CHICAGO (thefutoncritic.com) -- The latest development news, culled from various wire reports each morning:
10-8 (ABC) - Danny Nucci ("Some of My Best Friends") and Ernie Hudson ("Oz") have signed on for the ABC drama pilot. The announcement lifts the cast-contingency on the project, which tracks rookie cops and training officers at the L.A. County Sheriff's Department.
BATTLESTAR GALACTICA (SCI FI) - Edward James Olmos is close to signing on as Commander Adama while Mary McDonnell is on board as the president of the futuristic society in the cable channel's mini-series/backdoor pilot remake of the 1970s series.
THE BREAK (FOX) - Kris Kristofferson is set to co-star in a recurring role in the Hawaii-based pilot. The actor, who lives on Maui, will portray Izzy Patterson, father of lead character Dane (Dylan Bruno). The Izzy character is serving time in a Honolulu prison when Dane returns to Hawaii from Detroit and brings his son to meet the grandfather. Brooke Langton will co-star as Dane's sister, with whom he and his son live on Oahu's North Shore.
THE BROTHERHOOD OF POLAND, N.H. (CBS) - John Carroll Lynch ("The Drew Carey Show"), Ann Cusack ("Maggie"), Angela Goethals ("Porn 'n' Chicken") and Megan Henning ("Boomtown") have landed roles in David E. Kelley's latest.
CASINO EYE (NBC) - James Caan is set to star in the Peacock pilot about a surveillance expert in Sin City. Caan joins the previously cast Nikki Cox and Josh Duhamel.
COLD CASES (CBS) - Justin Chambers ("Hysterical Blindness") is set as the male lead in Jerry Bruckheimer's latest drama project.
THE DA (ABC) - Bruno Campos ("Jesse") and Aunjanue Ellis ("MDs") have joined Steven Weber in the drama pilot.
FAMILY FRIENDS (WB) - Holly Robinson Peete ("For Your Love") is back at the Frog as the actress has attached herself to the comedy pilot. The project tracks a down-in-her-luck woman and her teen son (both yet to be cast), both of whom must move in with her African-American best friend's family (headed by Peete).
JOAN OF ARCADIA (CBS) - 20th Century Fox TV has pulled out of Barbara Hall's drama pilot, which is currently casting. The drama is now set up at CBS Prods. with the network hoping to bring in a partner.
MAID IN THE MIST (FOX) - Diana Scarwid ("Mommie Dearest") has joined the cast of the drama pilot from Bryan Fuller and Todd Holland. Scarwid will play an author and local celebrity who's the mother to series lead Katherine Dhavernas.
NEWTON (UPN) - Amy Pietz ("Caroline in the City") will star in the UPN drama pilot, the network's first casting news this pilot season.
NO PLACE LIKE HOME (FOX) - Jordi Vilasuso ("Buffy the Vampire Slayer") and Danielle Panabaker ("Bernie Mac") have joined the cast of the family drama. Already on board are Rebecca De Mornay, Carlos Gomez and Amanda Righetti.
THE PARTNERS (ABC) - Mary Catherine Garrison ("Moonlight Mile") will star opposite Liz Vassey in the project, which centers on a pair of mismatched female undercover cops.
THE RIPPLES (NBC) - Adam Arkin ("Chicago Hope") will topline the quirky comedy about a 4,000-year-old couple.
SCREWBALL HOMICIDE (LIFETIME) - Robert Wagner ("Hart to Hart") has signed on to the cable pilot. Wagner will play father to Julie Warner's character, a woman who still solves crimes with her ex ("Mysterious Ways'" Adrian Pasdar) despite their marriage not working out.
SLICE O'LIFE (ABC) - Janeane Garofalo's comedy pilot has been pushed to midseason consideration and won't be shot until May or June. The project has been delayed due to availability issues on the part of Garofalo and potential directors. The comedian stars as a newsmagazine segment producer charged with developing light human-interest stories.
THE STREET LAWYER (ABC) - Hal Holbrook is on board the drama pilot based on John Grisham's novel on the same name. Holbrook will play a senior partner in the Touchstone drama's law firm.
SUBURBAN SLEUTHS (LIFETIME) - Sharon Lawrence, Marsha Mason, Yvette Nipar, Marco Sanchez and Brett Cullen have joined the cast of the drama pilot. The series follows two sisters (Mason, Nipar) who solve cases with their mother (Lawrence).
TWO AND A HALF MEN (CBS) - Charlie Sheen ("Spin City") is officially on board the comedy pilot about a career-minded bachelor who's forced to take in his newly divorced brother and his young nephew. The news lifts the cast-contingency of the project.
UNTITLED KEVIN HART PROJECT (ABC) - The comedy project has been given a greenlight to produce a pilot. It stars the comedian as a pampered guy from Malibu who's forced to move to Philadelphia after his father goes broke. Stephen Engel ("Inside Schwartz") and David Zuckerman ("King of the Hill") wrote the script with Zuckerman and Imagine's David Nevins and Brian Grazer attached as exec producers.
UNTITLED RODNEY CARRINGTON PROJECT (ABC) - Also getting a greenlight is comedian Rodney Carrington's project, which is based on his life as a comedian trying to raise a family. "My Wife and Kids" trio Don Reo, Damon Wayans and David Himmelfarb are behind the Touchstone TV pilot.
Sources: Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, Reuters
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