CHICAGO (thefutoncritic.com) -- The latest development news, culled from various wire reports each morning:
CRAZY LOVE (CBS) - Valerie Bertinelli ("Touched by an Angel") and Cloris Leachman ("The Ellen Show") will play Peter MacNicol's wife and mother respectively in the Eye comedy pilot.
FATHERHOOD (Nickelodeon) - The cable network has greenlighted its first original series for its primetime Nick at Nite lineup. The project, which has a seven episode order and is expected to debut in December, is an animated version of Bill Cosby's best-selling 1986 book "Fatherhood." David Alan Grier ("Life With Bonnie") is set to voice the central character, Dr. Bindlebeep, a high school teacher and father of three. Cosby, who will executive produce the series along with Charles Kipps and David Brokaw, said the project marks the completion of a trilogy of animated Cosby creations that started in the mid-1970s with CBS' "Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids" and continued in the late 1990s with "Little Bill," which currently airs on Nickelodeon's Nick Jr. preschooler block.
THE GAME (Showtime) - Spike Lee ("Good Fences") has signed on to direct the two-hour pilot, which has also been given an order for four additional scripts. Lee, along with 40 Acres & a Mule's Sam Kitt, was previously only a producer on the project, a multiethnic look at the world of San Francisco street gangs. Alex Tse created and wrote the two-hour pilot, which goes into production immediately as "A Spike Lee Joint."
JACK'S HOUSE (FOX) - Heath Hyche ("Kiss My Act") is set as Wes, Desmond Askew ("Go") as Harlan, Kathleen Rose Perkins ("C.S.I.: Miami") as Sophie and Patrick Fabian ("Sour Grapes") as Lyle in the FOX comedy about a twentysomething slacker who buys a house and tries to grow up, at least until his buddies move in.
THE MULLET BROS. (UPN) - David Hornsby ("Six Feet Under") will play one of two boys with the unfortunate hairstyle in the UPN comedy pilot presentation.
RUBBING CHARLIE (CBS) - John Asher ("Going to California") is set as Dean in the Scott Wolf led comedy for CBS.
TOUCH 'EM ALL MCCALL (NBC) - Paul Dooley ("The Practice") and Susan Diol have signed on to the Tom Selleck led pilot for the Peacock.
Sources: Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, Reuters
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