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09:30 - Beauty And The Beast - Not Eligible For Peoples Choice Awards 2017
20:00 - American Crime - Season 3 - Ana Mulvoy-Ten Joins Cast as a Series Regular
ABC has added another series regular to “American Crime” Season 3, casting Ana Mulvoy-Ten, Variety has learned exclusively.
Mulvoy-Ten joins John Ridley’s critically-acclaimed drama in the role of Shae Reese. Other than the character name, ABC has not disclosed any further details on her part or storyline.
Mulvoy-Ten is best known for starring on the Nickelodeon series “House of Anubis,” which ran for over 100 episodes. The British actress starred alongside Emily VanCamp in the independent film, “The Girl in the Book,” and also in the digital series, “Vanity.” She recently wrapped two indies “The Queen of Hollywood Blvd” and “Ascension.”
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20:00 - Family Business - CBS Developing Family Comedy
Thanks to sonofgod87 for the heads up.
CBS has bought Family Business, a multi-camera comedy from One Big Happy creator Liz Feldman and Aaron Kaplan’s Kapital Entertainment. CBS Television Studios, where Feldman is under an overall deal, is the studio.
Written by Feldman, Family Business centers on a successful woman who gives up her corporate career and reluctantly returns to Brooklyn to help run the family business in a time of need. Feldman executive produces with Kapital’s Kaplan, Dana Honor and Wendi Trilling.
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20:00 - Monsters of God - Lauren Ambrose Cast as the Female Lead in TNT's Post-Civil War Pilot
EXCLUSIVE: Lauren Ambrose has been tapped to play the female lead in TNT’s high-profile pilot Monsters Of God. She will co-star alongside Garret Dillahunt in the period drama set in post-Civil War Texas. Rod Lurie is writing, directing and executive produces with his Battle Plan Productions partner Marc Frydman and Plan B Entertainment’s DeDe Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner and Sarah Esberg.
Ambrose, the two-time Emmy nominee for Six Feet Under, will play Cynthia Lancaster, wife to Dillahunt’s Col. “Terrible” Bill Lancaster, who despite the peace between the Comanche and locals sets sets out on a quest to kill off every single member of the tribe, bringing wild chaos to the town of Slater. Cynthia, meanwhile, will let no one get in the way of her obsessive quest to institute her wildly feminist ideals. Cultured, strategic and ferociously ambitious, she’ll go to great lengths to show that she is not defined by her role as Bill’s wife. She has an agenda that often conflicts with her husband and has the potential to radically redefine the frontier culture they live inside.
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20:00 - Teen Wolf - Episode 6.13 - Tyler Posey to Direct
Thanks to Pierre for the heads up.
So proud, @tylergposey 👏👏 pic.twitter.com/SKXObbusfR
— Teen Wolf Army (@TeenWolfArmy) October 24, 2016
06:30 - Hospitality - The Goldbergs' Wendi McLendon-Covey Developing Hotel Comedy Based on Experience for ABC
Years ago, Wendi McLendon-Covey was a floundering twentysomething working at what she has described as “a crappy hotel near Disneyland” where an old nightstand served as her desk, complete with a typewriter. Now The Goldbergs star will tap into her experiences for a comedy series project, which has landed at ABC with a script commitment plus significant penalty.
McLendon-Covey co-created and will co-write the single-camera comedy, tentatively titled Hospitality, with The McCarthys creator Brian Gallivan. In addition to The Goldbergs’ network, ABC, McLendon-Covey has teamed on the project with that series’ producers, Sony Pictures TV and studio-based Happy Madison.
Based on McLendon-Covey’s experiences working at the third worst Ramada in Anaheim, the workplace comedy follows three women as they band together against a terrible new boss in the world of two-star hospitality.
McLendon-Covey and Gallivan executive produce with Happy Madison’s Doug Robinson and McLendon-Covey’s manager Gladys Gonzalez.
Over her parents’ objections to pursuing acting as a career, McLendon-Covey did that, leaving her hotel job behind. She rose to fame as one of the stars of Comedy Central’s Reno 911! and now stars on The Goldbergs, which recently kicked off its fourth season as ABC Wednesday comedy block’s new 8 PM anchor. She is repped by UTA, manager Gladys Gonzalez and attorney David Krintzman.
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06:30 - Friends Comedy from Wet Hot American Summer Writer/Producer in Development at ABC
ABC has put in development a single-camera comedy from Wet Hot American Summer series writer-producer Christina Lee and ABC Studios.
Written/executive produced by Lee, the untitled project centers on a thirtysomething woman who, after ending her long-term relationship and quitting her soul-sucking job, has to bridge the gap between the two sides of her friend group: those who are on the straight-and-narrow path of fulfilling age-appropriate expectations, and those who are still figuring things out.
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06:30 - Nashville - Season 5 - Christian Coulson to Recur
EXCLUSIVE: Christian Coulson (Love Is Strange, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets) has been cast as recurring on CMT’s upcoming fifth season of its country music drama Nashville, from Lionsgate and Hulu.
Coulson will play Damien George, a sought-after British director who will be helming Gunner Scott & Scarlett O’Connor’s first video. Confident and by turns charming and caustic, he has a specific vision for his work and gets off on pushing the limits of actors to achieve that vision.
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06:30 - 24: Legacy - Raphael Acloque Joins Cast; Themo Melikidze to Recur
EXCLUSIVE: Fox has added a pair of actors to its upcoming limited series 24: Legacy. Raphael Acloque is set for a regular role and Themo Melikidze will recur on the series that chronicles a race against the clock to stop a terrorist attack on U.S. soil. Starring Straight Outta Compton‘s Corey Hawkins, it will follow the original series’ real-time format.
Acloque will play Jadalla “Jad” bin-Khalid, a bookish scholar who rejected his father’s politics while at university. After his father’s death, Jad embraces his jihadist campaign.
Melikidze is set as Khasan Dubayev, the intimidating brother of high school student Amira (Kathryn Prescott) who is intense and worried as he works with his sister in connection with their plans.
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06:30 - Under Suspicion - Drama Based on Bestselling Crime Thriller Books in Development at CBS
CBS has put in development Under Suspicion, a drama series based on the bestselling crime thriller book series by Mary Higgins Clark, from Allegiance executive producer John Glenn, Momentum TV and Universal TV.
Written and executive produced by Canadian writer Greg Spottiswood (Remedy), Under Suspicion is about a justice-seeking investigative journalism team that produces an award-winning true-crime series that investigates unsolved major crimes through the eyes of those who are closest to the victims — and who also are the prime suspects. Glenn is executive producing via his overall deal at Uni TV, alongside Momentum TV’s Nick Hamm and Sabrina Eisenstadt.
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06:30 - Token White Male - Dramedy from Faking It Showrunner in Development at FOX
Fox has given a script commitment plus penalty to Token White Male, an hourlong dramedy from Life in Pieces executive producer Jason Winer, Faking It showrunner Carter Covington and Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion writer Robin Schiff. 20th Century Fox TV, where Winer’s company, Small Dog Picture Co. is based, is the studio.
Written by Covington and Robin Schiff, Token White Male is a character-based procedural about a fun-loving, no-filter, low-rent lawyer who, against all odds, becomes the first male associate at a groundbreaking all-female law firm.
Winer executive produces with Covington and Schiff.
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06:30 - Monsters of God - Kwame Patterson Joins TNT's Post-Civil War Drama Pilot
EXCLUSIVE: Kwame Patterson has been tapped as a series regular on TNT’s Monsters of God, Rod Lurie’s post-Civil War drama pilot being produced by Brad Pitt’s Plan B Entertainment.
Written and to be directed by Lurie, Monsters of God stars Garret Dillahunt as Col. “Terrible” Bill Lancaster, who is waging a savage and violent holy war against the Comanche in post-Civil War Texas. Despite the peace between the Comanche and local townspeople, he sets out on a quest to kill off every single member of the tribe, bringing wild chaos to the town of Slater. Meanwhile, his wife, Cynthia Lancaster, will let no one get in the way of her obsessive quest to institute her wildly feminist ideals. Whether by force or free will, change is coming to Texas, and the escalating insanity will reveal humanity at its most monstrous.
Patterson will play Oatis. He and his family are freed slaves, but they experience limited and conditional independence working for Lancaster as personal servants. Oatis discovers something awakened inside himself and goes on the hunt for something beyond a small taste of freedom. Caitlin Gerard and Pat Healy co-star.
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20:20 - Sentinels - Spy Drama from Scorpion Producers in Development at CBS
CBS has put in development Sentinels, a drama from the Scorpion trio of supervising producer Rob Pearlstein and executive producers Nick Santora, who created the show, and Nicholas Wootton. CBS Television Studios, which is behind the CBS series, is the studio.
Written and executive produced by Pearlstein, Sentinels share the sensibility of Scorpion as a light, action procedural. It centers on the world’s worst news team who’s actually a cover for a secret government program that has highly trained spies masquerading as hapless reporters. They use their unfettered access all over the globe to take on harrowing missions and preserve world peace. Wootton and Santora also executive produce.
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19:45 - Bad Dates - Relationship Comedy in Development at Freeform
Freeform has put in development the comedy Bad Dates from Veep’s Timothy Simons, Black List scribes Derek Elliott and Jack Donaldson and Brillstein Entertainment Partners.
Co-written by Elliott and Donaldson, Bad Dates will feature re-enactments of regular everyday people’s worst and most awkward dating experiences. Simons, who plays Congressman Jonah Ryan on Veep, will not act in the show but will serve as producer. Brillstein’s Ben Curtis will executive produce.
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19:40 - Bad Sugar - Comedy in Development at FOX
Fox has given a script commitment plus significant penalty to Bad Sugar, a single-camera comedy from writer-producer Patty Breen (Suburgatory), Divorce and Catastrophe‘s Sharon Horgan and her Merman banner, Aaron Kaplan’s Kapital Entertainment, UK’s Tiger Aspect and 20th TV.
Written by Breen based on the British format, Bad Sugar follows the sexy and scheming heirs of a wealthy mining mogul as they battle each other to become the next head of his fracking empire.
Breen executive produces with Merman’s Horgan and Clelia Mountford, Kapital’s Kaplan and Dana Honor. Also expected to serve in a producing capacity are Sam Bain, Jesse Armstrong, Olivia Colman and Julia Davis.
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19:40 - Weaveworld - Josh Stolberg to Pen CW's Revised Pilot
Thanks to everyone who sent this in.
The CW has set a new writer for Weaveworld, its drama series project based on the 1987 dark fantasy novel by Clive Barker (Hellraiser). Josh Stolberg (Piranha 3D, Crawlspace, Good Luck Chuck) has come on board to write the adaptation, which he will also executive produce alongside Barker and Angela Mancuso for CBS TV Studios.
Weaveworld has been a priority for the CW. The network first took a stab at a series based on Barker’s book last season with the genre filmmaker and Mancuso executive producing through CBS Studios and Jack Kenny writing. While the script did not go to pilot, the CW brass remained high on the title, earmarking it for redevelopment.
In the new take on Weaveworld, two ordinary people find themselves on a quest to find and protect a magical realm and ultimately to save all of humanity from an evil force.
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14:30 - Muppet Babies - Rumor - Reboot in Development
The word “reboot” has been thrown around a lot lately. The recent Muppets TV show and the potential Labyrinth film both received their fair share of panic and premature criticism, although neither ended up being something worth worrying over. The reboot of The Muppets was more retooling than reboot, and it was full of positive changes. The Labyrinth sequel still doesn’t have many details attached to it, but it’s been confirmed to not be anything like a reboot, especially now that David Bowie’s memory has to be preserved.
And now we can add one more reboot to the list.
We have learned through some trusted sources that Muppet Babies may be returning to TV. Disney Junior is in pre-production for the series, which will feature computer animation and an adult voice cast. It’s worth noting that this doesn’t mean we’ll definitely be seeing Muppet Babies on our televisions anytime soon (or at all, for that matter), just that the idea is definitely being worked on.
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14:30 - American Crime Story - Tom Rob Smith to Co-Write Episodes
23:50 - A Midsummer’s Nightmare - Daisy Head & Casey Deidrick to Star in Lifetime Pilot
After a lengthy search, Lifetime has found its Elena Holland. Daisy Head is set as the lead in Lifetime’s psychological thriller pilot A Midsummer’s Nightmare. The deal came down quickly, with Lifetime snagging Head moments after she became available when the Freeform drama series Guilt, which she toplined, was canceled yesterday. Also cast as one of the male leads in Midsummer’s Nightmare, a modern-day take on Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, is Casey Deidrick (Eye Candy).
Told from the perspective of Elena (Head), a young woman reluctantly drawn into a summer getaway-turned-nightmare, A Midsummer’s Nightmare introduces four young lovers — Elena, Liam (Deidrick), Hannah (Ellie Gall) and Daniel (Jake Robinson) — who steal off into the woods in pursuit of their romantic desires, but their plans are quickly thwarted when terrifying forces in the deep woods target the stranded group, using their own fantasies and darkest secrets against them. Will Elena and the group rise above their own frailties in order to survive sinister forces? It’s only a matter of time until the faces of love and terror wear the same mask.
Written by Anthony Jaswinski, the pilot co-stars Dominic Monaghan, Eric Balfour, Chelsea Gilligan and Paul Walter Hauser.
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23:40 - Maniac - The Leftovers' Patrick Somerville to Write Netflix Series Starring Emma Stone & Jonah Hill
Leftovers writer-producer Patrick Somerville has been tapped to write Maniac, the high-profile upcoming Netflix half-hour series starring Emma Stone and Jonah Hill and directed by Cary Fukunaga. The project, based on the the 2014 Norwegian series, hails from Paramount TV and Anonymous Content and has a 10-episode straight-to-series order.
The premise of Maniac revolves around the fantasy worlds of Hill and Stone’s characters, who in his real life are confined to a mental institution. The duo and Fukunaga executive produce along with Michael Sugar and Doug Wald of Anonymous Content, Kruke Kristiansen & Anne Kolbjornsen and Espen PA Lervaag & Kjetil Indegard. Ashley Zalta will co-executive produce.
Somerville is coming off a stint as a writer/producer on the HBO drama The Leftovers. He previously has written for the FX series The Bridge, and Fox’s 24: Live Another Day. Somerville also has written two collections of stories – Trouble (2006) and The Universe in Miniature in Miniature (2010) – and two novels, The Cradle (2009) and This Bright River (2012). Somerville is repped by WME and Principato-Young.
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23:40 - ABC Developing Female Ensemble Comedy from Faking It Creators
ABC has put in development an untitled single-camera comedy from Faking It creators Dana Min Goodman and Julia Wolov.
Written and executive produced by Goodman and Wolov, the project follows four close friends at different stages in their lives and explores what it means to be a woman in 2016. ABC Studios is the studio.
Goodman and Wolov are best friends who have been writing and performing together for almost 20 years. Their break came in 2002, when Adam Sandler discovered them at the Aspen Comedy Festival. Since then, the prolific duo has sold a number of scripts. They wrote and headlined a WB pilot in 2004, and created MTV’s breakout high-school comedy Faking It, which ran for three seasons. Goodman and Wolov also created the Comedy Central digital series Biatches and recently wrote a semi-autobiographical single-camera comedy for TV Land, to which they were also attached to star. They’re repped by Circle of Confusion and Verve.
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23:40 - Bonus Family - NBC Developing Swedish Comedy Series
NBC is looking to Sweden for a new family comedy.
The network is teaming with Mandeville TV to adapt Swedish comedy Bonus Family (Bonusfamiljen), The Hollywood Reporter has learned.
The single-camera entry is a contemporary dramedy about the challenges of divorce, re-marriage and the joys and struggles of combining families.
David Walpert (House of Lies, New Girl, Will & Grace, Just Shoot Me, Sports Night, Ellen) will pen the script and exec produce alongside Mandeville's David Hoberman, Todd Lieberman and Laurie Zaks. The comedy hails from ABC Studios, marking a big off-network script sale for the studio.
Based on the Swedish format from FLX, Bonusfamiljen wrapped production on its first 10-episode season in March and has already been picked up for a second season by Swedish Public Television. The series is based on the life of FLX co-founder/actor/director Felix Herngren.
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23:20 - MOVIES: A Wrinkle In Time - Chris Pine & Gugu Mbatha-Raw Join Disney Adaptation
The cast for Disney’s A Wrinkle In Time keeps expanding, with Gugu Mbatha-Raw signing on to play Dr. Kate Murray, microbiologist and mother to main character Meg Murray. Directed by Ava DuVernay from a script by Frozen co-writer Jennifer Lee, Storm Reid has been cast as Meg, with Oprah Winfrey, Reese Witherspoon, and Mindy Kaling also aboard.
"Don't hope it was a dream." Thrilled to confirm that Gugu Mbatha-Raw has joined #TeamWrinkle as Dr. Murry, Meg's mom + brilliant scientist. pic.twitter.com/13VNc6vsCe
— Ava DuVernay (@AVAETC) October 20, 2016
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EXCLUSIVE: Disney’s A Wrinkle In Time has its patriarch, with Chris Pine joining the Ava DuVernay-directed tentpole.
The Star Trek alum will play Mr. Murray, husband to the Gugu Mbatha-Raw-portrayed Dr. Kate Murray, microbiologist and mother to main character Meg Murray played by Storm Reid, I’ve learned.
Pine is expected to get in front of the camera for DuVernay before the end of the year, with filming in Los Angeles.
A Wrinkle In Time involves a young girl whose government scientist father (aka Pine) has gone missing after working on a mysterious project called a tesseract, which involves being transported to a fifth dimension with mysterious inhabited planets. She takes part in a search for her father and sees some incredible creatures along the way.
DuVernay directs from a script by Frozen co-writer Jennifer Lee. Oprah Winfrey, Reese Witherspoon, and Mindy Kaling also star in the pic.
"As she hugged her father, all was forgotten except joy." Wonderful way to end the week. Welcome to #WRINKLE, Chris! https://t.co/3FvZW1NjnA pic.twitter.com/A2b94BjuRR
— Ava DuVernay (@AVAETC) October 21, 2016
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20:20 - She's Gotta Have It - Sydney Morton to Recur in Netflix Series
Sydney Morton (Broadway’s Motown) has landed a recurring role opposite DeWanda Wise in Spike Lee’s 10-episode Netflix series She’s Gotta Have It, a contemporary update of Lee’s groundbreaking 1986 indie film.The series centers on Darling (Wise), a Brooklyn-based sexually liberated, free-spirited painter/mixed media artist in her late 20s struggling to define herself and divide her time amongst her friends, her job and her three lovers. Morton will play Sheryl Overstreet, Jamie’s (Lyriq Bent) wife. Morton’s film credits include Sign and Love, New York. She’s repped by BRS-Gage and 44 West Entertainment.
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20:20 - G.L.O.W - Ellen Wong to Recur in Netflix Series
The Carrie Diaries alumna Ellen Wong has been tapped for a recurring role opposite Alison Brie and Marc Maron in G.L.O.W., Netflix’s 10-episode straight-to-series comedy executive produced by Orange Is the New Black creator Jenji Kohan. Created by Liz Flahive and Carly Mensch, G.L.O.W. was inspired by the real story of the 1980s female wrestling league. Set in Los Angeles and showcasing big hair and body slams, the series tells the fictionalized story of Ruth (Brie), an out-of-work, struggling actress who finds one last attempt to live her dreams when she’s thrust into the glitter and spandex world of women’s wrestling via a weekly series about female wrestlers.
Wong will play Jenny, a pop culturally obsessed transplant from Cambodia. Wong played the series regular role of Mouse on The Carrie Diaries, had a starring role in Universal’s Scott Pilgrim vs The World, and a supporting role in James Ponsoldt’s The Circle. She’s repped by Innovative Artists, Thruline Management and Premier Artists Management in Canada.
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20:10 - A Midsummer’s Nightmare - Lifetime Pilot Adds Eric Balfour, Jake Robinson, Chelsea Gilligan & More
Lifetime is rounding out the cast for its psychological thriller pilot A Midsummer’s Nightmare, a modern-day take on Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Australian newcomer Ellie Gall, Jake Robinson (American Odyssey), Eric Balfour (Haven), Chelsea Gilligan (Starcrossed), and Paul Walter Hauser (Kingdom) have been cast in series regular roles opposite Dominic Monaghan.
Written by Anthony Jaswinski, A Midsummer’s Nightmare introduces four young lovers who steal off into the woods in pursuit of their romantic desires, but their plans are quickly thwarted when terrifying forces in the deep woods target the stranded group, using their own fantasies and darkest secrets against them.
Gall will play Hannah Becker, a popular social butterfly who has just run away from her rich fiancé, Daniel, to be with Liam, the working class man she truly loves.
Robinson plays Daniel Brooks, a wealthy yet stubborn attorney who is furious and heartbroken when he learns his fiancé Hannah has run off with his best friend Liam to the Dreamland Retreat. Along with his brother Royce and his friend Elena, Daniel follows Hannah and Liam to try to win her back.
Balfour is Mark, a surfer staying at the Dreamland Retreat with his wife, Joselin, who begins to get more suspicious than concerned when strange things start happening to people.
Gilligan plays Josselin, a down-to-earth and good-natured photographer with her own agenda staying at the Dreamland Retreat with her husband, Mark.
Hauser is Nick Bottoms, the handyman at the Dreamland Retreat compound who has an odd philosophical outlook on life.
Gary Fleder (Kingdom, Zoo) is set to direct and executive produce the hourlong scripted pilot, from A+E Studios and The Firm.
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20:10 - Let’s Stay Together - Couples Comedy from Sex and the City Writer in Development at ABC
ABC is developing Let’s Stay Together, a single-camera comedy from Sex and the City alumna Amy B. Harris and producers Ben Silverman (Jane the Virgin) and Jordan Schur (Warrior).
Written by Harris, the project is inspired by the 2014 The New Divorce Is No Divorce column by Richard Kirshenbaum, part of of his monthly New York Observer column Isn’t That Rich!, which chronicles the lives of Upper East Side’s superrich with a dose of humor.
Whether it be for the sake of their family, finances, or friendship, the series will explore three very different but connected couples’ hilarious journeys as they choose to make a go of their marriages for all the right and wrong reasons — because in the end, divorce is so old fashion.
Harris will executive produce with veteran music executive and film producer Schur of Suretone Entertainment and Silverman of Propagate Content. ABC Studios, where Harris is under an overall deal, is the studio.
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20:10 - House of Cards - Season 4 - Patricia Clarkson and Campbell Scott Join Cast
Netflix's House of Cards is adding two big names for season five.
Oscar nominee Patricia Clarkson and Campbell Scott have booked major roles in the Kevin Spacey drama's upcoming season, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.
Details of their roles are being kept under wraps, though both will be featured heavily in the new season.
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20:10 - MOVIES: Nocturnal Animals - Trailer 2 feat Amy Adams and Jake Gyllenhaal
20:05 - Dwayne Johnson Developing Wrestling Comedy at FOX with Put Pilot Commitment
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is going back to his beginnings for his latest project.
Fox has nabbed a hot comedy from the wrestler-turned-superstar and producer Will Ferrell, inspired by the real life experiences of Johnson and former WWE head writer Brian Gewirtz, Variety has learned.
The project, hailing from Johnson’s Seven Bucks Productions and Ferrell’s Gary Sanchez Productions, received a put pilot commitment at Fox. Andrew Gurland, who created FX’s “Married,” will write the pilot script.
The series offers a behind-the-scenes look at a fictional professional wrestling outfit and chronicles the one-of-a-kind odd couple relationship that develops between a charismatic young character, like the The Rock, and a painfully awkward comedy writer new to the world of wrestling. A fish-out-of-water among all of these alpha males, this beta former sitcom writer needs as much help as he can get navigating the extremely passionate, sometimes crazy and always unpredictable world of professional wrestling.
Gewirtz added: “Coming from Hollywood to the wrestling industry, with its intense backstage atmosphere and larger than life personalities, was a major culture shock. After working in the business for over 15 years, Dwayne and I had encounters and experiences that were unbelievable as well as unforgettable. We can’t wait to bring this project to the fans.”
Along with Johnson and Gewirtz, exec producers on the single-cam, hourlong comedy are Dany Garcia of Seven Bucks Prods., Ferrell and his Gary Sanchez Prods. producing partner Adam McKay, plus Kevin Messick. 20th Century Fox Television is the studio.
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20:05 - MOVIES: Wolves At The Door - Trailer
20:05 - Star - Sharlene Taule and Caroline Vreeland to Recur
Sharlene Taule (Grachi) and Caroline Vreeland (Diary) have landed recurring roles opposite Queen Latifah in new Fox series Star, created/executive produced by Lee Daniels and Tom Donaghy.
Set in Atlanta, Star revolves around three talented young singers (Jude Demorest, Ryan Destiny and Brittany O’Grady) who navigate the cutthroat music business on their road to success.
Taule will play Eva, a beautiful young Dominican girl whom Jahil saves from trouble. Once Eva emerges from her shell, she befriends Star and the other girls. When secrets from her past begin to rise up, Jahil finds he has more on his hands than he’d originally thought.
Vreeland will play Mary Davis, the mother of Star and Simone, who died when the girls were little. The girls inherited their incredible music talent from their mother. But Mary wasn’t strong enough to handle the small taste of fame she experienced with her best friend Carlotta (Queen Latifah). Addiction got the best of her. Mary will appear in the series in flashbacks, sometimes haunting the girls, sometimes lifting them up. Star and Simone must come to terms with her complicated legacy if they’re going to achieve their dreams.
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20:00 - Pushing - Comedy Produced by Greg Berlanti in Development at FOX
Greg Berlanti is adding yet another comedy to his large TV development slate.
The super producer behind the CW’s superhero shows is attached to exec produce “Pushing,” a comedy from writer/actress Marisa Coughlan that has landed at Fox, Variety has learned exclusively.
“Pushing” follows Sydney, who’s pushing 40, and decides to go back to work as a rock band manager while struggling to raise two small children and keep the passion alive with her husband, which is no problem because she’s got this — except for when she doesn’t.
The script was sold on spec from Coughlan, an actress, known for her role as Ursula in the cult favorite movie “Super Troopers.” This project marks her first major writing gig.
The single-cam, half-hour comedy hails from Berlanti Productions and Warner Bros. Television where Berlanti Prods. is based. Berlanti will serve as exec producer with producing partner Sarah Schechter.
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20:00 - Narcos - Season 3 - Arturo Castro Joins as Series Regular; Kerry Bishé to Recur in Netflix Series
Broad City’s Arturo Castro and Halt and Catch Fire’s Kerry Bishé have joined the third season cast of Netflix’s drug cartel drama series Narcos.
Season 3 picks up after the death of drug lord Pablo Escobar and the hunt for the Cali Cartel, which was the opposing cartel to Escobar.
Castro will play the series regular role of David Rodriguez, Miguel’s oldest son, although he is reluctant at first to take a leading role in the cartel structure, as his Uncle and Father are arrested, he must take over.
Bishé will recur as Christina, an American woman who met her Colombian husband in college. But as her husband gets deeper involved in the cartel and things start to go badly for the people around them, she knows she needs to get her family out, so she turns to the US Embassy for help.
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20:00 - Narcos - Season 3 - Michael Stahl-David and Matt Whelan Join Netflix Series as Regulars
Michael Stahl-David (Show Me A Hero) and Matt Whelan (Go Girls) have booked series regular roles on the third season of Netflix’s drug cartel drama series Narcos.
Stahl-David will play Chris Feistl, a young and determined American DEA agent who sought out the assignment in Colombia.
Whelan will portray Dave Mitchell, the more straight-edged and serious partner to Chris Feistl, jaded by past experiences, Mitchell balances out Feistl as partners. Season 3, slated to premiere in 2017, will pick up following the death of Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar.
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20:00 - Let the Right One In - Necar Zadegan and Cameron Gellman Join TNT's Vampire Drama Pilot
Girlfriends’ Guide to Divorce‘s Necar Zadegan and Cameron Gellman (20th Century Woman) have joined the cast of Jeff Davis’ TNT drama pilot Let the Right One In. Based on the best-selling novel by Swedish author John Ajvide Lindqvist, Let the Right One In is an eerie drama about a young boy, long tormented by his classmates, who finds solace in a friendship with a charismatic female vampire who appears to be near his age. The vampire settles into the boy’s small town with her mysterious caretaker, just as a series of bizarre murders begins attracting the attention of law enforcement.
Zadegan will play the series regular role of FBI Special Agent Sarah Church, who heads to the Canadian border after three border patrol agents are found, all of them exsanguinated. She soon learns that a remarkably sly and deadly serial killer has been carving a bloody swathe across Europe for the last decade, and has now relocated to North America.
Gellman will recur as Kyle an attractive bad boy, who, despite appearances, is not a bully; in fact, he’s quite friendly to Henry, and thinks he should try being a bit more aggressive with his teenage tormentors. Zadegan is repped by Elevate Entertainment and attorney Chad Christopher.
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06:10 - Incognito - Action-Driven Legal Procedural in Development at CBS
CBS has given a script commitment plus penalty to Incognito, an action-driven legal procedural from writer Rashad Raisani and producers Will Packer and Adam Rifkin. Universal TV, where both Raisani and Packer’s Will Packer Prods. are under overall deals, is the studio.
Written by Raisani, Incognito is based on the Swedish series Inkognito. It centers on a crusading U.S. Attorney who leads a skilled team of misfits into life and death situations to find critical evidence the prosecution needs to even the playing field with the corrupt and the mighty.
Raisani executive produces with Packer, Korin D. Huggins, Head of Television for Will Packer Productions, as well as Arnold Rifkin through his Cheyenne Enterprises.
The original series, Inkognito, aired on Sweden’s TV4 in 2013. It was produced by Tre Vänner, now part of SF Studios, as a co-production with TV4. (you can watch a trailer below without subtitles) The rights to the original are owned by Johan Hedman at Tre Vänner.
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06:10 - ABC Developing Comedy About a Single Mother and Her Children
Iliza Shlesinger has sold a pilot script to ABC for a comedy series, Variety has learned exclusively.
The development deal expands Shlesinger’s relationship with ABC, as her short-form digital series “Forever 31” is heading into its second season on the network’s ABCd digital platform.
The Untitled Iliza Shlesinger Pilot is created and written by Shlesinger, though she would not star in the show.
The project follows a wife and mom, and her New York family, as they relocate to Dallas, Texas, after her husband suddenly divorces her and she’s left alone with their two children and a fledgling catering business, while also having to adjust to her newly single life in a town none of them fit in.
Unlike her digital ABC series “Forever 31,” which follows a group of single 30-somethings who struggle with adult life, Shlesinger created the network project for someone else to star in, as the comedian wanted to create a show focusing on a more mature central female character.
Shlesinger will serve as a producer on the project. No other producers have been announced at this point. Avalon Television will produce, along with ABC Studios.
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04:30 - Unhinged - Hulu Developing Female Comedy from June Diane Raphael & Casey Wilson with Casey Wilson to Potentially Star
Hulu has put in development single camera half-hour comedy Unhinged from writing and performing duo Casey Wilson and June Diane Raphael, and former 30 Rock executive producer John Riggi.
Written and executive produced by Wilson and Raphael, Unhinged focuses on April Hansen, a suburban, middle-aged woman with a problem. A rage problem. She’s tired of leaning in and playing nice and being told she can have it all. She knows it’s not attractive for a woman to be angry. And she’s angry about that. April Hansen has become…unhinged.
The project is being developed as a potential vehicle for Wilson who would star as April. Riggi serves as executive producer and will showrun.
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04:30 - Black Mirror - Season 4 - Rosemarie DeWitt to Star in Jodie Foster Directed Episode
Netflix has tapped Jodie Foster to direct and Rosemarie DeWitt to star in an episode of the fourth season of critically praised anthology series, Black Mirror. The series is slated to begin production later this year and premiere exclusively worldwide on Netflix in 2017.
Netflix greenlit 12 episodes of the anthology series last year, commissioning House of Tomorrow to produce as a Netflix original series. Split into two seasons of six episodes each, House of Tomorrow’s Charlie Brooker and Annabel Jones continue to serve as executive producers and showrunners for the new episodes.
This announcement comes in advance of the anticipated third season of the series, which premieres globally October 21 on Netflix.
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04:20 - Mrs. V. Mr. - CBS Developing Legal Drama from Ridley Scott
CBS is developing a legal drama from Ridley Scott, David Zucker and writer Brett Mahoney, Variety has learned exclusively.
Titled “Mrs. V. Mr.,” the project follows a prominent, larger-than-life L.A. defense attorney and the chief prosecutor for the DA’s office who are constantly at odds in the courtroom, but are a happily married couple who have to leave their rivalries at the door when it comes to raising their three willful kids.
Mahoney, an exec producer on CBS’s “MacGyver” and “Code Black,” will pen the pilot script and serve as an exec producer with Scott and Zucker, who are producing via their Scott Free Productions. CBS Television Studios is also producing.
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04:20 - ABC Developing Military Family Comedy
Thanks to CrazyAboutTV for the heads up.
ABC has put in development a half-hour family comedy from Kelsey Grammer and his Grammnet Productions, veteran sitcom writer-producer Robert Peacock, creator of The Haunted Hathaways, and ABC Studios.
Written and executive produced by Peacock, the untitled project centered on a military vet who returns home only to be greeted by a mountain of debt and a depressed job market. He has no choice but to move his family in with his widowed mother, an opinionated conservative who is perpetually outraged about their changing neighborhood demographics.
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04:20 - Shameless - Season 7 - Barry Sloane to Guest
Thanks to 90sbaby for the heads up.
Showtime's Shameless is adding a new face to the mix for season seven.
Revenge grad Barry Sloane has booked a guest gig on the Emmy Rossum-William H. Macy starrer, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.
Sloane is currently slated to appear in two episodes. He will play Ryan, a good-looking entrepreneur who meets Fiona (Rossum) at a Southside Young Professionals networking event.
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23:20 - The Get Down - Costs Have Gone Up To About $16M Per Episode
EXCLUSIVE: The Get Down was expected to be an expensive proposition from the get-go and Netflix knew it. The series from Academy Award-winning husband-wife team of Baz Luhrmann and Catherine Martin, Pulitzer-winning playwright Stephen Adly Guirgis, hip-hop historian Nelson George and iconic rappers MC Nas and Grandmaster Flash was expected to cost around $11 million per episode for 12 episodes, which all-in would have totaled about $120M.
However, Deadline has learned that given the way the deal is constructed, Netflix is paying more like $16M per episode — inclusive in the total is worldwide rights to the IP, and factored into that are the premiums that Netflix paid to acquire those rights exclusively.
Other costs include start-up, visual effects, music rights and production design. Of the $16 million, around $11 million was the final production expenses per episode, $3 million-$4 million over the initial budget following a string of filming shutdowns, staffing changes and script rewrites. When a TV drama is produced for $6M or higher an episode, it is considered expensive.
So adding in all the costs on The Get Down, including the worldwide rights and premiums, that brings the total for the 12-episode season closer to the $190M-plus range.
The Get Down is not a runaway hit the way Netflix’s pop culture phenom Stranger Things has been. Stranger Things ranks No. 3 on Symphony Advanced Media’s chart for viewings among 18- to 49-year-olds; The Get Down is No. 14.
However, Netflix’s strategy for many of its original series is to target specific, often under-served segments of the audience as a way of expanding its subscriber base. The Get Down is said to be the No. 1 show among African Americans and Hispanics and is building out among the young demographic as well — it has caught on with high schoolers. The Get Down is drawing in demos that other Netflix shows normally don’t, said one insider.
Internally, Netflix viewer satisfaction surveys for U.S. viewers that Deadline obtained reveal that The Get Down scored well among hip-hop fans and just slightly better with men than women. Overall, it got a 66% excellent or good rating, with concerns about the slow pacing at the onset but viewers saying that it picked up as the show progressed. The other satisfaction surveys on the show are said to be way above the norm in other countries, specifically France, Germany and Latin America.
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23:10 - MOVIES: Willy Wonka - Warner Bros Developing New Film
Warner Bros has acquired rights from Roald Dahl’s estate to the Willy Wonka intellectual property, with the plan to make a new movie based on the character produced by David Heyman. The movie, to be penned by The Secret Life Of Pets scribe Simon Rich, will focus on Wonka, who was previously portrayed by Gene Wilder (in the 1971 Paramount movie) and Johnny Depp (in Warners’ 2005 update), and could serve as a potential franchise.
Heyman, who produced the Harry Potter movies and the upcoming Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them, will produce alongside Michael Siegel, who manages the Dahl estate.
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23:10 - She's Gotta Have It - Margot Bingham Joins Netflix Series
Spike Lee's Netflix series is rounding out its cast with Barbershop 3 actress Margot Bingham.
The 10-episode Netflix series is based on Lee's 1986 film about a woman and her three lovers. DeWanda Wise is starring as Darling, the sexually liberated artist at the center of the story, with Cleo Anthony, Anthony Ramos and Lyriq Bent playing her three suitors.
Bingham will star as Clorinda Bradford, a hip emerging curator who aspires to global dominance with each new endeavor. Joie Lee (Spike's sister) played Clorinda in the original film.
Lee is directing all episodes of the series, which is shooting in New York.
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23:10 - Legal Drama Produced By Neal Baer in Development at FOX
Fox has put in development a legal drama from producer Neal Baer and up-and-coming writer Robert Specland. 20th Century Fox TV, where Baer has a pod deal, is the studio.
Written by Specland based on an idea he developed with Baer, the untitled Verdict project is set in the San Francisco Bay Area. It centers on two attorneys from opposite upbringings facing off on opposite sides of the courtroom, and a young woman between them — an ex-con who joins the law firm in the hopes of putting her troubled past behind her. It explores the many shades of grey in the legal system and keeps you guessing, down to the last minute of each episode, letting the viewer be the judge before the verdict is revealed.
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23:10 - 940 Saturdays - Family Comedy From Eva Longoria in Development at ABC
Eva Longoria is reuniting with Chrissy Pietrosh and Jessica Goldstein, creators of her NBC comedy series Telenovela, for a new single-camera comedy project, which has been set up at ABC.
The comedy, tentatively titled 940 Saturdays, hails from Universal TV and Longoria & Ben Spector’s studio-based UnbeliEVAable Entertainment.
Written by Pietrosh and Goldstein, here is what 940 Saturdays refers to. There are 940 Saturdays between the day your child is born and the day they turn eighteen. In this single-camera series, three families band together to enjoy… and survive them all.
Pietrosh and Goldstein executive produce with Longoria and Spector.
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23:10 - She's Gotta Have It - Lyriq Bent Joins Netflix Series
Rookie Blue alum Lyriq Bent has been cast as male leads opposite DeWanda Wise in Spike Lee’s 10-episode Netflix series She’s Gotta Have It, a contemporary update of Lee’s groundbreaking 1986 indie film.
The series centers on Darling (Wise), a Brooklyn-based a sexually liberated, free spirited painter/mixed media artist in her late 20s struggling to define herself and divide her time amongst her friends, her job and her three lovers, played by Bent, Cleo Anthony and Anthony Ramos.
Bent will play the protective investment banker Jamie Overstreet, completing the trio of Nola Darling’s (Wise) lovers. Anthony and Ramos play model-turned-photographer Greer Childs and da original b-boy sneakerhead Mars Blackmon, respectively. The role of Overstreet was played by Tommy Redmond Hick in the movie.
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18:30 - MOVIES: Paddington 2 - Hugh Grant and Brendon Gleeson Join Cast
The sequel to the 2014's box-office smash Paddington is underway, with principal photography started and two major names joining the returning cast.
Hugh Grant has joined Paddington 2, playing a vain, charming acting legend whose star has fallen somewhat in recent years.
Brendon Gleeson has also boarded the film as a notorious safe-cracker and strongman who becomes Paddington's unexpected ally.
The story will see the Peruvian bear – now a popular member of his local community at Windsor Gardens – embark on a series of odd jobs to buy a book for Aunt Lucy's 100th birthday. But when the book is stolen, it’s up to Paddington and the Browns to unmask the thief.
Hugh Bonneville, Sally Hawkins, Julie Walters, Jim Broadbent, Peter Capaldi, Madeleine Harris and Samuel Joslin all return from the first CGI live-action outing, with Ben Whishaw again voicing the famous bear and Imelda Staunton voicing Aunt Lucy. David Heyman is again producing, with Paul King back in the director's chair.
Paddington became an unexpected smash for StudioCanal when it hit theaters in the winter of 2014, going on an extended run that would see it amass more than $270 million internationally, making it the company's most successful film of all time, the biggest independent U.K. film of the year and the biggest non-studio family film ever. A franchise was born.
"It has been a complete joy to return to the world of Paddington," said King. "It was such a delight to see his first big-screen adventure embraced by audiences around the world, and I couldn’t be more excited about Hugh and Brendan joining the cast to bring his next outing to life. Together, I hope we can make a film worthy of this most exceptional of bears."
Paddington 2 is due out in the U.K. on Nov 10, 2017. A U.S. date or distributor hasn't yet been announced.
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18:30 - MOVIES: Pitch Perfect 3 - Anna Camp, Anna Kendrick and Rebel Wilson Returning
Anna Camp has signed on to reprise her role as Aubrey Posen for Pitch Perfect 3, the third installment in Universal's and Gold Circle Entertainment's musical comedy franchise.
Anna Kendrick and Rebel Wilson also are returning to star in the film, which follows the a cappella singing group the Barden Bellas. Trish Sie will direct the film, which has a script by Kay Cannon, with the most recent draft written by Mike White.
The third installment, set for release Dec. 22, 2017, by Universal, will be produced by Paul Brooks of Gold Circle Entertainment and Max Handelman and Elizabeth Banks of Brownstone Productions. Vice president of production Sara Scott will oversee the project for Universal.
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18:30 - American Crime - Season 3 - Janel Moloney to Recur
Janel Moloney has joined Season 3 of ABC’s John Ridley drama “American Crime,” Variety has learned exclusively.
Moloney — who starred on “The West Wing” and more recently on “The Leftovers” — will recur as Raelyn, a single mom living on the edge who is attempting to regain the trust of her family after years of betrayal.
The new season of the anthology series will be set in North Carolina, and the plot will deal with labor issues. Ridley, who exec producers with Michael McDonald, told Variety that Season 3 will focus on workers’ rights and reproductive rights.
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18:30 - She’s Gotta Have It - Cleo Anthony Joins Netflix Series
Cleo Anthony (Divergent) has been cast as one of the male leads opposite DeWanda Wise in Spike Lee’s 10-episode Netflix series She’s Gotta Have It, a contemporary update of Lee’s groundbreaking 1986 indie film.
The series centers on Darling (Wise), a Brooklyn-based sexually liberated, free-spirited painter/mixed media artist in her late 20s struggling to define herself and divide her time amongst her friends, her job and her three lovers.
Anthony will portray one of the lovers, Greer Childs, a former model turned successful photographer who longs for an artist’s life. The role was played by John Canada Terrell in the movie. Anthony Ramos was previously cast as another of Nola’s lovers, da original b-boy sneakerhead Mars Blackmon, the part played by Lee in the movie.
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18:30 - FBI Procedural in Development at FOX
Fox is developing a FBI procedural drama with Neal Baer and writer Cathryn Humphris, Variety has learned exclusively.
The untitled, hourlong series is described as a character-driven procedural that follows a newly-assembled FBI task force — a distinguished cop, a hard-driving lawyer, a psychologist and a social media expert — as they travel the country investigating and solving hate crimes. The team’s goal is to bring justice to those who have been wronged and foster healing in the communities that have been fractured by the hate crimes, even as cases bring up old wounds and personal demons for the agents.
The subject matter and format is familiar territory for Baer, who served as showrunner on “Law & Order: SVU” for 11 seasons. The TV vet was also writer and showrunner on “ER.”
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18:30 - Totally Laime - CBS Developing Comedy Inspired to Elizabeth Laime’s Popular Podcast
CBS has put in development hybrid comedy Totally Laime, inspired by Elizabeth Laime’s popular podcast, from Inside Amy Schumer scribe Tami Sagher and Thruline Entertainment.
Co-written and executive produced by Laime and Sagher inspired by Laime and her husband Andy, Totally Laime focuses on a young couple who document their relationship through a podcast. Thruline’s Willie Mercer and JB Roberts also executive produce. CBS Television Studios is the studio.
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