Development Update: Friday, November 22
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 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!
AMERICA'S GOT TALENT (NBC) - Gabrielle Union and Julianne Hough will not return as judges for the show's 15th season. No reason was given for the change. (Variety.com)
CAROL'S SECOND ACT (CBS) - Adam Rose has booked a recurring role on the freshman comedy as "Bad News Jake from ER." No other specifics were given. (Deadline.com)
CROWN, THE (Netflix) - Imelda Staunton is reportedly in talks to play Queen Elizabeth II in the show's proposed fifth and sixth seasons. The streaming service however has not confirmed the news as the series has formally only been renewed through season four. (Deadline.com)
DAISY JONES & THE SIX (Amazon) - Camila Morrone is joining the Riley Keough-led drama as Camila, "girlfriend of lead singer Billy Dunne and the band's center of gravity. She follows the love of her life in his pursuit of rock stardom only to discover her own potential along the way." (Deadline.com)
EPIDEMIC (NBC, New!) - David Titcher has sold a new drama to the network about Nicole Summers and Daniel Golden, "two superstar doctors within a special investigative division of the CDC who recruit the nation's best medical students and travel the world solving diseases nobody can figure out." Great Big Story's Courtney Coupe and Kristina Sorensen; and No Trace Camping's Jeff Arkuss, Jesse Shapira and David Gross will also executive produce for Universal Television. Josh Phillips is a producer. (Deadline.com)
ESCAPE (NBC, New!) - Jason Ning has set up a potential drama at the network in which "when six complete strangers wake up on the roof of a building in San Francisco, they're told they have 36 hours to live unless they can solve a series of deadly games set throughout the city." The project is based on the 2015 Russian series "Quest." Intrigue Entertainment's Tariq Jalil will also executive produce for Universal Television with Lucas Carter and Joe Wiggins as consulting producers. (Deadline.com)
FALLING/APART (NBC, New!) - Writer Steve Basilone and director Seth Gordon are set to team for a single-camera project at the network billed as "a time-bending comedy that concurrently explores the beginning and the end of a romantic relationship." Exhibit A's Julia Gunn will also executive produce for Sony Pictures Television. (Deadline.com)
FLOORED (Quibi, New!) - Liza Koshy has been tapped to host a comedic dance competition series at the streaming service in which "two teams of skilled dancers take on an insane dance floor with a life of its own." Mission Control Media is behind the project, with Koshy, Michael Agbabian, Dwight D. Smith, Heath Luman and Mary Celenza serving as executive producers. (Deadline.com)
FOOTBALL BOOK CLUB (FOX, New!) - The network has given a put pilot commitment to a multi-camera comedy from writer Robert Horn and director Scott Ellis, inspired by the life of former New England Patriots wide receiver Malcolm Mitchell. In said effort, "when a career-threatening injury sidelines professional football wide receiver Lawrence Lasalle, a trip to an Athens, Georgia, bookshop unexpectedly lands him as the only male in an all-female Southern book club, started by recent suburban widow Nancy Leverett, looking to reconnect with life." Aaron Kaplan and Dana Honor of Kapital Entertainment; and Jeff Holland, Stan Spry and Drew Brown of The Cartel will executive produce alongside the trio for Warner Bros. Television and FOX Entertainment. (Deadline.com)
HOME (NBC, New!) - Writer Stacy Traub and director Ben Stiller are set to team for a domestic take on Rufus Jones's British comedy series of the same name, which "follows a new couple, Mark and Melanie, who go on a long weekend trip to a cabin in the woods with Melanie's son Jonah. Their plan to come back with a tan and some happy memories is interrupted when they return with Jay, a Syrian refugee who moves in with them and the cobbled-together family soon discovers what home really means." Lionsgate Television and BBC Studios are behind the single-camera project, which has a put pilot commitment. Executive producing are Traub, Stiller, Jones, Alan Marke and Angie Stephenson as well as Red Hour Films' Nicky Weinstock, Jantaculum's Adam Tandy and 3 Arts Entertainment's Tom Lassally. (Deadline.com)
I KNOW THIS MUCH IS TRUE (HBO) - The Mark Ruffalo-led limited series has cast Aisling Franciosi as Dessa Constantine; John Procaccino as Ray Birdsey; Rob Huebel as Leo; Philip Ettinger as young adult Dominick and Thomas Birdsey; and Michael Greyeyes as Ralph Drinkwater. They join the previously announced Melissa Leo, Rosie O'Donnell, Archie Panjabi, Imogen Poots, Juliette Lewis and Kathryn Hahn. (Deadline.com)
LA'S FINEST (Spectrum) - Adam Rose and Taylor Black will both recur on the upcoming second season. Rose will play Nathan Baker, "a man just out of prison after serving eight years for attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon." Black then will portray Emma, "the sister of a victim who's murder has haunted Syd all season." (Deadline.com)
ONE DAY AT A TIME (Pop) - Co-creator Gloria Calderon Kellett has signed a massive three-year, eight-figure overall deal with Amazon Studios. Said pact will kick off in June when her current overall deal with Sony Pictures Television expires. There she'll develop new series projects via her GloNation banner. (Deadline.com)
SECOND HALF, THE (FOX, New!) - Sean Clements is set to team with Stephen Curry and Will Arnett for a multi-camera comedy at the network about "a retired NBA player who moves back home to Charlotte, buys a car wash and struggles to reconnect with his father, daughter, ex-girlfriend and childhood best friend." Clements is penning the script, which has a penalty attached, for FOX Entertainment and Sony Pictures Television. Unanimous Media's Curry, Jeron Smith, Erick Peyton and Jenelle Lindsay; Electric Avenue's Arnett and Marc Forman; and Artists First's Tim Mcauliffe and Peter Principato will also executive produce. (THR.com)
STATION ELEVEN (HBO Max) - Matilda Lawler has been cast in Emily St. John Mandel's book-turned-limited series as Young Kirsten, "a child actor orphaned by the pandemic, whose idea of family is radically reshaped by the unlikely adults who end up caring for her." (Deadline.com)
STUMPTOWN (ABC) - Inbar Lavi has been tapped for a three-episode arc on the freshman series as Max, "a skilled, thrill-seeking car thief who is wrapped up in a sophisticated auto theft ring." (THR.com)
TIGSLEY (FOX, New!) - Emmy-winner Louie Anderson is attached to star in a multi-camera project at the network billed as "an adult comedy about a family dealing with life, love, the pursuit of happiness, and their obnoxious insult-hurling talking cat (Anderson)." Mike Sikowitz is penning the script, which has a penalty attached, from a story he conceived with Anderson. They'll also executive produce alongside Abraham Geisness for Sony Pictures Television and FOX Entertainment. (Variety.com)
UNTITLED KRISEL & SIMMS PROJECT (FX, New!) - Chris Messina and Ari Graynor are set to star in a single-camera comedy at the cable channel from director Jonathan Krisel and writer Paul Simms. The untitled comedy, which has a pilot order, is "about a family surviving a widespread technological crisis." Messina and Graynor will play the parents, Hunt, a lawyer, and Rachel, an HR executive, respectively. M. Blair Breard will also executive produce for FX Productions. (Deadline.com)
UNTITLED OLIVER SACKS PROJECT (FOX, New!) - Writer Alex Berger and director Lee Toland Krieger have sold a drama to the network inspired by the late neurologist and bestselling author Oliver Sacks. The fictional, character-driven medical drama, which has a put pilot commitment, "explores the magic and wonder of the human brain." Warner Bros. Television and FOX Entertainment are behind the hour with Fabrik Entertainment's Henrik Bastin and Melissa Aouate; and Imaginarium Productions' Andy Serkis and Jonathan Cavendish executive producing alongside the duo. Abbey Morris will produce. Sacks was also the focus of a 2013 effort at NBC from executive producers Glenn Gordon Caron and Michael London entitled "Sparks." (Deadline.com)
WHO GETS DAD? (CBS, New!) - Liz Cackowski has sold a multi-camera comedy to the Eye about "adult siblings who reconnect when they are forced to share custody of their aging father." Andy Samberg, Akiva Schaffer, Jorma Taccone and Becky Sloviter for Party Over Here will also executive produce for CBS Television Studios. (Deadline.com)
· AMERICA'S GOT TALENT (NBC)
· CAROL'S SECOND ACT (CBS)
· CROWN, THE (NETFLIX)
· DAISY JONES & THE SIX (AMAZON)
· DEVELOPMENT UPDATE (TFC)
· EPIDEMIC (NBC)
· ESCAPE (NBC)
· FALLING/APART (NBC)
· FLOORED (QUIBI)
· FOOTBALL BOOK CLUB (FOX)
· HOME (NBC)
· I KNOW THIS MUCH IS TRUE (HBO)
· LA'S FINEST (SPECTRUM)
· ONE DAY AT A TIME (POP)
· SECOND HALF, THE (FOX)
· SPARKS (NBC)
· STATION ELEVEN (HBO MAX)
· STUMPTOWN (ABC)
· TIGSLEY (FOX)
· UNTITLED KRISEL & SIMMS PROJECT (FX)
· UNTITLED OLIVER SACKS PROJECT (FOX)
· WHO GETS DAD? (CBS)