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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!
BAD MANAGEMENT (ABC/ABC Studios; W: Holly Walsh & Sharon Horgan; D: Ben Taylor) - Alan Thicke and Bradley Dodds are the latest to board the comedy pilot, about Eve (Sharon Horgan), a slightly self-centered boss at a high-end luxury goods department store who finds her ways challenged when the owner's son (David Spade) comes to town and makes youth and sex the new company focus. Thicke will play said owner Tobias Eastmore, Sr. ("tough, hates failure, likes lunches") while Dodds is set as Ben, a dim, former spokesmodel who Eve hires to annoy Tobias Jr. E.J. Bonilla, Greta Lee and Rachael Harris also star. (Deadline.com)
BAD TEACHER (CBS/Sony; W: Hilary Winston; D: Don Scardino) - "Sex and the City" alum Kristin Davis has been cast while Don Scardino ("30 Rock") will direct the comedy pilot, based on the Cameron Diaz-led feature about a foul-mouthed, gold-digging junior high school teacher. She'll play Ginny ("uptight busy body history teacher"), the nemesis of the title character, Meredith Davis (Ari Graynor). David Alan Grier, Ryan Hansen and Sara Gilbert also star. (Deadline.com)
BLACKLIST, THE (NBC/Sony; W: Jon Bokenkamp; D: Joe Carnahan) - Diego Klattenhoff ("Homeland") is the latest addition to the drama pilot, about Raymond "Red" Reddington (James Spader), the world's most wanted criminal, who turns himself into the FBI and offers to give up everyone he has ever worked with in exchange for working with Elizabeth Keen (Megan Boone), a newly minted agent whom he seemingly has no connection. He'll play Donald Ressler ("square-jawed and seasoned"), the case agent on Reddington from the Washington Field office. Ryan Eggold also stars. (Deadline.com)
BRENDA FOREVER (NBC/Sony; W: Andrew Leeds & David Lampson; D: David Wain) - Daija Owens ("Best Friends Forever") has scored a role on the comedy pilot, about one woman's (Ellie Kemper) journey from slightly chubby and awkward 13-year-old girl to slightly more attractive and stylish 31-year-old but little in her personality has changed. She'll play the teenage version of Brenda's best friend Pearl Gardner (Da'vine Joy Randolph). Stephnie Weir also stars as Brenda's mother. (THR.com)
DIVORCE: A LOVE STORY (ABC/Sony; W: Daniel Lappin & Mike Sikowitz; D: Pamela Fryman) - Adam Goldberg ("NYC 22") has boarded the multi-camera comedy pilot, about Robin (Andrea Anders) and Kenny (Jason Jones), a recently divorced couple who were bad at marriage and discover they are even worse at divorce. He's set as Ike, Kenny's neurotic friend and co-worker, in the multi-camera project. (Deadline.com)
DO IT YOURSELF (TBS; W: Rob Long & Walt Becker; D: James Widdoes) - Nicky Whelan (Hall Pass) has scored a role on the comedy pilot, about Nick (Ben Rappaport), a 20-something laid-off math teacher who finds himself thrust into the blue collar world when he gets a job at that most American of retail institutions: the big box home supply store. She'll play Tess, "Nick's unattainable ingenue" in the multi-camera project, which also stars Bill Engvall, Melora Hardin and Ryan McPartlin. (Deadline.com)
FRIENDS & FAMILY (FOX/Sony; W: David J. Rosen; D: TBA) - Seven-time Emmy-nominee Jane Kaczmarek ("Malcolm in the Middle") has signed onto the comedy pilot, about new lovers Gavin (Jason Ritter) and Stacey (Alexis Bledel) whose greatest challenge isn't their long distance status but their polarizing families' lives. She'll play Gavin's mom Pam ("a real housewife of the Upper West") with the previously cast Kurt Fuller as her husband, Michael. Ashlie Atkinson, Dustin Ybarra and Kerri Kenney-Silver also star. (Deadline.com)
FRIENDS WITH BETTER LIVES (CBS/20th; W: Dana Klein; D: James Burrows) - Majandra Delfino, fresh off her departure from ABC's "Keep Calm and Karey On," has boarded the CBS comedy pilot, about six thirtysomething friends, each who each thinks the other has it better. She'll play Andi Cooper-Lutz ("lovable, vulnerable, practical, responsible, overwhelmed"), the wife of the previously cast Kevin Connolly's Bobby and mother of his three kids. Brooklyn Decker, James Van Der Beek and Rick Donald also star in the multi-camera project. (Deadline.com)
I AM VICTOR (NBC/Universal; W: Mark Goffman; D: TBA) - Angela Sarafyan (The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2) has snagged a role on the drama pilot, about Victor Port (John Stamos), a high powered divorce attorney with a unique view of relationships, including that marriage is just a contract. She's set as Cucumber, Victor's tall, sharp-featured Russian secretary. Also starring are Lorenza Izzo, Matthew Lillard, McKaley Miller, Megan Dodds and Terry Kinney. (Deadline.com)
LUCKY 7 (ABC/ABC Studios; W: David Zabel & Jason Richman; D: TBA) - Luis Antonio Ramos (The Ruins) has been cast in the drama pilot, about seven employees at a service station in Queens whose lives are changed in many unexpected ways when they win a $45 million lottery jackpot. He'll play Antonio Clemente, "the cheerful, charming gas station mechanic who had pulled out of the lottery pool to save money." Anastasia Phillips, Christine Evangelista, Isiah Whitlock, Jr., Lorraine Bruce, Stephen Louis Grush and Summer Bishil also star. (Deadline.com)
TWO WRONGS (FOX/20th; W: Michelle Morgan; D: TBA) - Mimi Kennedy ("Dharma & Greg") has been cast in the comedy pilot, about a couple (Jake Hoffman, Kelli Garner) whose friends and family don't think they are right for each other. She'll play his mother Elaine ("elegant Jewish mother with eyes that could burn a hole into your head") in the single-camera project. (Deadline.com)
UNTITLED RAND RAVICH PROJECT (NBC/20th; W: Rand Ravich; D: TBA) - Dermot Mulroney and Max Martini have both booked roles on the drama pilot, about Marcus Finley (Lance Gross), an idealistic Secret Service agent who finds himself at the epicenter of an international crisis on his first day after the President's son and his schoolmates are kidnapped. The latter will play Koz, one of the mercenaries behind the abduction; while Mulroney is set as Bill Gibson ("timid, meek, sweater vest and thick glasses"), Beth Ann's (Stevie Lynn Jones) divorced father who's chaperoning their school trip. Gillian Anderson, Halston Sage, Max Schneider and Rachael Taylor also star. (Deadline.com)
UNTITLED ROBERT PADNICK PROJECT (NBC/Universal; W: Robert Padnick; D: Kyle Newacheck) - Josh Rabinowitz has exited the comedy pilot, about four hopeful city-dwellers as they step through the endless mine field of their romantic entanglements. He had been set to play one of them, Hirsch ("charming overthinker, sincere and scrupulous; always strives to do right"), in the project, which also stars Adhir Kalyan, Ellen Woglom and Eric Andre. The comedian will instead focus on "Legion of Goons," a sketch pilot for Comedy Central featuring the troupe of the same name (which also includes Kevin Barnett, Jennifer Bartels, Lil Rel Howery, Jermaine Fowler, Kenny Lucas and Keith Lucas). Michael Rotenberg and Avi Gilbert of 3 Arts Entertainment and Ali LeRoi are executive producing. (Deadline.com)
VATICAN, THE (Showtime/Sony; W: Paul Attanasio; D: Ridley Scott) - Ewen Bremner (Jack the Giant Slayer) has joined the cast of the drama pilot, a provocative contemporary genre thriller about spirituality, power and politics - set against the modern-day political machinations within the Catholic church. He's set as Monsignor Alberico Iemma, "who is charged with the weighty and complex job of investigating and pronouncing miracles for the Church." Also starring are Anna Friel, Kyle Chandler, Matthew Goode and Sebastian Koch. (THR.com)
WEST SIDE (ABC/Warner Bros.; W: Byron Balasco; D: McG) - Australian actor Luke Bracey has booked the male lead on the "Romeo and Juliet"-esque drama pilot, about the romance between members of two rival families in the surfing community of Venice, California. He's set as the aforementioned "Romeo", Chris ("contained, soulful eyes"), alongside the previously cast "Juliet," Sophie (Odette Annable). Chris's late father and Sophie's dad Gordy (Bruce Greenwood) were once the best of friends but a falling out over their business - and the former's subsequent death - pushed their families apart. Now fresh from prison, Chris hopes to run away to Costa Rica but is ultimately pulled back into his family's drama, not to mention falls for Sophie. Jennifer Beals, Dean Winters and Lincoln Lewis play Chris's mother, uncle and younger brother, respectively, while Michael Graziadei is set as Sophie's older brother. (Deadline.com)
AND IN OTHER NEWS... - NBC has begun casting a fourth season of "The Sing-Off" with calls already set for Chicago on April 27, Nashville on May 4, Los Angeles on May 11 and New York on May 18 (SingOffCasting.com); Rob Thomas and Kristen Bell's Kickstarter campaign has raised - in less than 24 hours - the $2 million necessary to finance a "Veronica Mars" movie (EW.com); Ken Jeong will guest on "Sullivan & Son" as Steve's (Steve Byrne) doctor brother-in-law "whose workaholic ways are putting strain on his marriage to Steve's sister, Susan (Vivan Bang)" (EW.com);
Jonathan Del Arco's Dr. Morales has been upped to series regular on "Major Crimes," while Colton Haynes's Roy Harper will likewise do the same on "Arrow" come season two (Deadline.com); CBS Television Distribution's various off-network sales of "The Good Wife" are reportedly worth nearly $2 million per episode (Deadline.com); Jasika Nicole will drop by "Scandal" in a yet-to-be-revealed role (@ShondaRhimes); Amanda Foreman has been cast as Matty's (Beau Mirchoff) mom on "Awkward" (TVLine.com); and Chris Caldovino's Tonino Sandrelli is likewise due back on "Boardwalk Empire" (THR.com).
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