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woensdag 2 januari 2013

Development Update: The 2nd of January


LIFESTYLE LEMONAID (FOX) - Chris Klein ("Wilfred") has booked the male lead on the comedy pilot, based on Nikki Joel's tell-all blog about her outrageous marriage to top WME talent agent Brandt Joel. He'll play Brad, "an ex-Navy man who still sports the crew cut and now works as a construction foreman," alongside the previously cast Erin Richards as Jackie, "a thirtysomething mother, wife and friend who "can be a handful." Rob Riggle had originally been tapped for sale role when the project was set up at HBO. Mark Wahlberg, Steve Levinson, Wayne Carmona and the Joels are executive producing the presentation, which was penned by Jordon Nardino. Production begins next month. (THR.com)

LOST GIRLS (The CW) - Jennifer Baggett, Holly Corbett and Amanda Pressner's travel memoir is being redeveloped as a drama at the netlet. Rebecca Sinclair ("90210") is on board to pen said take, which "centers on four very different 20-something American women, each at a point of crisis, who decide to escape their lives and their country, and go abroad [but] when one of them vanishes under mysterious circumstances, the remaining three pledge to find her." ABC previously took a stab at the project in 2010 with Ildy Modrovich writing and Jerry Bruckheimer among the executive producers for Warner Bros. Television. CBS Television Studios has subsequently come aboard to produce while Ridley Scott and David W. Zucker of Scott Free Productions will executive produce alongside Sinclair. (Deadline.com)

MILA 2.0 (ABC, New!) - Debra Driza's upcoming book - "a sci-fi thriller about a young woman who discovers that she is a Mobile Intel Life-like Android, Mila, an experiment in artificial intelligence created by the U.S. government and her scientist mother, who kidnapped her when she was found to have human emotions" - is being developed as a drama by the Alphabet. David DiGilio ("Traveler") is penning the adaptation which is set up at the ABC Studios-based Shondland with Shonda Rhimes and Betsy Beers also serving as executive producers. (Deadline.com)

SECRET LIVES OF WIVES, THE (Lifetime) - Joe Flanigan ("Stargate: Atlantis") has boarded the drama pilot, which explores the unvarnished truth behind the marriages of four different women - Michelle (Kim Raver), Reed (Salli Richardson), Keaton (Amber Clayton) and Jessie (Lauren Bittner), breaking down the creative ways each close friend nurtures, maintains and endures what many see as an impossible convention of modern life. He'll play Reed's husband Jared, "unshaven and a shadow of his former self who has become passive and unresponsive to his marriage." David Conrad, Callum Blue and newcomer Derek Smith also star in the Warner Horizon Television-based hour, inspired by the book by Iris Krasnow. (Deadline.com)

THOSE WHO KILL (A&E) - Chloƫ Sevigny and Omid Abtahi are the first to be cast in the drama pilot, about a police detective and a forensic psychiatrist who both in very different ways possess a deep psychological understanding that connects them to the serial killers they investigate. She'll play Catherine Jensen, "the newly appointed Detective in the Boston Police Department's Homicide Division who is intelligent, fearless, strong and determined." Abtahi then is set as Jerry Molbeck, "a brilliant and dutiful homicide detective who is happy to do research for Catherine as she gets closer to finding a serial killer." Joe Carnahan is helming the Fox 21-based hour from a script by Glen Morgan. (Deadline.com)

TROOPER (TNT) - Brooke Nevin ("Breakout Kings") has joined the cast of the drama pilot, about K.J. Flaxton (Mira Sorvino), a recently divorced female state trooper who is as unconventional at work as she is at home raising her three kids. She'll play her sister Dakota, "who herself is putting the pieces of her life back together." Anna Wood played said role in the project's original incarnation at CBS. Writer Aron Eli Coleite and director Jason Ensler are behind the hour, which comes from the Warner Horizon Television-based Jerry Bruckheimer Television. (Deadline.com)

TROPHY WIFE (ABC) - Bradley Whitford, Marcia Gay Harden and Michaela Watkins have all boarded the comedy pilot, about reformed party girl Kate (Malin Akerman), "who finds herself with an insta-family when she falls in love with Brad (Whitford), a successful charmer with a quirky sense of humor who has three manipulative kids and two judgmental ex-wives." Whitford will play said fellow with Harden and Watkins as his ex-wives Diane, "a former Olympic swimmer who is now an orthopedic surgeon and the mother of their 15-year-old fraternal twins"; and Jackie, mother of his youngest child, "a good-natured yet self-centered woman, who embraces youth and fun and is always surprised when her freewheeling style rubs people the wrong way." Jason Moore is helming the ABC Studios-based half-hour from a script by Emily Halpern and Sarah Haskins with Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky also executive producing. (Deadline.com, TVLine.com)

UNTITLED REBECCA SINCLAIR PROJECT (The CW, New!) - Rebecca Sinclair ("90210") has sold a new drama to the netlet about "a self-obsessed young pop star - the black sheep of her religious family - who isn't interested in saving anything but her own career, until a fan claims to have been miraculously healed by her touch and word spreads that she has divine powers." She'll write and executive producer for CBS Television Studios. (Deadline.com)

WENTWORTH HALL (FOX, New!) - Director Jake Kasdan and writer Lew Morton are developing a new animated comedy at the network about "a group of misfit college students making plenty of bad decisions while attending a once-prestigious university." Said effort is set up at 20th Century Fox Television with Morton writing and executive producing alongside Kasdan. Melvin Mar will serve as a producer. (Deadline.com)

BLACK FRIDAY (ABC, New!) - Screenwriter Ken Nolan ("Black Hawk Down") has booked a conspiracy drama at the Alphabet about "a guy who unexpectedly finds himself in the center of a perilous event where he is responsible for the safety of others." ABC Studios is behind the hour with Sheldon Turner and Jennifer Klein of Vendetta Productions executive producing alongside Nolan. (Deadline.com)

TERMINALES (ABC Family) - Abhi Sinha ("The Social Network") has boarded the drama pilot, about April (Italia Ricci), "a 23-year-old girl diagnosed with a terminal illness but has big dreams of becoming a real reporter." He'll play Danny, "an intense, well-dressed Harvard grad who is naturally competitive with his friend April." Aisha Dee and Mary Page Keller also star in the Lionsgate Television-based hour, from writers Susanna Fogel and Joni Lefkowitz. (THR.com)

TRIBES (ABC, New!) - Greg Malins ("Better With You") is returning to the Alphabet with a new family comedy with an unusual structure - each episode focuses on a different side of the family. Sony Pictures Television-based FanFare Productions is behind the half-hour, which is based on Rubi Duanias and Yaniv Polishuk's Israeli series "Your Family or Mine?" Malins, Duanias and Polishuk then will executive produce the single-camera project, which has a penalty attached, alongside Jamie Tarses, Keshet's Avi Nir and Ran Telem and Teddy Productions' Tamira Yardeni. (Deadline.com)

BEND IN THE ROAD, A (TNT, New!) - "John Doe" co-creator Brandon Camp is developing a new drama at the cable channel about "a sheriff who must deal with problems in a coastal Georgia town that sees its population soar during the summer tourist season." Said effort is based on Nicholas Sparks's novel of the same name, which the author will executive produce alongside Theresa Park via their Warner Horizon Television-based Nicholas Sparks Productions banner. (THR.com)

COUP (ABC, New!) - Writer Chris Black ("Mad Men") and director Martin Campbell ("Last Resort") are set to team for a new drama billed as "a serialized thriller about a young American man whose wife is taken hostage in an overseas coup, and who must join forces with a dangerous mercenary to get her back." ABC Studios is behind the hour which Black and Campbell will executive produce, with Campbell also attached to direct. (Deadline.com)

DELIVERANCE CREEK (Lifetime, New!) - Melissa Carter ("Jane by Design") has set up a post-Civil War drama at the network "that explores the lengths one woman goes to protect her family, as she is caught between trying to be good and surviving." The Warner Horizon Television-based Nicholas Sparks Productions is behind the hour with the company's Nicholas Sparks and Theresa Park executive producing alongside Norris. (THR.com)

FALLS, THE (ABC Family, New!) - John Norris ("Jane by Design") has booked a potential hour at the cable channel billed as a modern re-imagining of Romeo and Juliet. He'll write and executive produce alongside Nicholas Sparks and Theresa Park via their Warner Horizon Television-based Nicholas Sparks Productions banner. (THR.com)

GUYS, THE (A.K.A. UNTITLED TONY DANZA PROJECT) (ABC) - David Richardson ("Two and a Half Men") and Ian Gurvitz ("The Exes") have been tapped to pen the Tony Danza-led multi-camera comedy, about "three longtime male friends in Act Three of their lives." They'll executive produce alongside the actor, Dan Farah, Peter Billingsley and Vince Vaughn via the latter duo's Wild West Picture Show Productions for ABC Studios. (Deadline.com)

HOLLYWOOD & VINES (ABC, New!) - Screenwriter Michael Tolkin ("Nine") has sold a potential drama to the Alphabet about three sisters from a dynastic Hollywood family who find themselves connected to and affected by an A-list actress's death. ABC Studios is behind the hour with Temple Hill Entertainment's Marty Bowen and Wyck Godfrey executive producing alongside Tolkin. (Deadline.com)

OLYMPUS (FOX, New!) - Taylor Sheridan ("Sons of Anarchy") has landed a new drama at the network about "a decorated soldier-turned-spy who finds out he actually is descended from the Greek Gods and may just be humanity's last hope." Peter Berg and Sarah Aubrey are also on board to executive produce the hour via their Universal Television-based Film 44 banner. (Deadline.com)

CRIMINAL JUSTICE (HBO) - Joshua Bitton has joined the cast of the drama pilot, which follows the journey of an individual through the justice system over the course of its season. He'll play by-the-book cop Officer Maldonado in the project, which also stars James Gandolfini, Bill Camp, Peyman Moadi, Poorna Jagannathan and Rizwan Ahmed. Steven Zaillian and Richard Price are behind the hour, which is based on Peter Moffat's U.K. series of the same name. (Deadline.com)

EVOLVE (ABC, New!) - Writer Jaime Paglia ("Eureka") and director Alex Proyas ("Knowing") are set to team for a new drama based on Tim Lebbon's Toxic City trilogy of novels about a small group of ordinary citizens who band together to uncover the truth about a mysterious biological agent that the government says makes Los Angeles too toxic to inhabit and has quarantined its inhabitants inside. The truth: "what they discover is a world where once-ordinary humans now have extraordinary abilities and powerful government forces seek to destroy them." Ellen Goldsmith-Vein, Michael Prevett and Jeremy Bell of the Gotham Group are executive producing the hour alongside the duo for ABC Studios. (Deadline.com)

HELL ON WHEELS (AMC) - Showrunner John Shiban has departed the Western drama, putting the show's third season on hold until a replacement was found. Co-creators Joe and Tony Gayton likewise exited the series, which had been set to return for another 10 episodes, earlier this week. "Like all of our shows, network pick-ups are always conditioned on an approved showrunner," the network said in a statement. "We are confident that [producers] eOne and Endemol will satisfy that obligation in the near future." (Deadline.com)

HELLO LADIES (HBO) - The Stephen Merchant-led comedy, about a gawky Englishman searching for the woman of his dreams in Los Angeles, has received an eight-episode order from the pay channel. Merchant, Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky co-created the ABC Studios-based half-hour, which also stars Christine Woods, Nate Torrence and Kevin Weisman. (Deadline.com)

LEGENDS (TNT) - Brendan Fraser has exited the drama pilot, about a deep-cover operative named Martin Odum, who has an uncanny ability to transform himself into a different person for each job. Said development is reportedly a result of creative differences with showrunner Howard Gordon. The role will now be recast with producer Fox 21 expected to sign a development deal with the actor. Gordon, Jeffrey Nachmanoff, Alexander Cary and Jonathan Levin are all behind the project, which is based on the novel by Robert Littell. (Deadline.com)

AFTER HOURS (NBC) - Freddy Rodriguez ("Chaos") has joined the cast of the drama pilot, which revolves around the graveyard shift in the ER at San Antonio Medical Center. He'll play Michael Ragosa, "a wannabe doctor who had to drop out of med school because of vision problems" who now serves as the hospital's administrator. Eoin Macken also stars in the Sony Pictures Television-based hour, from director Pierre Morel and co-writers Gabe Sachs and Jeff Judah. (Deadline.com)

ALEX + AMY (ABC, New!) - Diablo Cody ("United States of Tara") has booked a potential comedy at the Alphabet about "an ambitious 22-year-old Millennial guy and a 32-year-old Gen X woman who have just moved in together and are very much in love." Said half-hour, which has a penalty attached, comes from Warner Bros. Television with Amblin Television's Justin Falvey and Darryl Frank executive producing alongside Cody and her manager Mason Novick. (Deadline.com)

COLD FEET (TNT, New!) - Dave Ryan ("All My Children") is developing a new drama at the cable channel about "a runaway bride who, when she wishes she had never been born, sees the effect her absence has on the people she loves and decides to stick around to make things right." Robert Zemeckis, Jack Rapke and Jackie Levine of Lupara Productions are on board to executive produce the hour with Ryan serving as a co-executive producer. (Deadline.com)

KEEP SWINGING (ABC, New!) - Rick Marin's Kindle Single is being developed as a single-camera comedy at the Alphabet. Lew Schneider ("Men of a Certain Age") will co-write the half-hour - "about an artsy dad with zero interest in sports who is thrown into a new family dynamic and social life as he and his wife face a challenge for which they are woefully ill-equipped: a jock kid" - alongside Marin. Conan O'Brien, David Kissinger and Jeff Ross will also executive produce via their Warner Bros. Television-based Conaco Productions. (Deadline.com)

TERMINALES (ABC Family) - Haley Ramm ("Worst. Prom. Ever.") has landed a role on the drama pilot, which follows a young woman's (Italia Ricci) life after she is diagnosed with a terminal illness. She'll play Brenna, her younger sister. Mary Page Keller, Aisha Dee and Abhi Sinha also star in the Lionsgate-based hour, from Susanna Fogel and Joni Lefkowitz. (Variety.com)

THOSE WHO KILL (A&E) - James D'Arcy ("Secret Diary of a Call Girl") has been cast in the drama pilot, about police detective Catherine Jensen (Chloƫ Sevigny) and forensic profiler Thomas Schaffer (D'Arcy) who possess a deep understanding of the serial killers they hunt. He's set as the latter role, "a handsome and intellectual college psychology teacher with a PhD who focuses on serial killer behavior." Joe Carnahan is directing the Fox 21-based hour from a script by Glen Morgan. Omid Abtahi also stars. (Deadline.com)