Development Update: the 21st of April
CALIFORNICATION (Showtime) - The pay channel's veteran comedy will seed a potential spin-off during its upcoming sixth season about "what happens when an innocent young Catholic school girl is exposed to the evils of rock and roll and falls heads over heels in love with the music and the men who make it." Said character - twentysomething professional groupie Faith, who despite a fondness for sex, drugs and rock and roll, remains quite religious - will recur during a nine-episode arc and, assuming critical and ratings success, continue on her own series thereafter. "Californication" creator Tom Kapinos will presumably executive produce the half-hour. (EW.com)
HEMLOCK GROVE (Netflix) - Dougray Scott ("Desperate Housewives") is in talks to play the male lead on the upcoming drama, "a gripping tale of murder, mystery and monsters set in a ravaged Pennsylvania steel town." He'd play Norman Godfrey, "the older brother of Olivia's (Famke Janssen) late husband, JR, one of the founders of the Godfrey Center for Biomedical Technologies; wealthy, but with modest tastes and an equally modest home, Norman is sickened by Olivia's displays of ostentation and the way in which she spoils her son." Bill Skarsgard, Landon Liboiron and Penelope Mitchell also star in the Gaumont-based project, from director Eli Roth and co-creators Brian McGreevy and Lee Shipman. (Deadline.com)
ROYAL (HBO, New!) - Feature writer Nick Schenk ("Gran Torino") has booked a potential comedy at the pay channel about "a working-class, old-school, politically incorrect, tell-it-as-it-is biker who is forced back into 'the real world' to take guardianship over his nieces and nephew, executing a highly unorthodox parenting style - and inhabits a place he doesn't want to be where everyone's soft and overly PC." Said half-hour is set up at the Sony Pictures Television-based Fedora Entertainment with the company's Peter Tolan and Michael Wimer executive producing alongside Schenk and Television 360's Guymon Casady and Brandon Brito. (Deadline.com)
WHIPPED (FX, New!) - Shawna Kenney's memoir "I Was a Teenage Dominatrix" - about her experience of doing just that for various politicos and elected officials to pay for college at the American University in Washington, D.C. - is being developed as a potential series at the cable channel. Gina Fattore ("Californication") is spearheading the adaptation, which is set up at Vince Vaughn and Peter Billingsley's Wild West Picture Show Productions. No other details were given. (Vulture.com)
BAD ADVICE FROM MY BROTHER (Comedy Central, New!) - Jordan Pope Roush's blog is being developed as a comedy at the cable channel about two brothers who move in together: - "Jason, the older, not necessarily wiser brother who has spent most of his post-college life chasing women and the almighty dollar on Wall Street, and Ben, his younger brother who wants to follow in his footsteps." Roush himself is penning the potential half-hour, which is being produced by Trevor Engleson of Underground Films. (Deadline.com)
BANSHEE (Cinemax) - Lili Simmons ("Geek Charming") is the latest to be cast in the upcoming drama, about Lucas (Antony Starr), an ex-convict and master thief who assumes the identity of the sheriff of Banshee, Pennsylvania, and continues to carry out his criminal activities even as shadowy gangsters hunt him. She'll play Rebecca Bowman, "a local Amish girl in her early 20s who lives a devout life by day but is a rebellious, sexually adventurous party girl by night." Ben Cross, Daniel Ross, Demetrius Grosse, Frankie Faison, Hoon Lee, Ivana Milicevic, Matt Servitto, Rus Blackwell, Ryann Shane, Trieste Dunn and Ulrich Thomsen also star in the Alan Ball-produced hour, which was created by David Schickler and Jonathan Tropper. (TVLine.com)
BEING MARY JANE (BET) - Latarsha Rose and Omari Hardwick are the latest additions to the drama pilot, about Mary Jane Paul (Gabrielle Union), a successful talk show host looking to one day become a top nightly news anchor while searching for Mr. Right. She'll play Dr. Lisa Hudson, her "best friend from college who is a professional yet conflicted single woman whose strong religious values have driven her to a life of celibacy"; while he's set as Mary Jane's love interest. Aaron D. Spears, Lisa Vidal and Richard Roundtree also star in the project, from writer Mara Brock Akil and director Salim Akil. (Deadline.com)
MUHAMMAD ALI'S GREATEST FIGHT (HBO) - Danny Glover, Barry Levinson, Pablo Schreiber, Ed Begley Jr., Bob Balaban and Kathleen Chalfant have all boarded the telefilm, which "dramatizes the machinations of the Supreme Court as Ali pursued Conscientious Objector status." They'll play various justices - Thurgood Marshall (Glover), Potter Stewart (Levinson), Harry Blackmun (Begley Jr.) - joining the previously cast Christopher Plummer as John Marshall Harlan and Frank Langella as Warren Burger. Balaban then will play "an Advocate for Vietnam Veterans who argues a case before the Court"; with Schreiber as Covert Becker, "a Supreme Court clerk who doesn't hide his contempt for liberals"; and Kathleen Chalfant as Ethel Harlan, Justice Harlan's wife. Benjamin Walker also stars as Kevin Kennedy, a Supreme Court clerk who championed the issue. Frank Doelger, Tracey Scoffield, and Jonathan Cameron are the executive producers while Stephen Frears is directing from a script by Shawn Slovo. (Deadline.com)
TRUE DETECTIVE (New!) - Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson are set to star in a potential eight-part series about two detectives - Rust Cohle (McConaughey) and Martin Hart (Harrelson) - whose "lives collide and entwine during a 17-year hunt for a serial killer in Louisiana." Writer Nic Pizzolatto ("The Killing") and director Cary Fukunaga ("Jane Eyre") are behind the project, which takes place in 1995 but is "framed and interlaced with testimony from the detectives in 2012, when the case has been reopened." Producer Anonymous Content is currently shopping the effort with two written episodes and a bible. The company's Richard Brown, Steve Golin and Bard Dorros then will executive produce alongside Pizzolatto and Fukunaga. (Deadline.com)
OVER AND OUT (CBS) - John Amos, Ethan Suplee and Sydney Park have all been cast in the comedy pilot, about Ray Barker (Martin Lawrence), a widowed father of two teenagers who, after losing his job in construction, decides to go to the police academy and become a cop at the age of 46. She'll play Holly, his 16 going on 25 daughter; with Amos as Lorenzo Bunch, the station's erudite captain; and Suplee as Travis Farmer ("straight-laced, earnest, exuberant"), Ray's partner. Colleen Smith, P.J. Byrne and Regina Hall also star in the CBS Television Studios-based half-hour, from co-creators Mike Lisbe and Nate Reger. Fred Savage is directing. (Deadline.com)
ANGER MANAGEMENT (FX) - Noureen DeWulf ("Hawthorne") has been cast in the upcoming Charlie Sheen-led comedy, about "a former baseball player with anger issues who winds up as an unconventional anger management therapist." She'll play one of the members of his therapy group, "a spoiled rich girl who was sent to a court-appointed anger management classes after shooting her boyfriend who cheated on her." Selma Blair and Shawnee Smith also star in the Lionsgate Television-based project. (Deadline.com)
CULT (The CW) - Jessica Lucas has scored a lead role on the drama pilot, about "an inquisitive, young female production assistant on a wildly popular television show called 'Cult' who, after a rash of disappearances and a likely murder, joins a journalist blogger in investigating the rabid fans of the series who might be re-creating crimes seen on the program in real life." She'll play the former, Skye Yarrow ("late 20s, smart-cute"), in the Warner Bros. Television-based hour, which comes from writer Rockne S. O'Bannon and director Jason Ensler. (Deadline.com)
EL JEFE (FOX) - Michael Patrick Jann ("Emily's Reasons Why Not") is set to helm the comedy pilot, about "an upper-middle class 30-year-old guy who finally gets booted out of his dad and step-mom's house and moves in with his cleaning woman's family since he had nowhere else to go." David Guarascio and Moses Port co-wrote the half-hour for Sony Pictures Television. (Deadline.com)
THE FAMILY TRAP (A.K.A. UNTITLED MANDY MOORE PROJECT) (ABC) - The Mandy Moore-led comedy - about newlyweds who get the opportunity of a lifetime to run a hip, new restaurant in her hometown bringing her closer to her needy and high maintenance family - has been ordered to pilot by the Alphabet. Bob Fisher and Stacy Traub penned the single-camera project, which Shawn Levy will direct for 20th Century Fox Television. Marty Adelstein and Becky Clements will also executive produce alongside said auspices with Moore's manager John Leshay serving as a producer. (Deadline.com)
FRIDAY NIGHT DINNER (NBC) - Allison Janney and Tony Shalhoub are on track to star in the comedy pilot, about a quirky family that has dinner together every Friday night. They'll play the clan's parents, Barbara ("has trouble fitting into the society of mature, responsible middle-aged women because her sons and husband suck her into their shit") and Gene (whose "inappropriate behavior and disconnection from modernity has only increased" with retirement), respectively. David Koechner also stars as their neighbor, "a lonely weirdo with an odd fixation on Barbara." Ken Kwapis is directing the Universal Television-based half-hour from a script by Greg Daniels. (Deadline.com)
MISTRESSES (ABC, New!) - The Alphabet has given a straight-to-series pickup for a domestic take on the U.K. drama, which follows the lives of four female friends and their involvement in an array of illicit and complex relationships. The original, from S.J. Clarkson and Lowri Glain, ran for seasons on BBC One from 2008 to 2010 with BBC America carrying the series in the States (the finale for which airs tomorrow night). Lifetime previously shot a pilot for the project in 2008, which starred Brooke Burns, Camille Sullivan, Holly Marie Combs, Rochelle Aytes and Sarah Glendening. Sergio Mimica-Gezzan directed from a script by Melissa Carter for Fox 21. As for the new incarnation, K.J. Steinberg penned the script for ABC Studios with Bob Sertner and Ecosse Films' Douglas Rae also serving as executive producers. (Deadline.com)
SAVE ME (NBC) - Michael Landes and Alexandra Breckenridge have each scored roles on the comedy pilot, about Beth Harper (Anne Heche), a woman who lets herself go while in a broken marriage goes through a transformation where she becomes the best version of herself and creates miracles along the way. He'll play her husband Tom ("40-ish and real-world handsome"), a manager at an upscale hotel; while she's set as Carly Brugano ("hot without any effort"), "a laid-off high school student counselor with a master's in psychology who works as a concierge at Tom's hotel and serves as his therapist and lover." John Scott Shepherd is behind the Sony Pictures Television-based half-hour, to be directed by Scott Winant. (Deadline.com)
UNTITLED JOHN LEGEND PROJECT (Showtime, New!) - John Legend is set to host and executive produce a backdoor pilot special for the pay channel which "features top artists from different genres who discuss their careers and perform an original musical collaboration before live studio audience." Jesse Dylan directed the pilot, which recently taped at the historic EastWest Studios in Los Angeles with Faith Hill ("You're The One Whose Waiting") and B.o.B ("Ghost in the Machine") among the guests. Hill and B.o.B likewise performed a live rendition of "Son of a Preacher Man" alongside Legend. Get Lifted Film Co.'s Mike Jackson; Tollin Productions' Michael Tollin; Station3's R.D. Robb and Tom Carter; and Wondros' Priscilla Cohen are executive producing alongside Legend. (Deadline.com)
WHITE VAN MAN (ABC) - Kyle Bornheimer ("Perfect Couples") has been tapped to topline the comedy pilot, based on the U.K. series about "a man who is forced to put his dreams on hold in order to take over the family handyman business from his father." His casting lifts said contingency off the pilot's production. In addition, Michael Fresco has signed on to direct the single-camera project, from writer Bobby Bowman and the ABC Studios-based Mark Gordon Co. Bornheimer and his brother Ryan previously sold a comedy pitch to ABC earlier this development cycle that didn't move forward. (Deadline.com)
UNTITLED HILARY WINSTON PROJECT (NBC) - Adam Shankman ("Rock of Ages") has signed on to direct the comedy pilot, about "a shy, focused woman who, after being dumped by her fiance, leans on her co-workers to help her come out of her shell and plot her revenge." He'll work from a script by Hilary Winston, who's executive producing via Jamie Tarses's Sony Pictures Television-based FanFare banner. (Deadline.com)
THE BLUE LAGOON (Lifetime) - Australian actors Brenton Thwaites and Indiana Evans have booked the lead roles on the network's contemporary remake of the 1980 film, which featured Christopher Atkins and Brooke Shields as a boy and a girl marooned on a tropical island where they grow up together, fall in love and discover sexuality. Thwaites and Evans will play Dane and Emma in the project, which is slated to begin this month in Puerto Rico. Neil Meron, Craig Zadan and Judith Verno are executive producing for Sony Pictures Television. A director was not indicated. (Deadline.com)
THE CARRIE DIARIES (The CW) - Miguel Arteta ("Cedar Rapids") has been tapped to direct and executive produce the netlet's "Sex and the City" prequel. He'll work from a script by Amy B. Harris, who's likewise executive producing alongside Candace Bushnell, Josh Schwartz, Stephanie Savage and Len Goldstein for the latter's Warner Bros. Television-based Fake Empire banner. (Deadline.com)
DADDY'S GIRLS (NBC)/FRIEND ME (CBS) - Pamela Fryman ("How I Met Your Mother") is set to direct both half-hour pilots. The CBS Television Studios-based latter, from Alan Kirschenbaum and Ajay Sahgal, follows two twentysomething best friends who move from their hometown of Bloomington, Indiana, to Los Angeles to begin their exciting new lives working at Groupon. The 20th Century Fox Television-based former, from Dana Klein, centers on a young woman who returns home from overseas to find that her father is seriously dating the "mean girl" from high school. (Deadline.com)
GOLDEN BOY (CBS) - Chi McBride ("Human Target") is the first to be cast while Richard Shepard ("Ringer") is on board to direct and executive produce the drama pilot, which tracks one man's meteoric rise of a uniform cop to detective to police commissioner. McBride will play Don Owen ("black, gruff, in a worn suit, bit of a gut"), the fellow's partner during his detective years. Shepard, who is being loaned out from CBS Television Studios, then will direct from a script by Nicholas Wootton for the Warner Bros. Television. Greg Berlanti is also executive producing via his studio-based banner. (Deadline.com)
HOUSE OF CARDS (Netflix) - Corey Stoll ("Law & Order: LA") is the latest addition to the upcoming Kevin Spacey-led drama, about Frank Underwood, the Majority Whip of the U.S. House of Representatives who after being passed over for Secretary of State hatches a plot to bring down the new president. He'll play Patrick Russo, "a loose-cannon, womanizing three-term Italian-American congressman, divorced with two kids, who is having a torrid affair with his secretary (Kristen Connolly)." Robin Wright and Kate Mara also star in the project, from Media Rights Capital, Sony Pictures Television and Trigger Street Productions. (Deadline.com)
HOW TO LIVE WITH YOUR PARENTS FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE (ABC) - Sarah Chalke ("Mad Love") has booked the lead role on the comedy pilot, about a recently divorced, single mom, who moves in with her eccentric parents, a couple who's full of life but knows no boundaries. She'll play said woman, Polly ("a pretty, funny, quirky, messy single mom who wants to be the mother she never had"), in the Claudia Lonow-penned half-hour, from 20th Century Fox Television-based Imagine Television. (Deadline.com)
OH F---, IT'S YOU/PARTNERS (CBS) - James Burrows ("Mike & Molly") has signed on to direct both comedy pilots. The former, from Greg Malins and Greg Berlanti, revolves around a notorious womanizer who, after surviving a health scare, realizes that "the one" is his ex-turned-gal pal/business partner (JoAnna Garcia Swisher) who's already engaged to a nice guy. The latter, from Max Mutchnick and David Kohan, tracks two male best friends - one gay, one straight - who both are in serious relationships. Both come from Warner Bros. Television. (Deadline.com)
UNTITLED KARYN USHER PROJECT (FOX) - Brett Ratner ("Chaos") is set to direct and executive produce the drama pilot, about "the orphaned 17-year-old daughter of a CIA operative who is recruited to become an operative herself." He'll work from a script by Usher who's likewise executive producing alongside Marty Adelstein, Shawn Levy and Becky Clements for 20th Century Fox Television. Ratner previously inked an overall deal with the studio back in August. (Deadline.com)
