CHICAGO (thefutoncritic.com) -- The latest development news, culled from various wire reports each morning:
BLACK MARKET MUSIC (HBO, New!) - HBO has pacted with actor Jack Black ("Tenacious D") and "Undeclared" scribe-actors Seth Rogen and Jason Segel for "Black Market Music," a half-hour comedy about a pair of twentysomethings with different goals who end up running a Hollywood record shop. Black will executive produce, while Rogen and Segel will write, co-star and produce the pilot, which is in the early stages of development at HBO. Black (who may appear in some episodes) hopes to make use of actual musicians, inviting artists and bands to appear in storylines as well as perform.
I'M WITH HER (ABC) - Danny Comden has joined the cast of the comedy pilot from Chris Henchy and Marco Pennette.
JOAN OF ARCADIA (CBS) - Joe Mantegna ("First Monday") is set to star and Sony Pictures Television is on board to produce (alongside CBS Prods.) the drama pilot presentation. Mantegna will play the father in the project, which revolves around a contemporary Joan of Arc who sees God in a different form each week. Barbara Hall ("Judging Amy") created the series originally for 20th Century Fox TV but studio insiders said the executives didn't think the show would sell well internationally and its commercial prospects didn't justify deficit-financing the show. CBS believed in the script and proceeded anyway however, bringing Sony onboard.
PEACEMAKERS (USA) - The cable network is close to giving the two-hour drama pilot a series order for this summer. The project, from Rick Rampage ("Haunted") and Larry Carroll ("Red Skies"), stars Tom Berenger as a U.S. Marshal in 1881, when modern crime-fighting techniques began to invade the Old West.
SPLITSVILLE (FOX) - Abby Kohn and Marc Silverstein's project has added Christopher Gartin ("Johns"), Heather Stephens ("Men, Women and Dogs") and Katherine Towne ("Mulholland Drive") to its cast. The drama follows the lives of a couple who pen a "he said, she said"-style column and opt to keep working together even after they call off their engagement and split up.
SWEET POTATO QUEENS (WB) - Nick Zano has joined the Frog comedy starring Delta Burke.
THOUGHTCRIMES/TOUCHING EVIL (USA) - USA has announced both projects, which have two-hour pilot orders, are in contention for January 2004 series orders.
UNTITLED EVE PROJECT (UPN) - UPN has given its untitled Eve project a greenlight to produce a pilot presentation. The series, from Greenblatt-Janollari Studio and Warner Bros. TV, would star the rapper (who recently appeared in the hit comedy "Barbershop") as a fashion designer on the lookout for love. Meg DeLoatch, Eve and Troy Carter are set as the co-executive producers.
UNTITLED J.A.G. PROJECT (CBS) - Michael Weatherly ("Dark Angel") has come aboard the "J.A.G." spin-off project.
UNTITLED NICOLE SULLIVAN PROJECT (CBS) - Kate Walsh ("The Mind of the Married Man") has been added to the untitled comedy.
Sources: Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, Reuters
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