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[03/12/10 - 12:06 AM]
Development Update: Friday, March 12
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!


FRANKLIN & BASH (TBS) - Malcolm McDowell ("Entourage") has joined the cast of the drama pilot, about two street lawyers and lifelong friends (Breckin Meyer, Mark-Paul Gosselaar) who, after taking down a white-shoe law firm in a high-profile case, are recruited by the firm's patriarch. McDowell will play the patriarch in question, a Renaissance man. Bill Chais and Kevin Falls are behind the hour, which is set up at the Sony Pictures Television-based FanFare Productions.


FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS (NBC) - Patrick J. Adams ("Weather Girl") and Danneel Harris ("One Tree Hill") have booked roles on the comedy pilot, about a quintet of friends each looking for "the one" but in the meantime settling for "friends with benefits." They'll play Ben and Sara, significant others who are still looking for their ideal mates. Fran Kranz also stars in the 20th Century Fox Television-based half-hour, which David Dobkin is directing from a script by co-creators Michael Weber and Scott Neustadter.


IN SECURITY (TBS) - Constance Zimmer ("Entourage") and Kat Foster ("The Unusuals") have been tapped for the lead roles on the drama pilot, about "two sisters who take over their father's private-security business protecting the super-elite while dealing with personal and family issues." The pair's casting as the sisters - Zimmer as the strong one, Foster as the wayward one - lifts said contingency off the pilot's production. Pete Segal and Ric Swartzlander are behind the hour, which Segal is directing. Chris Albrecht and Michael Ewing are also attached as executive producers.


MIDLAND (FOX) - Jon Voight ("24") and David Keith ("The Class") are set to play the patriarchs on the drama pilot, about Robert Allen (Jimmy Wolk), a con artist juggling two lives in two Texas cities with two different women. Voight will play Clint, Bob's oil tycoon father-in-law through Cat (Adrianne Palicki), "the kind of classic, handsome, boots and jeans Texan you see in the movies or the White House." Keith then is set as John, Bob's father ("white haired, a hard edged handsome"), who groomed his son to follow in his con-man footsteps. Bryce Johnson and Eloise Mumford also star in the hour, which is set up at 20th Century Fox Television. Marc Webb is directing from a script by Kyle Killen.


THE ROCKFORD FILES (NBC) - Alan Tudyk ("V") is the second addition to the drama pilot, about Jim Rockford (Dermot Mulroney), "a roguish private eye who tackles the dangerous, quirky and unpredictable cases that no other detective wants to handle." He'll play Dennis Becker, a detective pal of Rockford's who's "hard working and way too naive to be a cop; he knows that about himself and tries to compensate, to appear jaded." Universal Media Studios and Carousel Productions are behind the hour, which was penned by David Shore.


Sources: Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, Reuters





  [march 2010]  
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· 24 (FOX)
· CLASS, THE (CBS)
· DEVELOPMENT UPDATE (TFC)
· ENTOURAGE (HBO)
· FRANKLIN & BASH (TNT)
· FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS (NBC)
· IN SECURITY (TBS)
· LONE STAR (FOX)
· ONE TREE HILL (CW)
· ROCKFORD FILES, THE (NBC)
· UNUSUALS, THE (ABC)
· V (ABC)





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