she denies any involvement to her son Aiden (Brittney), Captain of the Investigative Division of the Watch, who is investigating the incidents." (Deadline.com)


TRAINING DAY (CBS/WBT; W: Will Beall; D: Danny Cannon) - Drew Van Acker ("Pretty Little Liars") is the latest addition to the drama pilot, a reimagining of the feature of the same name about an idealistic young African-American police officer, Kyle Craig (yet to be cast), who is appointed to an elite squad of the LAPD where he is partnered with seasoned, morally ambiguous detective Frank Rourke (Bill Paxton). He's set as Tommy Campbell, "an officer with the LAPD's Special Investigation Section (S.I.S.), a unit that goes after the worst of the worst, Tommy Campbell is a former pro surfer who's usually seen in board shorts; he may still look like a surfer, but he's traded in riding the waves for the dangerous highs that come from swimming with a different type of shark." (Deadline.com)


WING PERSON (ABC/ABCS; W: Ed Weeks & Hannah Mackay; D: Leslye Headland) - Julie Goldman has snagged a role on the single-camera comedy pilot, about the co-dependent relationship between Hilda, a lesbian lothario, and Randall (Andy Ridings), her cautious, straight male best friend. She's on board as JoJo, "a fun-loving Southern biker who runs Austin's friendliest gastropub." (Deadline.com)


AND IN OTHER NEWS... - Niecy Nash will reprise her role of Denise Hemphill for the second season of FOX's "Scream Queens" (@NiecyNash); Billy Dee Williams has been cast as Tito in ABC's "Dirty Dancing" revival (Deadline.com); Anne Archer has been cast as Dean and Stewart's mom on "The Grinder" (TVLine.com); and Danny Pino is bound for an arc on "Scandal" in a top secret role (Variety.com).






  [march 2016]  
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· APB (FOX)
· BOARDWALK EMPIRE (HBO)
· BULL (CBS)
· CHANCE (HULU)
· COLONY (CW)
· COMPLICATIONS (USA)
· CONSTANTINE (NBC)
· CRUEL INTENTIONS (NBC)
· CRUSHED (HULU)
· DEATH OF EVA SOFIA VALDEZ, THE (ABC)
· DEVELOPMENT UPDATE (TFC)
· DIRTY DANCING (ABC)
· DREAM TEAM (ABC)
· EXORCIST, THE (FOX)
· GHOST (CW)
· GOOD PLACE, THE (NBC)
· GRINDER, THE (FOX)
· HOW TO GET AWAY WITH MURDER (ABC)
· INFAMOUS, THE (A AND E)
· MAD DOGS (AMAZON)
· MIRANDA'S RIGHTS (NBC)
· PRETTY LITTLE LIARS (FREEFORM)
· RANDALL & HILDA ARE NOT A COUPLE (ABC)
· RECKLESS (CBS)
· RIVERDALE (CW)
· SCANDAL (ABC)
· SCREAM QUEENS (FOX)
· SPARK (ABC)
· TEEN WOLF (MTV)
· TRAINING DAY (CBS)





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