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!
AVENUE 5 (HBO) - Zach Woods will join Hugh Laurie, Suzy Nakamura and Rebecca Front in Armando Iannucci's space comedy pilot as Matt Spencer, "head of Customer Relations. Despite being a nihilist, Matt is a nice guy who can't wait to get to the end of his final cruise before promotion to a more senior role on Earth. He has a performance background, but gave up trying to make it as an entertainer years ago." (Deadline.com)
BEST INTENTIONS (Pop) - David Fynn, Daniel Rashid, Lindsey Gort and Sarah Levy are set to lead the comedy pilot, which revolves around a teenager, his awkward single father who is the guidance counselor at his high school, and the all-too-smart women of their fumbling affections. Fynn plays said father Andy Banks with Rashid as his son, Nate. Gort then plays Katie Baxter, "a teacher who Andy is smitten with and thus, his never-ending hapless efforts to woo her drag Katie headfirst into her own personal misadventures." And Levy is Becky Fistick, "a bubbly, cute, pain-in-the-ass micromanager who is the school's vice principal." Adam Herz, Ben Silverman, Howard T. Owens and Jay Weisleder are the executive producers while Steve Pink is directing. (Deadline.com)
COURTHOUSE (CBS) - Jessica Camacho is the first to be cast in the legal drama pilot as Emily Lopez-Berarro, "a tough and determined public defender who is undaunted in her efforts to prove her clients' innocence." (Deadline.com)
CRIMINAL MINDS (CBS) - Rachael Leigh Cook is slated to appear in the two of the show's final 10 episodes as Max, "a quirky, kind-hearted, candid woman who strikes up an unusual relationship with Matthew Grey Gubler's alter ego." (TVLine.com)
HAPPY ACCIDENT (ABC) - Jessie Pinnick and Elliot Knight have both joined the cast of the comedy pilot, about two Pittsburgh families - a father with three adult daughters, and a hotel lounge singer with her med student son - who are forced together after a decades-old secret is revealed. Pinnick will play Samantha "Sammy" Bennett, "the baby of the family and a tomboy"; while Knight is Kenan, "Sherri's (Williams) son, who has a need for control and order." (Deadline.com)
JANE THE VIRGIN (The CW) - Sophia Bush will drop by the show's final season as Julie, a yet-to-be-revealed role in Episode 12. (TVLine.com)
LIKE MAGIC (NBC) - Tony Award nominee Rory O'Malley has scored a role on the single-camera comedy pilot as Michael V., "one half of a magician team who perform at the club. He's usually more quiet than his partner, Michael B." (THR.com)
LOST BOYS, THE (The CW) - Tyler Posey, Kiele Sanchez, Medalion Rahimi and Dakota Shapiro plus director Catherine Hardwicke have all signed onto the drama pilot, a small screen take on Joel Schumacher's 1987 feature. They'll play Michael, Lucy, Stella and David, respectively, roles originated in the film by Jason Patric, Dianne Wiest, Jami Gertz and Kiefer Sutherand. (Deadline.com)
PRISM (NBC) - Ramon Rodriguez will join Malin Akerman and Mykelti Williamson in the "Rashomon"-esque legal drama pilot as "hard-hitting prosecutor Eduarto Guaty." (Deadline.com)
P-VALLEY (Starz) - The drama, which takes an unapologetic look at the lives of strip club dancers working down in the Dirty Delta, has rounded out its cast with Carolyn Braver as Gidget, "a quirky and earnest trailer-park philosopher"; Parker Sawyers as Andre Watkins, "a former son of this gritty Delta town who's managed to transform himself into a well-educated, upper-middle-class high-achiever"; Elarica Johnson as Autumn Night, "a perfectly polished beauty with a dark secret tucked deep in her Louis Vuitton bag"; and Harriett D. Foy as Patrice Woodbine, "a gospel singing pimpstress and the muva of our shero, Mercedes." (Deadline.com)
RIDE OR DIE (Pop) - Marley Shelton, NeNe Leakes, Molly Sims, Jennifer Landon and Tawny Newsome are set to star in the comedy pilot, about when an elite spin studio is rocked by a strange murder, Shauna (Shelton), a down-on-her-luck outsider, teams up with Glo (Leakes), a true-crime buff, to find the killer. Sims plays Jamie, "a cunning housewife, resident mean girl and frenemy from Shauna's past life"; with Landon as Ali, "who is wildly ambitious and threatened by Shauna's rising popularity"; and Newsome as Lindy, "the awkward front-desk staffer who is Shauna's only true ally at work." Matt McConkey and Michael Rosenberg are the executive produers while Zoe Cassavetes will direct. (Deadline.com)
UTOPIA (Amazon) - Rainn Wilson, Dan Byrd and Cory Michael Smith are the latest additions to Amazon's import of the U.K. series. Wilson will play Michael Stearns: "Once a promising virologist, Michael is now a forgotten scientist who's lost his edge-under-appreciated and underfunded in his laboratory work." Byrd then is Ian: "Ian went to an online college, works in a soul-robbing job and lives in Canton, Ohio with his grandma in a small apartment." And Smith is Thomas Christie, "bright and ambitious, Thomas works under his biotech scientist father at Christie Laboratories." (Deadline.com)
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