LOS ANGELES (thefutoncritic.com) -- The latest development news, culled from recent wire reports:
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11/22/63 (Hulu/WBT; W: Bridget Carpenter; D: Kevin Macdonald) - Kevin Macdonald (The Last King of Scotland) is set to direct the first two episodes of Bad Robot Productions' event series, based upon the best-selling 2011 novel written by Stephen King in which high school English teacher Jake Epping (James Franco) travels back in time to prevent the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. But his mission is threatened by Lee Harvey Oswald, his falling in love and the past itself... which doesn't want to be changed.
Also starring are Sarah Gadon as Sadie Dunhill, "the luminous, sharp librarian in 1960s Jodie, Texas, who falls in love with Jake, unaware of his double life"; Chris Cooper as Al Templeton, "the irascible owner of Al's Diner, a mentor/friend to Jake"; Daniel Webber as Oswald, "one of the most discussed figures in American history and an enigma even to himself"; Cherry Jones as Marguerite Oswald, "Oswald's mother who is as needy and difficult as her infamous son"; George MacKay as Bill Turcotte, "a young, guileless bartender from 1960s Kentucky who becomes Jake's ally"; Lucy Fry as Marina Oswald, "Oswald's Russian wife - a knockout and challenged to make her way in a foreign country with her unpredictable husband"; and Leon Rippy as Harry Dunning, "a kind, soft-spoken and damaged janitor at Jake's school in 2015; his traumatic early life in the 1960s has a surprising impact on Jake." (Deadline.com)
HALF OF IT, THE (CBS/CBSP; W: Mike Gibbons; D: James Burrows) - Andrea Anders has been tapped for a role on the comedy pilot, about Mike (Jon Dore), a newly divorced dad who revels in the fact that he now gets to keep half his stuff, which is more than he ever had when he was married. She'll play Megan, "Mike's strong-willed ex-wife." Said casting is in second position to her other pilot, NBC's "How We Live." Christine Ko, David Del Rio and Morgan Krantz also star. (Deadline.com)
AND IN OTHER NEWS... - Brian Grazer told ESPN's Bill Simmons that "Arrested Development" will return for another 17 episodes (ESPN.com); Jimmy Jean-Louis will reprise his role as The Haitian on NBC's "Heroes Reborn" revival (Deadline.com); Robert Sean Leonard is set to visit "Law & Order: SVU" as an "ADA who once sent a man to jail for raping his daughter" (THR.com); Fred Armisen, Stephen Rannazzisi and Ally Maki will all drop by "New Girl" as potential roommates next season (THR.com); Jaleel White is bound for "Castle" as "the larger-than-life star of a sketch series who has a tendency toward outrageous - and possibly homicidal - behavior" (TVLine.com); "The Good Wife" co-creators Robert and Michelle King have formally launched their King Size Productions banner based at CBS Television Studios (Variety.com); and Gil Goldschein will succeed Jonathan Murray as the head of Bunim-Murray Productions (Variety.com).
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