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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!
AWKWARD FAMILY PHOTOS (ABC, New!) - Mike Bender and Doug Chernack's web-site-turned-book is being developed as a potential comedy at the Alphabet. Sony Pictures Television is behind the project, which has a script commitment with a penalty attached should it not go to pilot. Moses Port and David Guarascio are penning the script and executive producing alongside Joe and Anthony Russo, who are attached to direct. Bender and Chernack likewise will serve as executive producers.
CRIMINAL MINDS: SUSPECT BEHAVIOR (CBS) - Chris Mundy has stepped down as showrunner of the upcoming spin-off. Ed Bernero, who's at the helm of the parent series, will instead take over operations. It's understood the network was reportedly not happy with its creative direction and asked Bernero to take over. The series is currently in production for a midseason premiere.
DARK TOY PROJECTS (NBC, New!) - Karey Burke and Todd Holland have set up eight new projects at the Peacock via their Universal Media Studios-based Dark Toy banner. Among said roster: Craig Titley's "S.A.N.D. Men," a drama that revolves around "members of an elite squad, Sleep and Nightmare Division, who enter peoples' dreams to confront their nightmares"; Jordan Roter's "The Eulogist," a drama about "a woman in her 20s who moonlights as a eulogist"; Ajay Sahgal and Carlos Jacott's "Guardians," a comedy about "Guardian Angels posing as Starbucks baristas in an effort to help customers improve their lives"; Paul Davies's "Switched," a comedy about "twins who are separated at birth and raised in neighboring towns"; and an untitled drama from Jennifer Salt "set in the tumultuous world of celebrity chefs."
Also in the works are the previously announced "Sellevision," Bryan Fuller's take on the Augusten Burroughs novel, which is now being redeveloped a half-hour (with Mark Bozek, Russell Nuce, Bryan Singer and Jason Taylor also executive producing); and "Free Agents," John Enbom's domestic take on the U.K. series about a pair of talent agents (with Kenton Allen, Matthew Justice, Nira Park and Simon Pegg also executive producing); as well as "Emerald City," a comedic "retelling of "The Wizard of Oz" set among twentysomethings in New York City." Emily Halpern and Sarah Haskins are co-writing the hour, with Marti Noxon and Dawn Parouse Olmstead also executive producing. Burke and Holland will executive produce each project alongside their respective creators with Holland himself potentially directing any pilot that moves forward.
HITCH (FOX, New!) - FOX has snagged a potential small screen take on the Will Smith feature of the same name, about a date doctor with his own romantic foibles. Pete Chiarelli ("The Proposal") is on board to pen the dramedy, which has a script commitment plus a penalty attached if it doesn't go to pilot. Ben Wexler was behind a half-hour incarnation that was shopped around in the fall of 2007. Chiarelli, Smith and James Lassiter then will executive produce via the latter pair's Overbrook Entertainment for Sony Pictures Television.
MAN OF THE HOUSE (NBC, New!) - Screenwriter Adam Sztykiel ("Due Date") is developing a new comedy at the Peacock billed as "a Mr. Mom role reversal family show." Robert Cohen ("The Big Bang Theory") is co-writing the half-hour, which is set up at the ABC Studios-based Mark Gordon Co. Gordon and Andrea Shay then are executive producing alongside Sztykiel and Cohen.
THE MEMBER-GUEST (HBO, New!) - Kevin Bacon is on track to star and executive produce a potential single-camera comedy for the pay channel about "a burned-out golf pro of a 9-hole course who just wants one more shot at the tour [but is] constantly sidelined as he deals with the needs of the members of the Middle-American country club who are grappling with dashed dreams of their own." Steve Pink ("High Fidelity") is penning the half-hour, which is based on Clint McCown's 1995 book of the same name. Bacon, Pink, Tom Mangan and Kapital Entertainment's Aaron Kaplan are the executive producers with McCown himself attached as a consultant.
PUNK'D (MTV) - Recording artist Justin Bieber reportedly is set to topline a revival of the former Ashton Kutcher mainstay, in which celebrities are the victims of elaborate practical jokes. Kutcher and Jason Goldberg are executive producing the new incarnation via their Katalyst Films banner, with would roll out sometime next year. It's understood talks began with Bieber earlier this summer, while it's not clear if a deal has actually been closed due to the show's top-secret nature.
RUNNING WILDE (FOX) - Drea de Matteo ("Desperate Housewives") has booked a potentially recurring role on the freshman comedy. She'll play Didi, the randy stepmother of Will Arnett's Steve Wilde who "comes to the Wilde estate on behalf of Steve's never-before-seen dad to rein in his monetary expenditures - on the same day Steve decides to fund Emmy's (Keri Russell) nonprofit organization." Her first episode is set to air later this month.
TOUGH TRADE (Epix) - The fledgling pay channel has reportedly passed on the long-in-the-works drama, about three generations of a music dynasty set in Nashville. Sam Shepherd, Cary Elwes, Joey Lauren Adams, Trace Adkins and Lucas Black were among the pilot's ensemble, while Jenji Kohan, Sean Furst, Bryan Furst and creator Chris Offutt were the executive producers. The news marks the end of the one-time TNT effort, which had four additional scripts ordered and the options on its actors extended while Epix mulled its fate. Said report adds that producer Lionsgate is considering retooling the project into a mini-series.
WILD WILD WEST (New!) - Ronald D. Moore ("Battlestar Galactica") is reportedly looking to revive the 1965-69 CBS series, about Secret Service agents (Robert Conrad and Ross Martin) who get reassigned to the Old West. Will Smith and Kevin Kline toplined 1999's much-maligned incarnation. No specifics were given about the Moore's take, which has yet to begin the network rounds. It's not clear if Sony Pictures Television, where Moore is based, is the studio attached.
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