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[03/07/16 - 11:38 PM]
Development Update: Monday, March 7
By The Futon Critic Staff (TFC) |
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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!
CONVICTION (ABC/ABCS; W: Liz Friedlander & Liz Friedman; D: Liz Friedlander) - Eddie Cahill ("Under the Dome") has been cast in the drama pilot, about Carter Morrison (Hayley Atwell), the brilliant but rebellious daughter of a Clinton-like political family who is forced into taking a job as the head of Los Angeles' newly created Conviction Integrity Unit. He's on board as "the confident and self-assured New York District Attorney Wayne Wallis. Incredibly handsome, magnetic and charismatic, Wallis radiates charm, smarts and political power; he has a clear-cut political future that is as brilliant as his million dollar smile; he is politically ambitious and sharp as a tack." (Deadline.com)
DEATH OF EVA SOFIA VALDEZ, THE (ABC/ABCS; W: Charise Castro Smith; D: TBA) - Eric Close ("Nashville") has signed onto the 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. He'll play Blair Monroe, "a handsome and wealthy Miami aristocrat whose family has ruled the city for decades. Once deeply in love with Eva Sofia (Gina Torres), he abandoned her, leaving her pregnant and destitute. Now a candidate for mayor, he meets Eva Sofia by chance at a public function - and pretends he has no recollection of her." (Deadline.com)
FREQUENCY (The CW/WBT; W: Jeremy Carver; D: TBA) - Devin Kelley ("Resurrection") has joined the cast of the feature-turned-drama pilot, which centers on Raimy (Peyton List), a female police detective in 2016 who discovers that she is able to speak via a ham radio with her estranged father, Frank Sullivan (Riley Smith), also a detective, who died in 1996. She'll play Julie, "Raimy's mother, whose life may be tragically knocked for a loop when Raimy starts interfering with the past via her father's old ham radio." (Deadline.com)
FUTURE MAN (Hulu/Sony; W: Ariel Shaffir & Kyle Hunter; D: Evan Goldberg & Seth Rogen) - Glenne Headly and Ed Begley, Jr. have both signed onto the comedy pilot, about Josh Futterman (Josh Hutcherson), a janitor by day/world-ranked gamer by night who is tasked with preventing the extinction of humans after mysterious visitors from the future proclaim him the key to defeating the imminent super-race invasion. They'll play his parents, the "nurturing, ever-supportive" Diane and the "loving, cheerful, well-intentioned" Gabe. (Deadline.com)
I'M NOT YOUR FRIEND (CBS/CTS; W: Jackie Filgo & Jeff Filgo; D: James Burrows) - Jenna Fischer ("The Office") is set to star in the multi-camera comedy pilot, about Adam (Matt LeBlanc), a contractor who learns that raising his kids is more challenging than expected when his wife goes back to work. She'll play said wife, Andi. (Deadline.com)
JURY, THE (ABC/ABCS/Sony; W: Mark Bianculli & V.J. Boyd; D: Neil Burger) - Kevin Rankin ("Gracepoint") has booked a role on 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's on board as Troy, "a blue-collar hard-ass who doesn't own a pair of boots without dirt on them, but he's not some stupid redneck and resents it greatly when people assume that." (Deadline.com)
LETHAL WEAPON (FOX/WBT; W: Matt Miller; D: McG) - Kevin Rahm ("Mad Men") has been tapped for a role in the network's small screen take on the feature franchise, about when Texas cop and former Navy SEAL Martin Riggs suffers the loss of his wife and baby, he moves to Los Angeles to start anew. There, he gets partnered with LAPD detective Roger Murtaugh (Damon Wayans, Sr.), who, having recently suffered a "minor" heart attack, must avoid any stress in his life. He'll play "the successful yet humble Captain Avery, more politician than cop, dressing the part of top brass since his early days as Murtaugh's partner." (Deadline.com)
MIDNIGHT, TEXAS (NBC/Universal; W: Monica Owusu-Breen; D: Niels Arden Oplev) - Francois Arnaud ("Blindspot") has been tapped for the lead role in the drama pilot, a small screen take on the three-book series by Charlaine Harris, about Midnight, Texas, where the real world and the supernatural collide in a dangerous, sexy, place full of dark secrets and mysterious people. He'll play Manfred Bernardo, a "traveling psychic who, having grown tired of life on the road, takes the advice of his dead grandmother and decides to settle in the small Texas town of Midnight. Perfectly content with going about his business letting others think he's a hack, Manfred soon realizes that he has much more in common with the locals than he originally thought." (Deadline.com)
MIND HUNTER (Netflix/Fox 21; W: Joe Penhall; D: David Fincher) - Jonathan Groff ("Looking") is the first to be cast in the upcoming Charlize Theron-produced drama, based on the life of a top FBI investigator of serial killers and rapists, and the profiling techniques he developed. No details however were given about his role. (TVLine.com)
MODEL WOMAN (ABC/TriStar; W: Helen Childress; D: Richard Shepard) - Andie MacDowell, Nicole Ari Parker and Caitlin Carver are all bound for the drama pilot, set in the late 1970's during the notorious Model Wars and centers on Bertie Geiss, a tempestuous matriarch and uncompromising businesswoman at the helm of an internationally renowned modeling agency. MacDowell will play the aforementioned Bertie Geiss with Parker as Helenjane Harris, "a former model who runs her own modeling agency, the top competition for Bertie Geiss' Geiss Agency"; and Carver as Michelle, "a reluctant beauty and aspiring photographer who is both intellectual and talented; an artist who marches to the beat of a different drummer." (Deadline.com)
NOTORIOUS (ABC/ABCS/Sony; W: Allie Hagan & Josh Berman; D: Michael Engler) - Sepideh Moafi and Ryan Guzman are latest additions to the drama pilot, which follows the professional and personal relationship between charismatic attorney Jake Gregorian (Daniel Sunjata) and powerhouse television producer Julia George (Piper Perabo) as they attempt to control the media, the justice system, and ultimately - each other. She'll play Megan Byrd, "a sexy and savvy TV news producer responsible for scheduling and managing guests"; while he's set as Ryan Mills, "Julia's eager-to-please intern, son of the network president." (Deadline.com)
REAL GOOD PEOPLE (A.K.A. Y'ALL IN THE FAMILY) (CBS/CTS; W: Stephnie Weir; D: James Burrows) - Ross Kimball (Mascots) has been cast in the multi-camera comedy pilot, set in Texas and centering on a conservative, small town family who is forced to reconcile their family values when they discover their children's lives are less than perfect. He will play Beau, "the eldest son, a good ol' boy who adores his momma and worships his father, but didn't inherit their strong moral compass." (Deadline.com)
ROADSIDE PICNIC (WGN/Sony; W: Jack Paglen; D: Alan Taylor) - The network's small screen take on Arkady and Boris Strugatsky's science fiction novel - about an alien visitation to planet Earth, whose aftermath has led to the creation of Zones in the areas where the aliens had possibly landed - has been ordered to pilot. Original Film's Neal Moritz and Vivian Cannon also serve as executive producers. (Deadline.com)
SCALPED (WGN/WBT; W: Doug Jung; D: TBA) - The network's adaptation of the Vertigo Comics title - about the Oglala Lakota inhabitants in the fictional Prairie Rose Indian Reservation in South Dakota as they grapple with organized crime, poverty, drug and alcohol addiction and local politics while trying to preserve their cultural identity - is heading to pilot at the network. DC Entertainment's Geoff Johns also serves as an executive producer. (Deadline.com)
TIME AFTER TIME (ABC/WBT; W: Kevin Williamson; D: Marcos Siega) - Genesis Rodriguez (Tusk) has booked a lead role on the drama pilot, based on Karl Alexander's 1979 novel-turned-movie of the same name in which H.G. Wells (Freddie Stroma) builds a real time machine to travels to the future in search of Jack the Ripper (Josh Bowman). She's set as Jane Walker, "the museum curator who captivates H.G. Wells upon his arrival in modern day New York." (Deadline.com)
TRAINING DAY (CBS/WBT; W: Will Beall; D: Danny Cannon) - Lex Scott Davis ("Toni Braxton: Unbreak My Heart") has been tapped for a role on 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). She'll play "Kyle's smart and cynical wife Alyse Arrendondo, a history teacher who loves and greatly admires her husband and his insatiable drive - despite his reckless displays of heroism." (Deadline.com)
TRANSYLVANIA (The CW/CTS; W: Hugh Sterbakov; D: Jason Ensler) - Luke Allen-Gale and Evan Stern have both scored roles in the period drama pilot, about Victoria Harker (Laura Brent), a headstrong young woman in search of her missing father ventures from NYC to Transylvania where she teams up with a wrongfully disgraced Scotland Yard Detective, and together they witness the births of the most famous monsters and villains in history. The former will play said detective, Inspector G. Lestrade, with Stern as Igor, "a gentle hunchback known for his technical genius." (Deadline.com)
UNTITLED LAURA STEINEL PROJECT (FOX/20th; W: Laura Steinel; D: Jeff Schaffer) - Jon Daly (Zoolander 2) has booked a role on the single-camera comedy pilot, about Jane (Judy Greer), who is caught between trying to manage her charmingly incompetent human resources department and a new eccentric CEO who dreams of bringing the New Jersey plastics plant into the future. He'll play Gene, one of her co-workers. (Deadline.com)
WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND (CBS/WBT; W: Dan Kopelman; D: Tim Story) - Australian actor Dougie Baldwin has joined the cast of the single-camera comedy pilot, about Kenny (Jason Lee) and Robin (yet to be cast), two fortysomething parents who were wild and reckless teenagers now face their worst nightmare - raising three teenagers of their own. He'll play Daschel, "either the smartest person in the world or the dumbest - no one's quite sure. He's a typical high school junior who's only capable of thinking a maximum of 5 seconds into the future." (Deadline.com)
AND IN OTHER NEWS... - Gregg Mettler has signed on to serve as showrunner of ABC's comedy pilot "Toast" (Deadline.com); Graham Yost has likewise been tapped to oversee Amazon's "Sneaky Pete" where he'll succeed co-creator David Shore (Deadline.com); Vivek J. Tiwary's graphic novel "The Fifth Beatle: The Story of Brian Epstein" is being developed as an event series by Sonar Entertainment (Deadline.com); and Michael Gaston has joined the cast of "Murder in the First" as Fred Arkin, "a warm family man who is a DUI defense attorney in a high-profile case" (Variety.com).
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