CLEOPATRA (NBC, New!) - Screenwriter Michael Seitzman ("North Country") has booked a period drama at the Peacock about the famous Egyptian queen, billed as "an epic romance set in a world of sorcery, gods and monsters that centers on Cleopatra, Mark Antony and Julius Caesar." ABC Studios-Di Bonaventura Pictures is behind the project, which has a put pilot commitment, with Seitzman executive producing alongside the company's Lorenzo Di Bonaventura and Dan McDermott. Seitzman has been behind three pilots in recent years, including ABC's "Americana" this past development cycle. (Deadline.com)
ISLAND PRACTICE (CBS) - Amy Holden Jones has been tapped to pen the small screen take on Pam Belluck's book of the same name - subtitled "Cobblestone Rash, Underground Tom, and Other Adventures of a Nantucket Doctor" - which has found a home at CBS. 20th Century Fox Television-based Imagine Television optioned the book last month as a potential TV series about "an eccentric maverick who practices medicine on an island off the coast of Seattle using tactics that are frequently as controversial as they are heroic." Brian Grazer, Francie Calfo and 3 Arts Entertainment's Oly Obst will executive produce alongside Jones with Dr. Timothy Lepore - the subject of Belluck's tome - serving as a consultant. (Deadline.com)
REAL LIFE: THE MUSICAL/SUPER SAVER SHOWDOWN (OWN) - The cable channel has pulled both series from its Friday lineup. The latter opened to an invisible 71,000 viewers for its debut last week while the former posted an equally modest 68,000 viewers for its August 3 return. "Real Life" originally bowed on Saturday, June 9 at 10:00/9:00c and likewise got the hook after one airing.
VICTORIOUS (Nickelodeon) - Dan Schneider took to Twitter to confirm the Victoria Justice-led series will end after 60 episodes. "Okay, first things first... There is a whole NEW season of Victorious coming your way," he added on his blog. "We just finished shooting 15 new episodes, and they're amazing. If you love Victorious, I feel sure you will love the NEW episodes coming! By now, a lot of you have heard that Victorious will not be returning for a 4th season. That is true. This was the network's decision - not mine." (@DanWarp)
ANGIE'S BODY (Showtime, New!) - Rob Fresco ("Touch") has sold a new drama to the pay channel about "a shrewd, sexy and, when necessary, lethal woman who runs a family-based crime syndicate." Jodie Foster is on board to direct and executive produce the hour alongside Fresco and Russ Krasnoff for Sony Pictures Television. (Deadline.com)
THE BLACKLIST (NBC, New!) - Feature writer Jon Bokenkamp ("Taking Lives") has booked a script commitment from the Peacock for a potential drama about "an international, Kaiser Soze-like criminal who mysteriously surrenders himself to the Feds and offers to help hunt down the very men he's spent his entire life protecting." Sony Pictures Television is behind the hour with John Eisendrath and Davis Entertainment's John Davis and John Fox also serving as executive producers. (Deadline.com)
BURNS & COOLEY (ABC, New!) - Meredith Philpott ("Awkward") has scored a script order from the Alphabet for a new drama about "the top two neurosurgeons at a New York hospital who find themselves competing on every level - both personally and professionally - as they handle some of the toughest medical cases in the world involving the brain," not to mention being ridiculously attracted to one another. ABC Studios and Gross Entertainment's Matt Gross are likewise behind the hour. (Deadline.com)
DUMB F--- (ABC, New!) - Screenwriter Hank Nelken ("Mama's Boy") has landed a script order at the Alphabet for a comedy about "an average guy and his brilliant wife who, due to financial hardship, are forced to live with her family of highly intelligent but emotionally stunted geniuses." Said half-hour, which has a penalty attached, comes from FishBowl Worldwide Media. The company's Vin Di Bona, Bruce Gersh, Susan Levison and Shaleen Desai then will executive produce alongside Nelken. (Deadline.com)
EV AND OCHO (VH1) - The cable channel has pulled the plug on the upcoming reality series, a behind-the-scenes look at Chad Johnson and Evelyn Lozada's wedding, after the former was charged with domestic battery for allegedly hitting the latter over the weekend. "Due to the unfortunate events over the weekend and the seriousness of the allegations, VH1 is pulling the series 'Ev and Ocho' from its schedule and has no current plans of airing it," the network said in a statement released for multiple outlets. Said half-hour had been set to launch on Monday, September 3 at 9:30/8:30c.
GUINEA PIGS (CBS, New!) - Emmy-winner Dahvi Waller ("Mad Men") has scored a put pilot commitment from the Eye for a new drama about a "group of trailblazing doctors who run clinical trials at a hospital in Philadelphia. The twist: The trials are risky, and the guinea pigs are human." 20th Century Fox Television-based Chernin Entertainment is behind the project with the company's Peter Chernin and Katherine Pope also serving as executive producers. (THR.com)
HENCH (NBC, New!) - Alexandra Cunningham ("Prime Suspect") is back in business with the Peacock, this time for a new drama about "a regular guy who, in order to support his family, gets jobs temping for super villains." Fellow "Suspect" alums Peter Berg and Sarah Aubrey are also on board to executive produce the hour via their Universal Television-based Film 44 banner. (Deadline.com)
RAT BASTARDS (Spike TV) - The cable channel has bumped the newcomer, about a pack of industrious guys who hunt an invasive species of giant swamp rats that are ravaging America's Southern wetlands, out of primetime. The half-hour series launched on Tuesday, July 31 at 10:30/9:30c to 720,000 viewers, falling to 596,000 in its second week. The show's four remaining episodes will air back-to-back on Tuesday, August 14 and 21 at 11:00/10:00c and 11:30/10:30c.
UNTITLED ERIC CHARMELO/NICOLE SNYDER PROJECT (NBC, New!) - "Ringer" creators Eric Charmelo and Nicole Snyder have booked a new drama at the Peacock billed as "a sexy Southern Gothic thriller set in New Orleans - rich with tradition, superstition... and murder." Said hour is set up at the Universal Television-based TBD Productions with the company's Peter Traugott and Rachel Kaplan executive producing alongside the duo. Charmelo and Snyder currently serve as co-executive producers of NBC's midseason drama "Do No Harm." (Deadline.com)
UNTITLED LAGRAVENESE & GOLDWYN PROJECT (AMC) - Marin Ireland ("Homeland") is the first to be cast on the drama pilot, about a District Attorney who uncovers new evidence that prompts the reinvestigation of a sensational murder case. She'll play Christina Rosa, "an attractive, aggressive and impulsive woman of Italian-German descent who works with the Innocence Project." Tony Goldwyn is helming the AMC Studios-based hour from a script by Richard LaGravenese. David Manson also serves as an executive producer with Andrew Sugarman as a co-executive producer. (Deadline.com)
UNTITLED PAUL DAVIES PROJECT (NBC, New!) - Paul Davies has sold a potential drama to the Peacock about "a high-powered Beverly Hills law firm where the attorneys will have to negotiate their relationships with one another as they litigate their cases." Universal Television is behind the project with Stephen Levinson of Leverage Management and Mark Wahlberg of Closest to the Hole Productions also among the executive producers. (THR.com)
GETTING ON (HBO, New!) - "Big Love" creators Mark V. Olsen and Will Scheffer are back in business with the pay channel, this time for a comedy based on the BBC Four series of the same name about "put-upon nurses, anxious doctors and administrators as they struggle with the darkly comic, brutally honest and quietly compassionate realities of caring for the elderly in an overwhelmed healthcare system." BBC Worldwide Productions is behind the half-hour, which has a pilot order. BBC Worldwide Productions is producing alongside Olsen and Scheffer's Anima Sola Productions banner. Jane Tranter, Julie Gardner and Geoff Atkinson also serve as executive producers with Lisa Bellomo producing. (Deadline.com)
HANNIBAL (NBC) - Lara Jean Chorostecki ("Copper") has joined the cast of the drama, a contemporary take on the Will Graham (Hugh Dancy) and Hannibal Lecter (Mads Mikkelsen) characters from Thomas Harris's novels. She'll play sleazy tabloid reporter Freddie Lounds, a role originated on the big screen by Stephen Lang in 1986's "Manhunter" and Philip Seymour Hoffman in 2002's "Red Dragon." Caroline Dhavernas also stars as Dr. Alana Bloom with Laurence Fishburne as Jack Crawford. Bryan Fuller is behind the Gaumont International Television-based hour, the pilot for which is being directed by David Slade. (TVLine.com)
LOW WINTER SUN (AMC) - Lennie James ("Hung") is the latest to score a role on the drama pilot, a contemporary story of murder, deception, revenge and corruption in a world where the line between cops and criminals is blurred. He'll play Joe, "who is described as part cop, part perp," in the AMC Studios-based hour, which also stars Athena Karkanis, James Ransone, Mark Strong and Ruben Santiago Hudson. Chris Mundy penned the script while Ernest Dickerson is in talks to direct. (Deadline.com)
UNTITLED LAGRAVENESE & GOLDWYN PROJECT (AMC) - Joe Anderson ("The River") has signed onto the drama pilot, about Adam Powell, a District Attorney who uncovers new evidence that prompts the reinvestigation of a sensational murder case. He'll play Terry Kaminski, "a man of Polish descent convicted of a crime." Marin Ireland stars in the fellow AMC Studios-based hour, which Tony Goldwyn is helming off a script by Richard LaGravenese. (Deadline.com)
COUPLE TIME (FOX, New!) - Allyn Rachel and Patrick Carlyle are set to star and write a potential comedy at the network based on their web series of the same name, about "a young long-term couple living in Los Angeles who have long passed the bickering and insecurity of early coupledom and are now tackling becoming adults together." The single-camera project is set up at Ellen DeGeneres's Warner Bros. Television-based A Very Good Production with DeGeneres herself serving as an executive producer and Rachel and Carlyle as supervising producers. (Deadline.com)
EX MEN (CBS) - Emmy-winner Tony Shalhoub ("Monk") has joined the cast of the comedy pilot, about "a charming young man (Chris Smith) who, after being left at the altar by his fiancée, moves into a short-term housing complex and makes unlikely friends with a group of divorced men." He'll play Frank Bober, "a college drop-out who built, ran and is now semi-retired from a clothing manufacturing company." Kal Penn also stars in the CBS Television Studios-based half-hour, from writer/director Rob Greenberg. (TVLine.com)
GENE SIMMONS FAMILY JEWELS (A&E) - The cable channel has pulled the plug on its reality staple after seven seasons. "For seven great seasons, Gene, Shannon, Nick and Sophie have been part of the A&E family, and we could not be more proud of the unparalleled run of Gene Simmons Family Jewels," the network said in a statement. "On behalf of everyone at A&E, we'd like to thank the production team at Thinkfactory Media, Gene and his amazing family for their partnership, collaboration and for opening up their lives, warts-and-all, to us throughout the years." The show's most recent 15-episode cycle averaged 1.075 million viewers and a 0.4 rating among adults 18-49. (THR.com)
GREAT LAKE WARRIORS (History) - The newcomer has quietly been shuffled to the 11:00/10:00c hour on Thursday nights by the cable channel. The show delivered a series low 868,000 viewers and a 0.3 adults 18-49 rating on August 9 at 10:00/9:00c, less than half of its debut audience of 2.089 million viewers and a 0.7 adults 18-49 rating on July 19 behind the season finale of "Mountain Men" (3.591 million viewers, 1.2 adults 18-49 rating).
SPY (ABC, New!) - Simeon Goulden is in negotiations to import his U.K. comedy, about a "hapless single father who, trying to impress his horribly precocious nine-year-old son, quits his job as a junior sales assistant in a computer shop but then gets accidentally recruited into the British intelligence agency MI5." ABC Studios and Hat Trick Productions are behind the project, which is on track for a put pilot commitment. Goulden and Jimmy Mulville are the executive producers. (Deadline.com)
UNTITLED SARAH WATSON PROJECT (FOX, New!) - Sarah Watson ("Parenthood") has sold a new dramedy to the network about a single thirtysomething attorney working at a Chicago law firm. Said hour, which has a penalty attached, comes from Universal Television with the studio-based Jason Katims executive producing alongside Watson. Michelle Lee, Katims's head of development, will also receive a producing credit. (Deadline.com)
UNTITLED SERA GAMBLE PROJECT (ABC, New!) - Sera Gamble ("Supernatural") has nabbed a script order from the Alphabet for a new drama about Dr. Steven Saylor, a "world-renowned neurosurgeon who becomes a medical anomaly himself after suffering a traumatic brain injury [and is] forced to re-specialize as an internist at the hospital where he was once king." Warner Bros. Television-based Berlanti Productions is behind the hour, which has a penalty attached. Gamble and Greg Berlanti will then executive produce with Melissa Kellner Berman serving as a co-executive producer. (Deadline.com)
BROTHERS-IN-LAW (TV Land) - Geoff Pierson ("Dexter") has joined the cast of the comedy pilot, about the family dynamic between a husband (Josh Cooke) and the eccentric fiancé (Jay Mohr) of his wife's twin sister (Ellen Woglom). He'll play Tom, Cheska (yet to be cast) and Maddie's (Woglom) father, who's "overtly antagonistic towards Cheska's husband Neil (Cooke) but instantly hits it off with Maddie's new boyfriend Van (Mohr) and thinks he is twice the man Neil is." The multi-camera project comes from Stuber Productions and co-creators Bill Martin and Mike Schiff. (Deadline.com)
THE REAL HUSBANDS OF HOLLYWOOD (A.K.A. HOUSE HUSBANDS) (BET) - Robin Thicke, J.B. Smoove, Boris Kodjoe, Duane Martin and Faizon Love have all been tapped for roles on the upcoming comedy, a "semi-scripted reality TV spoof of every fill-in-the-blank Wives franchise." Kevin Hart, Nelly, Bobby Brown, Anthony Anderson and Nick Cannon star in the 10-episode series, from showrunner Ralph Farquhar and fellow executive producers Hart, Chris Spencer, Tim Gibbons, Dave Becky, Stan Lathan and Jesse Collins (Variety.com)
UNTITLED DANNY STRONG PROJECT (CBS, New!) - Emmy-nominated writer Danny Strong ("Game Change") and Oscar-nominated director David O. Russell ("The Fighter") are set to team for a new drama at the network inspired by the father-and-daughter defense attorneys Murray and Stacey Richman. Said hour, from the CBS Television Studios-based Tribeca Productions, will feature "a fictionalized version of the Richmans' Bronx firm, where clients as notorious on the street as they are on Page Six." Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal and Diane Nabatoff will executive produce alongside the duo. (Deadline.com)
UNTITLED KARI LIZER PROJECT (CBS, New!) - "The New Adventures of Old Christine" creator Kari Lizer is back in business with the Eye for a new multi-camera comedy about "a guy who finally meets the woman of his dreams but she happens to be his cousin's fiancée." Warner Bros. Television is behind the half-hour, which has a put pilot commitment, with Lizer executive producing via her studio-based Kari's Logo Here banner. (Deadline.com)
UNTITLED ZACH FOX PROJECT (Disney XD, New!) - Zach Fox ("Just Kidding") is set to star in a potential comedy at the cable channel about "a fictionalized, younger version of himself, a high-school sophomore who anchors his own show on the school's student-run TV station." David Nickoll ("The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson") is behind the It's a Laugh Productions-based pilot, which "combines semi-improvised and gonzo-style man-on-the-street segments in the same outrageous style that Fox uses in his videos." Casting is underway for an October production start. (Deadline.com)
