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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 signature "Devwatch" section. There visitors can view our listings by network, genre, studio and even development stage (ordered to pilot, cast-contingent, script, etc.). It's updated every day!
AGATHA (ABC/ABC Studios; W: Tom Donaghy; D: Jace Alexander) - Daniel Henney ("Three Rivers") has joined the cast of the drama pilot, about Agatha McAuliffe (Bojana Novakovic), a former convict turned big city criminologist who is brought in to help local police - including her estranged chief detective father (Clancy Brown) - crack a case involving a perplexing disappearance. He's on board as Rey Cordoba, her "attentive, doting and loving fiance." Aaron Ashmore, Christian Keyes, Erik Palladino, Jee Young Han and Meta Golding also star. (Deadline.com)
DEAD BOSS (FOX/Warner Bros.; W: Patricia Breen; D: Barry Sonnenfeld) - Rachel Dratch ("Saturday Night Live") is the latest addition to the comedy pilot, about Helen Stephens (Jane Krakowski), an overachiever who is wrongfully convicted of murdering her boss and forced to rely on Laura (Justine Lupe), her train wreck of a sister to prove her innocence. She's set as Christine, "Helen's cellmate, a sunny but emotionally needy arsonist who will help Helen out of anything, except prison." Amy Sedaris, Cedric Yarborough and Ravi Patel also star. (Deadline.com)
ELLEN MORE OR LESS (NBC/Universal; W: J.J. Philbin; D: Peyton Reed) - Michael Liu has booked a role on the comedy pilot, about Ellen (Stacey McGunnigle), an average-size woman who, after losing 100 pounds, begins reinventing herself in life and love. He's on board as Nicholas, a co-worker of Ellen's in the billing department, who's a combination of hipster glasses, scarf and weird sneakers. Chris Diamantopoulos, Jama Williamson, Joshua Gomez and Tate Ellington also star. (Deadline.com)
EXPOSED (ABC/Universal; W: Charles Randolph; D: TBA) - Ben Barnes (The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader) has booked the male lead on the drama pilot, about Anna Loach (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), an investigative journalist who will stop at nothing to uncover the truth including making questionable alliances. He'll play Stoya, "a mysterious man who develops an intimate relationship with Anna. He claims to be a pilot but is in fact an NSA whistleblower who is being hunted by the U.S. government because he knows too much." Brian F. O'Byrne, Fran Kranz, Sandrine Holt, Pedro Pascal and Peter De Jersey also star. (Deadline.com)
HAND OF GOD (Amazon; W: Ben Watkins; D: Marc Forster) - Alona Tal ("Burn Notice") is the latest addition to the drama pilot, about the powerful Judge Harris Pernell (Ron Perlman), a hard-living, law-bending married man with a high-end call girl on the side who has a religious awakening and starts having visions and hearing voices through his ventilator-bound son that could be God speaking to him. She's set as his daughter-in-law Jocelyn in the project, which also stars Julian Morris. (Deadline.com)
IZOMBIE (The CW/Warner Bros.; W: Diane Ruggiero & Rob Thomas; D: TBA) - British actor Rahul Kohli has snagged a role on the drama pilot, about Olivia "Liv" Moore (Rose McIver), a med student-turned-zombie who takes a job in the coroner's office to gain access to the brains she must reluctantly eat to maintain her humanity, but with each brain she consumes, she inherits the corpse's memories. He'll play her friend, partner and only confidant Dr. Ravi Chakrabarti, a high energy, enthusiastic nerd, who has a brilliant mind that isn't equipped with a filter or an off switch. Alexandra Krosney, David Anders, Malcolm Goodwin, Nora Dunn and Robert Buckley also star. (Deadline.com)
KISMET (Amazon, New!) - Feature writer Marc Klein (Mirror Mirror) has sold a potential comedy to the digital distributor billed as "a Sliding Doors-style parallel-reality love story, which follows one couple who meet, date and marry. But what if they hadn't met? Kismet chronicles their lives both as a married couple who've met and as two single people who've never met. As their lives separate and dovetail, we discover that there is no single version of a person's life that is better than any other." Radius Entertainment's Carol Bodie will also serve as an executive producer. (Deadline.com)
LAUGHS UNLIMITED (HBO; W: Anthony Swofford & Oren Moverman; D: TBA) - Melonie Diaz (Fruitvale Station) has been tapped for the lead role in the long-in-the-works drama, about Billie Crown, an Army medic who returns from serving a tour in Afghanistan only to find that her husband is divorcing her and taking custody of their daughter and must now hide her PTSD from family and colleagues so she can be reinstated as a Sacramento police officer, and so she can reconnect with her daughter. Lauren Shuler Donner, Jennifer Beals, Jack Leslie and Adena Chawke also serve as executive producers on the project, which is awaiting a formal pilot order. (Deadline.com)
LOVE IS RELATIVE (NBC/20th; W: Dan Mazer; D: TBA) - Jason Jones ("The Daily Show with Jon Stewart") has been tapped for a lead role on the comedy pilot, about Nate and Rose (Leslie Bibb), a happy couple who begin to see their marriage in a whole new way after Josh (Barry Rothbart), her newly divorced brother, moves in. He'll play the aforementioned Nate in the project, which also stars Utkarsh Ambudkar. (Deadline.com)
ODD COUPLE, THE (CBS/CTS; W: Joe Keenan & Matthew Perry; D: TBA) - Georgia King ("The New Normal") has snagged the female lead on the comedy pilot, an updated take on Neil Simon's classic play, about two mismatched roommates, the messy Oscar Madison (Matthew Perry) and the neat freak Felix Unger (Thomas Lennon). She'll play Katie, "a model who lives in Oscar and Felix's building." Sarah Baker and Wendell Pierce also star. (Deadline.com)
ONLY HUMAN (CBS/CTS; W: David Marshall Grant; D: TBA) - Ashton Holmes and Anna Brewster have both been cast in the drama pilot, about quadruplets - three brothers and a sister - who grew up on a reality show. He'll play Gary, "possibly the most brilliant of the Lang quadruplets, who left medical school to travel the world and find himself before a near-death experience impels him to head back Stateside to the loved ones he left behind"; with Brewster as his sister, Diana, "a doctor who has dedicated her life to research." Cameron Scoggins and Nick Jandl also star as their fellow siblings with Jamie Lee Curtis as their mother, Caroline. (Deadline.com)
RED ZONE (CBS/CTS/Universal; W: Nikki Toscano; D: James Foley) - Kim Dickens, Kevin Rahm and Samantha Mathis have all been cast in the drama pilot, about Holden Weller (Anthony LaPaglia), a retired CIA operative who, when a terrorist event rocks Washington, D.C., is pulled back into action, forced to investigate closer to home where the next generation of terrorists are being bred. Dickens will play his wife, Helen, "a former CIA shrink who teaches psychology at the same high school as her husband"; with Rahm and Mathis as Paul and Olivia Jordan, "the parents of Jake (Graham Rogers), the second-string QB on Holden's team and a friend of the Wellers' daughter Laney (Shanley Caswell)." Aimee Garcia, David Castro and Sepideh Moafi also star. (Deadline.com)
SALVATION (NBC/Universal; W: Liz Heldens; D: Jeffrey Reiner) - Danny Huston ("American Horror Story") has been tapped for a role on the drama pilot, a family saga set against the backdrop of a Texas mega church where faith, family and corruption are explored in equal measure. He'll play Caleb Bryant, the slick lead pastor at a rival mega-church to the Stricklands. Also starring are Ashley Judd, Emma Dumont, Jake Picking, Meg Steedle, Rob Brown, Ryan McPartlin, Stark Sands and Warren Kole. (Deadline.com)
SAVE THE DATE (CBS/ABC Studios/CTS; W: Jackie Filgo & Jeff Filgo; D: Pamela Fryman) - Jay R. Ferguson ("Mad Men") has scored a role on the comedy pilot, about 35-year-old and newly single Katie (Maggie Lawson), who drunkenly books a wedding venue and now is faced with the task of meeting the right man in time. He's set as Jerry, "the owner of a successful pizza restaurant and a very eligible bachelor - who is determined to stay that way and whose ex-roommate is now living with his fiancee, Hillary (Michelle Trachtenberg), Katie's sister." Brian Howe, Julie White and Tom Bennett also star. (Deadline.com)
SCORPION (CBS/CTS; W: Nick Santora; D: Justin Lin) - Katharine McPhee and Ari Stidham have both scored roles on the drama pilot, about Walter O'Neil (Elyes Gabel), an eccentric genius and his international network of super-geniuses who form the last line of defense against the complex threats of the modern age. She'll play a waitress named Paige Deats, who's capable and strongwilled, damaged but proud, and nobody's fool; while he's set as Sylvester Potts, a neurotic genius slash statistics guru. Eddie Kaye Thomas, Jadyn Wong and Robert Patrick also star. (Deadline.com)
SEX&DRUGS&ROCK&ROLL (FX/FXP; W: Denis Leary; D: TBA) - Elaine Hendrix and Sainty Nelsen have both booked roles on the comedy pilot, Johnny Rock (Denis Leary), the magnificently talented lead singer of a legendary early-'90s band who is trying to get the band together. The former will play Ava, "one of Johnny's three live-in groupies - and 25 years later, she's still his biggest fan. Having never had a child because her life kinda slipped away from her while she was busy chasing rock stars through dressing rooms, Ava realizes that her life has been a mess and that she has nothing to show for all her many, many parties." Nelsen then is set as Becky, "the best friend of 22-year-old aspiring singer Gigi (Elizabeth Gillies)." John Corbett and Robert Kelly also star. (Deadline.com)
STATE OF AFFAIRS (NBC/Universal; W: Alexi Hawley; D: Joe Carnahan) - Sheila Vand and Adam Kaufman are the latest additions to the drama pilot, about Charleston Whitney Tucker (Katherine Heigl), a key CIA attache who counsels the president on high-stakes incidents around the world, all while balancing her intense political responsibilities with a complicated personal life. She'll play Middle East expert Grace Hough, "a tough CIA analyst on the President's daily briefing team, who keeps her private life to herself"; while he's set as Lucas Wright, "a CIA analyst on the President's daily briefing team." Cliff Chamberlain also stars. (Deadline.com)
WINKLERS (ABC/20th; W: Max Winkler, Phil Rosenthal & Rob Reinis; D: Phil Rosenthal) - Judith Light ("Who's the Boss?") has joined the cast of the comedy pilot, about Jack Conner (Domenick Lombardozzi), an emotionally reserved construction worker who learns about love, life and hugs while unexpectedly living with his in-laws Henry (Henry Winkler) and Tita. She'll play the aforementioned Tita, "the fabulous, fierce momma bear of the family," a role originally conceived for Henry Winkler's real life wife Stacey. Eva Amurri Martino and Josh Sussman also star. (Deadline.com)
AND IN OTHER NEWS... - Nick at Nite's "See Dad Run" will wrap its run after its current third season, culiminating in a newly ordered one-hour finale (Deadline.com); Queen Latifah and Ken Jeong are the latest faces bound for "Hot in Cleveland" (TVLine.com); and Brian Baumgartner will guest on "Criminal Minds" as "a man who at an unexpected crossroads in his life goes on a killing spree" (TVLine.com).
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