or


[03/06/09 - 06:31 PM]
Development Update: Friday, March 6
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!


THE BODY POLITIC (The CW) - "The West Wing" alum Tim Matheson has joined the cast of the drama pilot, about young staffers in Washington. He'll play a charming, JFK-type senator. Bill Robinson and Jason Rothenberg are behind the CBS Paramount Network Television-based hour, which Scott Winant is attached to direct.


CHOCOLATE NEWS (Comedy Central) - David Alan Grier has confirmed the series won't be returning for a second season. In the March 13 issue of Entertainment Weekly, Grier, talking about his turn on "Dancing With the Stars," remarked: "They asked me before and [I said] no. But then my show, Chocolate News, didn't get picked up by Comedy Central. I said, 'Get Dancing With the Stars on the phone!'"


COUGAR TOWN (ABC) - Josh Hopkins ("Swingtown") and Ian Gomez ("Rita Rocks") have both joined the cast of the comedy pilot, about a 40-year-old newly single mom (Courteney Cox) with a teen son. They'll play neighbors of Cox's character. Bill Lawrence and Kevin Biegel co-created the half-hour, which is set up at ABC Studios.


DIARY OF A MANHATTAN CALL GIRL (HBO) - "Sex and the City" creator Darren Star is returning to the pay channel, inking a two-year, first-look deal with the network. The pact gives HBO first crack at the prolific writer/producer's output, either from himself or other writers he's supervising. Star had previously set up "Diary of a Manhattan Call Girl" at the channel, which didn't move forward to pilot.


GOSSIP GIRL (The CW) - Andrew McCarthy is the latest "Lipstick Jungle" alum to join the cast of the potential spin-off, about Lily's (Brittany Snow) wild teen years in 1980s Los Angeles. Also reportedly close to signing on: Cynthia Watros and Ryan Hansen. McCarthy and Watros are on track to play Lily's parents, Celia and Rick Rhodes, with Hansen as Shep, the best friend of the previously cast Shilo Fernandez, who's got a crush on Lily's sister Carol (Krysten Ritter).


HUMAN TARGET (FOX) - Chi McBride ("Pushing Daisies") and Jackie Earle Haley ("Watchmen") have joined the cast of the drama pilot, about a mysterious freelancer (Mark Valley) who takes on a different identity each week to help those in need. They'll play two of the man's associates - Winston, his business partner, and Guerrero, his information gatherer, respectively. Simon West is helming the hour from a script by Jon Steinberg.


IMPACT (ABC, New!) - The Alphabet has acquired the domestic rights to a new mini-series about a meteor that strikes the moon and sends it on a collision course with Earth. David James Elliott, Natasha Henstridge, Steven Culp and James Cromwell topline the $14 million production, which comes from Tandem Communications, Jaffe/Braunstein Entertainment and Muse Entertainment. It's understood that the Alphabet will air the Michael Rohl-directed project as a limited series this summer with a second window on Sci Fi and a DVD release from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment shortly thereafter.


THE LAW (ABC) - Madchen Amick and Ryan Devlin have both joined the cast of the Cedric the Entertainer-led comedy pilot, about reserve police officers. They'll play two of them - a soccer mom-turned-reservist and a rookie reservist, respectively. Cedric co-created the ABC Studios-based project alongside Bob Fisher.


MAGGIE HILL (FOX) - Stuart Townsend ("Night Stalker") has joined the cast of the pilot, a drama about a brilliant surgeon with schizophrenia (Christina Cole). He'll play her imaginary boyfriend in the hour, which comes from 20th Century Fox Television, creator Ian Biederman and director Stephen Hopkins.


PARENTHOOD (NBC) - Erika Christensen ("Six Degrees") is the first to be cast in the drama pilot, an update of Ron Howard's 1989 feature of the same name. She'll play Julia Braverman, "a go-getting corporate attorney having trouble jumping off the fast track and becoming more involved with her family." Jason Katims is behind the hour, which is based at Universal Media Studios and Imagine Television.


PULLING (ABC, New!) - Rob Hanning has booked a last-minute pilot order for a new comedy about three single women who move in together after one breaks off her engagement the day before her wedding. The project, which is based on Sharon Horgan and Dennis Kelly's U.K. series of the same name, is set up at ABC Studios with Elliot Hegarty directing. Hanning, Horgan and Kelly then will executive produce the single-camera half-hour alongside showrunner Stacy Traub and Francie Calfo.


Sources: Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, Reuters





  [march 2009]  
S
M
T
W
T
F
S


· BESTIES (ABC)
· BODY POLITIC, THE (CW)
· CHOCOLATE NEWS (COMEDY CENTRAL)
· COUGAR TOWN (TBS)
· DANCING WITH THE STARS (ABC)
· DEVELOPMENT UPDATE (TFC)
· DIARY OF A MANHATTAN CALL GIRL (HBO)
· GOSSIP GIRL (CW)
· HUMAN TARGET (FOX)
· IMPACT (ABC)
· LAW, THE (ABC)
· LIPSTICK JUNGLE (NBC)
· MAGGIE HILL (FOX)
· NIGHT STALKER (ABC)
· PARENTHOOD (NBC)
· PUSHING DAISIES (ABC)
· RITA ROCKS (LIFETIME)
· SEX AND THE CITY (HBO)
· SIX DEGREES (ABC)
· SWINGTOWN (CBS)
· UNTITLED GOSSIP GIRL SPIN-OFF PROJECT (CW)
· WEST WING, THE (NBC)





[01/31/25 - 10:05 AM]
Emotions Are High, Tears Run Dry and a Web of Lies Unravel When Bravo's "The Real Housewives of Potomac" Three-Part Reunion Begins Sunday, Feb. 16 at 8 P.M. ET/PT
Housewives Gizelle Bryant, Ashley Darby, Dr. Wendy Osefo, Mia Thornton, Stacey Rusch, Keiarna Stewart and friends Jacqueline Blake and Jassi Rideaux flash back on all the fun and games throughout the season, but take each other to task for their shenanigans.

[01/31/25 - 10:01 AM]
From Creator Michael Cusack, "YOLO: Rainbow Trinity" Premieres March 9 on Adult Swim
Season three finds Australia's famed party duo, Sarah (Sarah Bishop) and Rachel (Todor Manojlovic), encountering more fun and silly characters populating their hometown of Wollongong than ever before

[01/31/25 - 09:40 AM]
CBS Thursday Line Up Returns, Up from Its Season Average
"Georgie and Mandy's First Marriage" hit a series high averaging 7.72 million viewers, and up +10% from its season-to-date average (7.02 million viewers).

[01/31/25 - 08:30 AM]
Hit Reality Sensation "Married at First Sight" Finds New Home at Peacock
Originally launched in 2014, "Married at First Sight" is a reality series that follows singles looking for a life-long partnership as they embark on a provocative experiment: getting legally married to a stranger the moment they first meet.

[01/31/25 - 08:00 AM]
Presenters Announced for "The 67th Annual Grammy Awards"
Taking the stage will be Cardi B, Gloria Estefan, Olivia Rodrigo, Queen Latifah, SZA, Taylor Swift, Victoria Monét and Will Smith.

[01/31/25 - 07:30 AM]
Video: Acorn TV Releases Trailer and Key Art for New Zealand Mystery Series "A Remarkable Place to Die"
Starring Chelsie Preston Crawford and acclaimed Australian actress Rebecca Gibney, the four-episode original series premieres Monday, February 17 on Acorn TV in the US and Canada, with new episodes releasing weekly.

[01/31/25 - 07:05 AM]
FOX Sports Announces 2025 Daytona Speedweeks On-Air Team for Its 25th Season of NASCAR Coverage
Calling the Daytona 500 for FOX Sports on Sunday, February 16, is play-by-play announcer Mike Joy, covering his 46th Daytona 500 for live TV or radio, alongside analysts Clint Bowyer, in his fifth year with FOX, and 2014 NASCAR Cup Series champion and 2007 Daytona 500 winner Kevin Harvick, entering his second season in the booth.

[01/31/25 - 07:01 AM]
Video: "Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light" Preview
Based on the final novel in Hilary Mantel's multi award-winning trilogy, "Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light" premieres on "Masterpiece" Sunday, March 23.

[01/31/25 - 05:01 AM]
"Caught," Netflix's New Argentinian Thriller, Premieres on March 26
The limited series is based on the novel by Harlan Coben and shot in San Carlos de Bariloche.

[01/31/25 - 02:01 AM]
Video: Netflix Unveils the Official Trailer for "Aitana: Metamorphosis"
The documentary series will invite Aitana's fans to get to know her as they have never seen her before, enjoying her greatest hits and navigating complicated bumps in a process of personal and professional growth and maturity as she continues to establish herself as one of the biggest stars of Spanish music.

[01/30/25 - 08:31 PM]
Middle-Class Ambitions Meets High-Stakes Crime: "Dabba Cartel" Arrives February 28 on Netflix
"Dabba Cartel" is a unique tale of a reluctant cartel: the lives of five middle-class women and their families are thrown into chaos when their low-key dabba service spirals into an unexpected venture - a high-stakes drug delivery operation.

[01/30/25 - 04:43 PM]
Video: Official Trailer #3 - "Common Side Effects" - February 2 - Adult Swim
The series premieres this Sunday, February 2 at 11:30/10:30c on Adult Swim, next day on Max.

[01/30/25 - 04:10 PM]
Video: Netflix Debuted Highly Anticipated Slate with New Title Announcements, New Clips, New Images, Full Slate and More
2025 marks the return of some of Netflix's most popular shows of all time and the release of huge new films and series from some of the biggest names in entertainment.

[01/30/25 - 04:01 PM]
Go on a Journey of Love and Healing This Valentine's Day with K-Romance Series "Melo Movie"
At the heart of "Melo Movie" is the rekindled romance of Ko Gyeom, played by Choi Woo-shik, and Kim Mubee, portrayed by Park Bo-young.

[01/30/25 - 01:14 PM]
Max Original Reality Series "Paul American" Debuts March 27
With more than 150 million followers and multiple successful business ventures, Jake and Logan Paul will step into a new arena with the original reality series.