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dinsdag 5 februari 2013

Development Update: The 5th of February


ALL DRESSED UP AND EVERYWHERE TO GO (HBO, New!) - The life of Betty Halbreich is set to be the focus of a potential comedy at the pay channel from "Girls" executive producers Lena Dunham and Jenni Konner. Said effort, based on Halbreich's upcoming memoir of the same name, will track her Bergdorf-based personal shopping service, where she has spent decades working with the rich and famous. No other details were given. (Deadline.com)

ALPHA HOUSE (Amazon) - John Goodman is the first to be cast in the comedy pilot, about four senators who live together in a rented house in Washington, D.C. He'll play North Carolina Senator Gil John Biggs, "a large man with large appetites. His cranky sense of entitlement comes from years of being revered as a successful basketball coach, but when the Duke basketball coach decides to run against him, he finds his Senate seat in jeopardy." Garry Trudeau is behind the half-hour, which will be produced by Amazon Studios. (Deadline.com)

DADS (FOX) - Brenda Song ("New Girl") has scored a role on the comedy pilot, about two successful video game developers - family man Warner and perpetually single Eli - who have their lives turned upside down when their nightmare dads unexpectedly move in with them. She'll play their assistant Veronica, who has an odd and entitled sensibility. 20th Century Fox Television is behind the multi-camera project with Alec Sulkin, Seth MacFarlane and Wellesley Wild executive producing. (Deadline.com)

LUCKY 7 (ABC, New!) - The Alphabet has added a 12th drama to its pilot roster, this time an import of Kay Mellor's U.K. series "The Syndicate." The domestic take, from David Zabel and Jason Richman, will revolve around "seven employees of a service station in Queens whose lives are changed in many unexpected ways when they win a lottery jackpot." ABC Studios and Amblin Television are behind the hour with Darryl Frank and Justin Falvey executive producing alongside said duo as well as Mellor through her company Rollem. (Deadline.com)

CRAZY ONES, THE (CBS) - The David E. Kelley-penned, Robin Williams-led comedy - about a brilliant ad executive working alongside his daughter - is on track for a pilot order at the Eye. Said development comes as Jason Winer ("1600 Penn") has joined the project as a director and executive producer. 20th Century Fox Television is behind the hour, which Kelley will likewise executive produce alongside Bill D'Elia. (Deadline.com)

DIVORCE: A LOVE STORY (A.K.A. LIFE ISN'T EVERYTHING) (ABC) - Mike Sikowitz and Daniel Lappin's comedy - about "a recently divorced couple, who were bad together but discover they're even worse apart and can't seem to stay out of each others' lives" - has found a new home at the Alphabet, which has given the project a pilot order. The multi-camera half-hour, originally set up at CBS, is based on the Israeli format "Life Isn't Everything." Sony Pictures Television and ABC Studios will co-produce with Reshet's Noa Tishby executive producing alongside said duo. (Deadline.com)

GABRIELS, THE (FOX) - Rob Riggle ("NTSF:SD:SUV") is in final negotiations to star in the single-camera comedy pilot, about a neurotic family with contempt for all things normal that tries their best to fit into their small Midwest town where everyone knows each other and politeness reigns. He'll play Ken, the Gabriels' patriarch who has a "child-like, devilish energy." Riggle's participation reportedly will also include a producing/development component. Andrew Gurland and Justin Hurwitz are behind the 20th Century Fox Television-based project, which has likewise tapped Jason Winer ("1600 Penn") to direct and executive produce. (Deadline.com)

GATES (NBC) - Greg Germann ("House of Lies") and Echo Kellum ("Ben & Kate") have both joined the comedy pilot, about the hijinks that ensue when parents drop off and pick up their kids at school each day. Germann will play Trevor Palmer, a super-driven, successful dad with a neglected, needy, insecure stay-at-home wife (Christina Kirk). Kellum then is set as Rav Mukherjee, a "manny" who serves as a confidant to another one of the dads, Mark (Ken Marino). Germann and Kellum replace Aasif Mandvi and Justin Chon, respectively, following the show's table read. Director Marc Buckland and writers Cathy Yuspa and Josh Goldsmith are behind the 20th Century Fox Television-based half-hour, which also stars Diana Maria Riva, John Grisetti and Kathleen Rose Perkins. (Deadline.com)

MOM (CBS) - Blake Garrett Rosenthal ("The Farm") has scored a role on the comedy pilot, about Christy (Anna Faris), a newly sober single mom who tries to pull her life together in Napa Valley. He's on board as Roscoe, Christy's nine-year-old son. Allison Janney also stars in the Warner Bros. Television-based half-hour, from co-creators Chuck Lorre, Eddie Gorodetsky and Gemma Baker. (Deadline.com)

ORIGINALS, THE (The CW) - Daniella Pineda ("The Fitzgerald Family Christmas") has been cast in the proposed "Vampire Diaries" spin-off, which "centers on the Original family of vampires, as Klaus (Joseph Morgan) returns to the supernatural melting pot that is the French Quarter of New Orleans, a town he helped build centuries ago." She'll play Sophie, "a witch whose magic has been silenced but not snuffed. A leader and a sexy, sharp-tongued social force, she is quietly sowing the seeds of a revolution amongst her peers." Daniel Gillies and Phoebe Tonkin also star in the project, reprising their roles from the parent series. (Deadline.com)

SECOND SIGHT (CBS) - Michael Cuesta and Carol Mendelsohn's drama - "a gothic psychological thriller about a detective who is suddenly afflicted with an autoimmune virus that causes hallucinations reflective of his subconscious" - is the latest to land a pilot order at the network. Said hour, from CBS Television Studios, is based on the 2000 U.K. series of the same name starring Clive Owen. Cuesta will also direct the project and executive produce alongside Mendelsohn, Julie Weitz, Paula Milne and Nick Reed with Gerald Cuesta and Phil Goldfine serving as co-executive producers. (Deadline.com)

SILICON VALLEY (HBO) - Josh Brener ("Glory Daze") and Lindsey Broad ("The Office") have both been cast in the comedy pilot, "set in the high tech gold rush of modern Silicon Valley, where the people most qualified to succeed are the least capable of handling success." The former will play Big Head, the best friend of Thomas Middleditch's Thomas, while Broad is set as Tandy, who "looks likes she could be a model, but probably just swimsuit or lingerie." T.J. Miller also stars in the project, which Mike Judge is directing from a script he co-wrote with Dave Krinsky and John Altschuler. (Deadline.com)

TRUE DETECTIVE (HBO) - Kevin Dunn ("Luck") is the latest to board the upcoming drama, 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. He'll play their boss, "the fair but tough 3rd Squad Homicide Commander Maj. Ken Quesada." Alexandra Daddario, Brad Carter, Elizabeth Reaser, Jay O. Sanders, Lili Simmons, Michael Potts, Michelle Monaghan and Wood Harris also star in the eight-episode project, from Cary Fukunaga and Nic Pizzolatto. (Deadline.com)

ANATOMY OF VIOLENCE, THE (CBS) - The Eye has given a pilot order to the drama, about " a criminal psychologist with an expertise in sociopaths who partners with a young female detective with whom he shares a conflicted past." Howard Gordon, Alex Gansa and Alex Cary are behind the 20th Century Fox Television-based hour, which is based on Adrian Raine's book of the same name. The aforementiond trio penned the script and will serve as executive producers with Teakwood Lake's Hugh Fitzpatrick as a co-executive producer. (Deadline.com)

CRAZY ONES, THE (CBS) - David E. Kelley's comedy - which stars Robin Williams as a brilliant ad executive working alongside his daughter - has formally been ordered to pilot. Jason Winer is helming the single-camera project, which is set up at 20th Century Fox Television. Bill D'Elia, Dean Lorey, John Montgomery and Mark Teitelbaum are also executive producing alongside Kelley and Winer. (Deadline.com)

DRACULA (NBC) - Irish actress Victoria Smurfit is the latest to board the upcoming drama, which introduces Dracula (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) as he arrives in London, posing as an American entrepreneur who maintains that he wants to bring modern science to Victorian society but in reality hopes to wreak revenge on the people who ruined his life centuries earlier. She'll play "the lithe and beautiful Lady Jayne who is instantly attracted to [Dracula] and pursues him." Jessica de Gouw, Katie McGrath and Nonso Anozie also star in the hour, from Carnival Films & Television, Flame Ventures, Playground and Universal Television. (Deadline.com)

HAPPINESS (NBC) - Linda Lavin has been cast in the multi-camera comedy pilot, about a man (Sean Hayes) who must figure out how to parent his 14-year-old daughter, who just moved in, while navigating a temperamental new boss at work. She'll play his mother Lorna, who's "tough, assertive, at times unreasonable, and always longed for her son to have those same qualities." James Burrows is helming the Universal Television-based project from a script by Victor Fresco. (Deadline.com)

INTELLIGENCE (CBS) - Michael Seitzman's drama - about a man gifted and cursed with a top-secret experimental microchip implanted in his brain that makes him computer-like in the way he sees and processes information - is the latest to receive a pilot order at the Eye. David Semel is on board to direct and executive produce the hour, which is set up at ABC Studios and based on John Dixon's unpublished book "Dissident." Tripp Vinson likewise is executive producing. (Deadline.com)

IRONSIDE (NBC) - Blair Underwood ("The Event") is set to star in the Peacock's proposed reboot of the 1960s drama, about "a tough, sexy and acerbic police detective relegated to a wheelchair after a shooting who is hardly limited by his disability as he pushes and prods his hand-picked team to solve the most difficult cases in the city." Universal Television is behind the hour, which has a pilot commitment. Mike Caleo penned the project and is executive producing alongside Teri Weinberg of Yellow Brick Road and John Davis and John Fox of Davis Entertainment. Director David Semel however is no longer attached. (Deadline.com)

ONION PRESENTS, THE: THE NEWS (Amazon) - Jeffrey Tambor ("Bent") is the first to board the comedy pilot, "a smart, fast-paced scripted comedy set behind the scenes of The Onion News Network that shows just how far journalists will go to stay at the top of their game." He'll play David Everett, "ONN's oldest and most respected news anchor." Todd Strauss-Schulson is helming the project off a script by Will Graham and Dan Mirk for Amazon Studios. (Deadline.com)

UNTITLED CULLEN BROTHERS PILOT (ABC) - Griffin Gluck ("Private Practice") has been cast in the comedy pilot, about Terry Gannon, Jr., "a recently divorced single mother who temporarily moves in with her estranged father (James Caan), a beer-swilling former baseball player." He'll play her son Danny, whose underdog Little League team she reluctantly starts coaching. 20th Century Fox Television is behind the single-camera project, from co-creators Mark and Robb Cullen. (Deadline.com)

UNTITLED JOHN LEGUIZAMO PROJECT (ABC) - The John Leguizamo-led comedy - based on his life as a husband, father and fish out of water on the upper West Side of New York - has snagged a pilot order from the Alphabet. Leguizamo co-wrote the multi-camera project alongside Chris Sheridan for ABC Studios. They'll also executive produce alongside The Collective's Jeff Golenberg and Sam Maydew as well as Mandeville Films and Television's David Hoberman, Todd Lieberman and Maria Crenna. (Deadline.com)

UNTITLED NCIS: LOS ANGELES SPIN-OFF PROJECT (CBS) - Edwin Hodge ("Cougar Town") is the first to be cast in the backdoor pilot, which tracks "a mobile team of agents who are forced to live and work together as they crisscross the country solving crimes." He'll play Kai Ashe, "the incredibly bright, witty and likable technical assistant, an all-round tech savvy computer guy and expert on everything." CBS Television Studios is behind the hour, which will air as an episode of the parent series later this year. (Deadline.com)

WILSONS, THE (MTV, New!) - Comedian Cy Amundson has booked a pilot order from the cable channel for a partially scripted comedy about "a family in the vein of the Kardashians with a pinch of the Bluths from Arrested Development and the Pritchetts from Modern Family." Jay Blumenfield and Tony Marsh are executive producing the half-hour for RelativityReal with Joel Hokestra and Generate's Samantha Saifer serving as co-executive producers alongside Amundson. (Deadline.com)