or


[02/07/05 - 12:00 AM]
Development Update: February 7
By The Futon Critic Staff (TFC)

LOS ANGELES (thefutoncritic.com) -- The latest development news, culled from recent wire reports:

Looking to keep track of all the various projects in development? Click here to visit our newly revamped "Series in Development" charts. Visitors can now filter our listings by network, genre and even development stage (ordered to pilot, cast-contingent, script, etc.). It's updated every day!

24 (FOX) - James Morrison ("Point Pleasant") has joined the cast of the FOX drama in a recurring role. He'll play Bill Buchanan, a high-ranking officer who joins the show's C.T.U. in their terrorist hunt.

ALL IN (A.K.A. UNTITLED ANNIE DUKE PROJECT) (NBC) - The Peacock has added another comedy pilot to its 2005-06 season roster, as the network has given a cast-contingent commitment to its Annie Duke-inspired project. The comedy, which is based on the life of Duke - a world poker champion, tracks a single mom who's a whiz around the poker table, but who could use some of those same smarts in raising her kids. The project is set up at Lisa Kudrow and Dan Bucatinsky's Warner Bros. Television-based Is or Isn't Entertainment. Jack Burditt ("I'm With Her") will write the pilot script and executive produce along with Kudrow and Bucatinsky.

ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT (FOX) - Ben Stiller ("Meet the Fockers") is set to guest star on an upcoming installment of the sophomore comedy. He'll play Tony Wonder, a rival magician to Will Arnett's character. It's not clear when Stiller's installment, which was shot on Friday, will air.

BLIND JUSTICE (ABC) - Brennan Elliott ("Strong Medicine") has scored a recurring role on the upcoming midseason drama. He'll play a nightclub owner with a criminal past who begins dating Marisol Nichols' character. No air date was given for Elliott's first episode.

BOOK OF DANIEL (NBC) - Aidan Quinn ("Third Watch") has been cast as Daniel Webster in the drama pilot, a dysfunctional family drama about a Vicodin-popping Episcopalian priest (Quinn) who finds himself speaking routinely with a hip, modern Jesus, who appears as a vision and offers valuable guidance. Quinn's involvement lifts the cast-contingency on the pilot's production. In addition, Sony Pictures Television has come aboard as a co-production partner on the NBC Universal Television project while James Frawley has been tapped to direct. Frawley helmed the pilots for such series as "Ed," "Thieves," "Jack & Jill" and "Kate Brasher." Jack Kenny and Flody Suarez are the executive producers.

DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES (ABC) - Nick Chinlund ("The Chronicles of Riddick") has landed a recurring role on the hit freshman drama. He'll play Detective Sullivan, a police detective who is investigating the death of Christine Estabrook's character. Chinlund's first episode is set to air on February 20.

EMPIRE (ABC) - Executive producer Tony Jonas has inked a two-year overall deal with Touchstone Television, ending his 15-year stay at Warner Bros. Television. The pact calls for Jonas to move his self-titled production banner to Touchstone, where he'll develop new comedy and drama projects for the studio.

FOR ONE NIGHT (Lifetime, New!) - Raven Symone ("That's So Raven") is set to topline a new original movie for the cable channel. She'll play a black teenager who, with the help of a newspaper reporter, braves decades of segregation to stage the first interracial high school prom in the history of their small town. No other details were given about the project, which is expected to air later this year on the network.

HOMETEAM (Syndication, New!) - Former "The Apprentice" contestant Troy McClain is set to host a new weekend syndicated offering which helps people buy and decorate their own homes, including providing money for a down payment as well as a year's worth of mortgage payments. Litton Entertainment is behind the project, which has been cleared for a fall 2005 launch in such markets as Philadelphia (WCAU), Boston (WCVB), Norfolk, Va. (WTVZ) and Richmond, Va. (WRLH).

KEVIN HILL (UPN) - Samantha Corbin-Miller ("ER," "The Practice" and "Crossing Jordan") has been named the new showrunner of the freshman drama beginning with its 19th installment this season. She'll join Alex Taub, Bruce Davey and Nancy Cotton as an executive producer on the series, which comes from Icon Productions and Touchstone Television. Meanwhile, Leila Arcieri ("XXX") is set to reprise her role of Monroe McManus - the highly motivated, cutthroat legal adversary of Taye Diggs' character - for three upcoming episodes of the series.

LAWS OF CHANCE (ABC) - KaDee Strickland ("The Stepford Wives") has scored the lead role in the drama pilot, about the life of unconventional Houston assistant district attorney Kelly Siegler, whose 95% success rate in court was partly due to her theatrical presentation in arguing cases. Gary Glasberg, Gina Matthews and Grant Scharbo are the executive producers of "Chance," which comes from 20th Century Fox Television and Roundtable Ink.

THE MONTEL WILLIAMS SHOW (Syndication) - Talk show host Montel Williams, who just launched a new talent agency called Letnom Management, has confirmed he's under contract with the series through September 2006 and is in talks for an extension.

NEW CAR SMELL (FOX, New!) - "Lucky" creators Robb and Mark Cullen have received a pilot order from FOX for a new comedy about a used-car dealership. No other details were given about the project, which is set up at 20th Century Fox Television.

REUNION (FOX) - Amanda Righetti ("North Shore") and Dave Annable ("Spellbound") are the first to be cast in the drama pilot, about the lives of six close friends from their high school graduation in 1986 to their 20th reunion in 2006. Righetti's attachment likely means 20th Century Fox Television has released the "North Shore" actors from their contracts, meaning it's highly unlikely the series will return for a second season. Jon Harmon Feldman is behind the project, which comes from Warner Bros. Television and Steve Pearlman and Andrew Plotkin's Class IV banner.

UNTITLED BRAD KERN PROJECT (The WB, New!) - "Charmed" executive producer Brad Kern has booked a new drama pilot at the Frog, about a mermaid who attempts to live on dry land in Miami. The project is set up at Spelling Television with Kern executive producing along with Aaron Spelling and E. Duke Vincent.

Sources: Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, Reuters





  [february 2005]  
S
M
T
W
T
F
S
  


· 24 (FOX)
· APPRENTICE, THE (NBC)
· ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT (NETFLIX)
· BLIND JUSTICE (ABC)
· BOOK OF DANIEL, THE (NBC)
· CHARMED (WB)
· CROSSING JORDAN (NBC)
· DEAL (NBC)
· DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES (ABC)
· ED (NBC)
· EMPIRE (ABC)
· ER (NBC)
· FOR ONE NIGHT (LIFETIME)
· HOMETEAM (SYNDICATION)
· I'M WITH HER (ABC)
· JACK & JILL (WB)
· KATE BRASHER (CBS)
· KEVIN HILL (UPN)
· LAWS OF CHANCE (ABC)
· LUCKY (FX)
· MERMAID (WB)
· MONTEL WILLIAMS SHOW, THE (SYNDICATION)
· NEW CAR SMELL (FOX)
· NORTH SHORE (FOX)
· POINT PLEASANT (FOX)
· PRACTICE, THE (ABC)
· REUNION (FOX)
· SPELLBOUND (FOX)
· STRONG MEDICINE (LIFETIME)
· THIEVES (ABC)
· THIRD WATCH (NBC)





[05/10/24 - 01:30 PM]
Three New Series, Breakout Comedies and Fan-Favorite Dramas Anchor NBC's Fall Lineup Boosted by Live Tentpole Specials
Three new series are set to premiere in the fall: drama "Brilliant Minds," starring Zachary Quinto; "St. Denis Medical," which stars Wendi McLendon-Covey, Allison Tolman and David Alan Grier; and Reba McEntire returns to comedy with multi-camera "Happy's Place."

[05/10/24 - 11:01 AM]
Video: "Mulligan" Part 2 - Official Clip - Netflix
Allegiances are tested when the grim realities of life on an empty, alien-ravaged planet start to sink in for President Mulligan and his rag-tag band of survivors.

[05/10/24 - 11:00 AM]
Gordon Ramsay and FOX Entertainment Launch Bite, A Next-Gen Global Food Brand and Entertainment Platform
Bite offers food fans more of the culinary content they love, while giving advertisers and brand partners even greater reach and more innovative ways to engage with Ramsay and FOX's massive audience of over 100 million food-loving fans.

[05/10/24 - 09:59 AM]
Video: Starz Announces July 5 Airdate for Juicy Taboo-Tackling Docu-Series "Down in the Valley" with First Look Images and Teaser Trailer
"Down in the Valley" will pull back the curtain on the surprising but always intriguing people and places that make the Deep South a place where anything can happen and usually does.

[05/10/24 - 09:32 AM]
ABC Renews Seven Primetime Unscripted Series
"American Idol," "The Bachelor," "Celebrity Jeopardy!," "Celebrity Wheel of Fortune," "Dancing With the Stars," "Shark Tank" and "What Would You Do?" are all due back.

[05/10/24 - 09:31 AM]
Video: "The Conners" Farewell Season - Coming Soon to ABC
You've been part of this family for years. After 6 seasons, be there to say goodbye.

[05/10/24 - 09:01 AM]
Hallmark Channel Renews Its Longest-Running Original Series "When Calls the Heart" for a 12th Season!
Hallmark can confirm that the new season will consist of 12 episodes, with production beginning in July.

[05/10/24 - 09:01 AM]
Video: ALLBLK Releases Trailer for Hilarious New Comedy Special Gary "G Thang" Johnson: Sitcho Ass Down Premiering Thursday, May 30
Known for his quick wit and sharp observations of everyday life, Gary "G Thang" Johnson takes to the stage in his very first standup comedy special as a call to action to embrace adulthood, face the chaos, and always have a plan.

[05/10/24 - 09:00 AM]
Prime Video Sets Premiere Date for Content Creator-Driven Talk Show "Influenced" from Candle Media's Hello Sunshine and Amazon MGM Studios on August 1st
The thirty-minute episodes will be co-hosted by popular social media personalities, Achieng Agutu, Eyal Booker, Tefi Pessoa, Taryn Delanie Smith, and Cyrus Veyssi.

[05/10/24 - 08:30 AM]
Video: "Criminal Minds: Evolution" - Teaser 2024 - Paramount+
The upcoming all-new season picks up as the FBI's elite team of profilers investigates the deadly mystery of Gold Star.

[05/10/24 - 07:31 AM]
Video: "Tires" - Official Trailer - Netflix
At his father's auto shop, a hapless manager strives to improve customer service and drive profits while keeping his troublemaking cousin in line.

[05/10/24 - 07:14 AM]
Prime Video Orders "Haven" from Drama Republic Starring Sophie Turner, Jacob Fortune-Lloyd, and Archie Madekwe
"Haven" is a contemporary, high-octane thriller about the heist of the century and the ordinary office worker, Zara (Turner), who finds herself at the heart of it.

[05/10/24 - 02:15 AM]
BBC Comedy Orders a Second Series of "Juice" and "Such Brave Girls"
"Such Brave Girls" is a VAL production for BBC Three and BBC iPlayer, and Hulu in the US.

[05/09/24 - 05:01 PM]
Video: "Franco Escamilla: Ladies' Man" - Official Trailer - Netflix
This self-proclaimed ladies' man will make us laugh with his hilarious adventures about teenage romance gone wrong, featuring painfully long kisses and rockstar cameos with surprising outcomes.

[05/09/24 - 02:34 PM]
CNN Original Series Engages in Cold War Thriller "Secrets & Spies: A Nuclear Game"
This razor-sharp series examines the tenuousness of global geopolitics during the Cold War through the lens of two notorious double agents: Oleg Gordievsky and Aldrich Ames.