 |
 |
[03/06/09 - 06:31 PM]
Development Update: Friday, March 6
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!
THE BODY POLITIC (The CW) - "The West Wing" alum Tim Matheson has joined the cast of the drama pilot, about young staffers in Washington. He'll play a charming, JFK-type senator. Bill Robinson and Jason Rothenberg are behind the CBS Paramount Network Television-based hour, which Scott Winant is attached to direct.
CHOCOLATE NEWS (Comedy Central) - David Alan Grier has confirmed the series won't be returning for a second season. In the March 13 issue of Entertainment Weekly, Grier, talking about his turn on "Dancing With the Stars," remarked: "They asked me before and [I said] no. But then my show, Chocolate News, didn't get picked up by Comedy Central. I said, 'Get Dancing With the Stars on the phone!'"
COUGAR TOWN (ABC) - Josh Hopkins ("Swingtown") and Ian Gomez ("Rita Rocks") have both joined the cast of the comedy pilot, about a 40-year-old newly single mom (Courteney Cox) with a teen son. They'll play neighbors of Cox's character. Bill Lawrence and Kevin Biegel co-created the half-hour, which is set up at ABC Studios.
DIARY OF A MANHATTAN CALL GIRL (HBO) - "Sex and the City" creator Darren Star is returning to the pay channel, inking a two-year, first-look deal with the network. The pact gives HBO first crack at the prolific writer/producer's output, either from himself or other writers he's supervising. Star had previously set up "Diary of a Manhattan Call Girl" at the channel, which didn't move forward to pilot.
GOSSIP GIRL (The CW) - Andrew McCarthy is the latest "Lipstick Jungle" alum to join the cast of the potential spin-off, about Lily's (Brittany Snow) wild teen years in 1980s Los Angeles. Also reportedly close to signing on: Cynthia Watros and Ryan Hansen. McCarthy and Watros are on track to play Lily's parents, Celia and Rick Rhodes, with Hansen as Shep, the best friend of the previously cast Shilo Fernandez, who's got a crush on Lily's sister Carol (Krysten Ritter).
HUMAN TARGET (FOX) - Chi McBride ("Pushing Daisies") and Jackie Earle Haley ("Watchmen") have joined the cast of the drama pilot, about a mysterious freelancer (Mark Valley) who takes on a different identity each week to help those in need. They'll play two of the man's associates - Winston, his business partner, and Guerrero, his information gatherer, respectively. Simon West is helming the hour from a script by Jon Steinberg.
IMPACT (ABC, New!) - The Alphabet has acquired the domestic rights to a new mini-series about a meteor that strikes the moon and sends it on a collision course with Earth. David James Elliott, Natasha Henstridge, Steven Culp and James Cromwell topline the $14 million production, which comes from Tandem Communications, Jaffe/Braunstein Entertainment and Muse Entertainment. It's understood that the Alphabet will air the Michael Rohl-directed project as a limited series this summer with a second window on Sci Fi and a DVD release from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment shortly thereafter.
THE LAW (ABC) - Madchen Amick and Ryan Devlin have both joined the cast of the Cedric the Entertainer-led comedy pilot, about reserve police officers. They'll play two of them - a soccer mom-turned-reservist and a rookie reservist, respectively. Cedric co-created the ABC Studios-based project alongside Bob Fisher.
MAGGIE HILL (FOX) - Stuart Townsend ("Night Stalker") has joined the cast of the pilot, a drama about a brilliant surgeon with schizophrenia (Christina Cole). He'll play her imaginary boyfriend in the hour, which comes from 20th Century Fox Television, creator Ian Biederman and director Stephen Hopkins.
PARENTHOOD (NBC) - Erika Christensen ("Six Degrees") is the first to be cast in the drama pilot, an update of Ron Howard's 1989 feature of the same name. She'll play Julia Braverman, "a go-getting corporate attorney having trouble jumping off the fast track and becoming more involved with her family." Jason Katims is behind the hour, which is based at Universal Media Studios and Imagine Television.
PULLING (ABC, New!) - Rob Hanning has booked a last-minute pilot order for a new comedy about three single women who move in together after one breaks off her engagement the day before her wedding. The project, which is based on Sharon Horgan and Dennis Kelly's U.K. series of the same name, is set up at ABC Studios with Elliot Hegarty directing. Hanning, Horgan and Kelly then will executive produce the single-camera half-hour alongside showrunner Stacy Traub and Francie Calfo.
Sources: Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, Reuters
|
|
|
 [march 2009]  |
S |
M |
T |
W |
T |
F |
S |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
|
[03/05/25 - 04:01 PM]
Video: "Revelations" - Official Trailer - Netflix
A pastor is convinced that a divine revelation has called him to punish the person guilty of a missing person case, while a detective assigned to the case is haunted by her dead sister’s shadow.
|
[03/05/25 - 02:53 PM]
ABC News Is the Most-Watched Broadcast Network Across the Board for Second Straight Presidential Address to Congress with 6.3 Million Viewers
The network posted double-digit increases across the board compared to the previous presidential address to the joint session of Congress in 2021.
|
[03/05/25 - 12:31 PM]
Syfy Renews "The Ark" for Third Season
The network confirmed the news on social media this afternoon.
|
[03/05/25 - 12:31 PM]
BET Media Group Announces Dates for "BET Awards" 25th Anniversary & "BET Experience" 2025 in Los Angeles
Today, BET Media Group announced that "BET Awards" 2025 will take place live from Los Angeles on Monday, June 9.
|
[03/05/25 - 11:41 AM]
Matthew Law and Y'lan Noel Will Star in "Nemesis" from Courtney A. Kemp, the Creator of the "Power" Universe
A story of two men on either side of the law and what happens when an unstoppable force (an expert criminal) meets an immovable object (a brilliant police detective).
|
[03/05/25 - 11:00 AM]
Jamie Foxx and FOX Entertainment Studios Announce Multiyear First-Look Scripted and Unscripted Deal
This expansive deal builds on Foxx's long-standing relationship with FOX, highlighted by the interactive music game show "Beat Shazam," which he co-hosts with his daughter Corinne Foxx, and the heart-pounding police procedural "Alert: Missing Persons Unit," which he executive produces.
|
[03/05/25 - 10:31 AM]
Video: "Love on the Spectrum U.S." - Season 3 Official Trailer - Netflix
The search for true love continues as newcomers and returning favorites navigate the ups and downs of dating on the autism spectrum.
|
[03/05/25 - 10:29 AM]
Vice Sports Introduces "The Grudge," A New Series Sure to Hold Your Attention
The new show will relive and unpack many of sports' most intense personal and team rivalries, exploring the egos, history, and high-stakes drama that turn ordinary interaction into unforgettable battles.
|
[03/05/25 - 10:01 AM]
The CW Network Sets Spring 2025 Premiere Dates for New and Returning Programming
The new mystery thriller series "Sherlock & Daughter," starring Emmy Award-nominee David Thewlis as the legendary detective Sherlock Holmes, premieres on Wednesday, April 16 (9:00-10:00pm ET/PT).
|
[03/05/25 - 09:13 AM]
Video: "Paul American" - Official Trailer - Max
They're reality TV stars now. Haters are fuming.
|
[03/05/25 - 09:13 AM]
Lifetime Announces New Ripped from the Headlines Movie "Not My Family: The Monique Smith Story" Starring and Executive Produced by Yaya DaCosta
The film is based on the memoir by Monique Smith, who endured a horrific childhood only to discover that her family wasn't actually hers.
|
[03/05/25 - 09:12 AM]
Academy Award and Golden Globe Nominee Gabourey Sidibe Stars in "Give Me Back My Daughter" Premiering on April 5 on Lifetime
Sidibe stars as Renee, a single mother struggling to make ends meet and who after making a heartbreaking decision, loses custody of her daughter.
|
[03/05/25 - 09:11 AM]
Lifetime Announces the Documentary Event "The Judd Family: Truth Be Told" Delving Into the Intricate Relationships One of Country Music's Most Revered Families, Premiering Mother's Day Weekend, May 10 and 11
Profiling one of the greatest country music families of our time, the doc examines Naomi Judd's complicated bond with her daughters, Wynonna and Ashley, that both tied them together and drove them apart.
|
[03/05/25 - 09:10 AM]
A+E Global Media Partners with Tyler Perry Studios and Pantheon Media Group on Multi-Series Unscripted Development Deal
Under this agreement, the companies will collaborate on a slate of unscripted projects spanning multiple genres and platforms across Lifetime and A&E.
|
[03/05/25 - 09:09 AM]
The History Channel Expands Diverse Storytelling Footprint with New Documentary "Joe Louis vs. Max Schmeling" (wt) Exploring the Epic Showdown Between the Legendary Boxing Heavyweight Champions in Continued Partnership with Uninterrupted
The two-hour documentary will join the previously announced project "Jim Thorpe: Lit by Lightning."
|
|
|
|
