CRASH & BERNSTEIN (Disney XD) - Cole Jensen ("The Defenders") has booked the lead role on the upcoming comedy, about 14-year-old Wyatt Bernstein, the only son among four kids, who finally gets his dream of having a loud-mouthed brother when his puppet, Crash (Tim Lagasse), comes to life. Bruce Leddy helmed the pilot from a script by Eric Friedman for It's A Laugh Productions. The multi-camera project premieres this fall. (Deadline.com)
WENDELL & VINNIE (Nickelodeon) - Nicole Sullivan ("Cougar Town") has scored a role on the comedy pilot, about Vinnie (Jerry Trainor), an irresponsible goofball who becomes the guardian to his conservative genius 12-year-old nephew Wendell (Buddy Handelson). She'll play Vinnie's sister Wilma in the multi-camera project, which comes from creator Jay Kogen and fellow executive producer Aaron Kaplan. (Deadline.com)
EVIL TWINS (Investigation Discovery) - The original series, first announced back in April, is set to premiere Thursday, July 26 at 10:00/9:00c. Here's the network's description: "There's something oddly fascinating about twins. Maybe it's the secret languages they create, their identical facade, or the rumors about how one can feel when the other is hurt. But when one twin turns bad, does the other stay pure of heart? Channeling sibling rivalries and deadly childhood pacts, EVIL TWINS follows true-crime mysteries surrounding real-life cases of these evil archetypes. Each episode reveals shocking stories of twins on the edge, from those who sleep with their twin's husband and set them up for murder to those who steal their identities and even come back from the dead."
HAPPILY NEVER AFTER (Investigation Discovery, New!) - The cable channel will roll out the newcomer on Saturday, July 21 at 10:00/9:00c, bumping current time period holder "Wicked Attraction" to 9:00/8:00c. Here's how the network describes the show: "For most people, their wedding day ignites dreams of a bright future and the hope of fading into the sunset with the one they love. But for some brides and grooms, the reality of "til death do you part" hits come sooner than expected. Narrated by Emmy Award-winner Marlo Thomas, HAPPILY NEVER AFTER tells the true stories of people who meet untimely ends on or around their wedding days. Leading viewers through these tales of romance, sex, greed and betrayal is Dr. Wendy Walsh, a clinical psychologist and relationship expert. As this new series suggests, perhaps love found is not always happily ever after."
STOLEN VOICES, BURIED SECRETS (Investigation Discovery) - The show's third season is set to kick off on Monday, July 9 at 10:00/9:00c. The channel details the new season as follows: "Investigation Discovery's captivating series STOLEN VOICES, BURIED SECRETS revisits mysterious murders through the lens of the fictionalized, first-person perspectives of the victims. As investigators, family, and friends peel back the layers and facts of each case for viewers, the otherworldly narrator already knows how their story ends and supplies all-knowing observations hinting at breaks to come in the case."
THE LEAGUE OF PAN (New!) - 20th Century Fox Television-based Imagine Television is developing a fairytale-themed drama series described as a re-imagining of the Peter Pan mythology. Newcomer Brian McCauley Johnson is behind the present-day hour, which "centers around the Lost Boys and takes place 10 years after they've left Neverland." Executive producers Ron Howard and Brian Grazer are currently looking for a showrunner to co-write the script and supervise the project prior to taking it out to the networks. (Deadline.com)
THE LEFTOVERS (HBO, New!) - "Lost" co-creator Damon Lindelof is spearheading a small screen take on Tom Perrotta's 2011 book of the same name, which asks what would happen if The Rapture actually took place and millions of people just disappeared from the Earth. Stephen King heralded the novel in the New York Times Book Review as "the best 'Twilight Zone' episode you never saw." Lindelof will co-write the script to the potential drama alongside Perrotta and executive produce via his overall deal with Warner Bros. Television. Ron Yerxa and Albert Berger also serve as executive producers. (Deadline.com)
BROTHERS-IN-LAW (TV Land) - Josh Cooke ("Dexter") is the first to be cast in the comedy pilot, about the family dynamic between a husband and the eccentric fiancé of his wife's twin sister. He'll play said fellow, Neil, "a regular Joe who is repeatedly forced to spend time with the eccentric fiancé of his wife's twin sister, even though the guys share nothing in common." Bill Martin and Mike Schiff are behind the project, which is set up at Quan Phang and Scott Stuber's Stuber Productions. (TVLine.com)
THE FARM (NBC) - The Peac*ck has issued character descriptions for the potential Dwight Schrute-led spin-off of "The Office." Joining Rainn Wilson's Dwight at his family farm/bed-and-breakfast are his younger sister Fannie ("attractive, urban and in her late 20s/early 30s"), now divorced with a nine-year-old son, Cameron Whitman ("a cosmopolitan lad who nevertheless feels the pull of his Schrute heritage"); his thirtysomething brother Jeb ("hasn't done well in any of the career paths he's followed but has found some success with a pot farm"); and his great uncle Heinrich Manheim ("charming, greedy, manipulative"). Paul Lieberstein and Wilson himself are behind the half-hour, from Universal Television. (TVLine.com)
GUILTY (FOX) - Producer Warner Bros. Television has picked up the options on co-stars Cuba Gooding Jr., Jay Harrington, Eva Amurri Martino and Julian Morris, opening the door for a potential midseason or fall 2013 series order. Not making the cut was Sharon Leal, who played the estranged wife of Gooding Jr.'s character. Greg Berlanti, Marc Guggenheim, McG and Peter Johnson are all behind the project, which McG directed from a script by Guggenheim. (Deadline.com)
REVOLUTION (NBC) - Daniella Alonso ("My Generation") has joined the cast of the Peac*ck's upcoming Monday drama, about a group of people struggling to survive and reunite with loved ones in a world where all forms of energy have mysteriously ceased to exist. She'll play a new character, Nora, "a rebel fighter, battling against the militia that controls North America [who] likes to blow up stuff, and she has a lot of rough water under the bridge with Miles (Billy Burke)." David Lyons, Giancarlo Esposito, Graham Rogers, J.D. Pardo, Maria Howell, Tim Guinee, Tracy Spiradakos and Zak Orth starred in the pilot. Elizabeth Mitchell ("V") is the latest addition to the Peacock's new drama, about a group of people struggling to survive and reunite with loved ones in a world where all forms of energy have mysteriously ceased to exist. She'll play Rachel Matheson, the mother of Tracy Spiridakos's and Graham Rogers's characters, who abandoned them in the years following the blackout. Andrea Roth originated the role in the pilot, but was subsequently recast. Daniella Alonso, David Lyons, Giancarlo Esposito, J.D. Pardo, Maria Howell, Tim Guinee and Zak Orth also star in the project, due on Monday nights this fall. (Deadline.com)
HEMLOCK GROVE (Netflix) - Kandyse McClure and Lili Taylor have both landed roles on the upcoming original series, "a gripping tale of murder, mystery and monsters set in a ravaged Pennsylvania steel town." The former will play Dr. Chausser, "an animal behaviorist with a PHD with a history of self destruction," while Taylor will recur as the Gypsy mother of Landon Liboiron's Peter, a suspect in the murder of a young girl. Bill Skarsgard, Dougray Scott, Famke Janssen, Freya Tingley and Penelope Mitchell also star in the project, which is based on Brian McGreevy's novel of the same name. (Deadline.com, TVLine.com)
