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http://ausiellofiles.ew.com/2010/10/21/gbenga-akinnagbe-joins-nurse-jackie/
Nurse Jackie is getting an infusion of new blood: The Wire‘s Gbenga Akinnagbe has scored a major recurring role on the Showtime dramedy, sources confirm to me exclusively.
Akinnagbe’s character — who will be introduced halfway through Jackie‘s upcoming third season — is the new temp nurse at All Saints. He’s described as handsome, qualified, and much-liked by his peers.
Akinnagbe is on board for a minimum of seven episodes.
Jackie‘s third season is slated to premiere in early ’11.
http://www.deadline.com/2010/10/cw-gives-full-season-orders-to-freshmen-hellcats-nikita-veteran-one-tree-hill/
Just like its sister network CBS did yesterday, the CW today handed out full-season orders to all of its freshman series. In its case, it's 2: Hellcats and Nikita. Also getting a full-season order is CW veteran One Tree Hill, which has been a solid ratings performer in its current eighth season. No decision yet on the fourth CW series originally picked up with a 13-episode order, sophomore Life Unexpected. After a promising uptick a couple of weeks ago, it has slipped again in the ratings and continues to rank as CW's lowest-rated series. There is a glimmer of hope - the critically-praised drama recently received an order for 2 additional scripts, but its chances are slim. The network recently greenlighted dramedy pilot Danni Lowinski as a potential midseason replacement. The back-nine episodic orders for Hellcats and OTH follow the pickup of 6 additional scripts for both series a month ago. “By giving our two freshman series and proven performer One Tree Hill full orders, we’ll be able to continue our success and momentum throughout the rest of the season,” CW entertainment president Dawn Ostroff said. Cheerleading drama Hellcats, starring Aly Michalka and Ashley Tisdale, has posted the best retention of any show to follow America’s Next Top Model and has dramatically improved the Wednesday 9 PM period. It is averaging 2.5 million viewers and a 1.2/4 in adults 18-34. The Maggie Q-starring Nikita (3.6 million) has become the second most-watched show on The CW behind its Thursday lead-in, flagship CW drama The Vampire Diaries.
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/blogs/live-feed/kristin-davis-star-nbcs-happiness-32165
Sex and the City star Kristin Davis is set to star in a new NBC project that would mark her return to series television.
NBC has picked up Davis' The Happiness Project, based on the best-selling memoir by Gretchen Rubin about a woman's quest to become a happier person.
The single-camera, half-hour project will be produced by Universal Media Studios and Mosaic.
Kristin Newman (Chuck, How Met Your Mother) is in negotiations to write the pilot and executive produce. Jimmy Miller and Dave Fleming will also executive produce.
Rubin was once a law clerk for Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. She embarked on a year-long quest to make herself happier, trying out scientific studies and pop culture wisdom. She documented her experiments on her blog.
The project was packaged by UTA.
http://www.tvguide.com/News/Exclusive-Omari-Hardwick-1024633.aspx
Omari Hardwick (Dark Blue, The A Team) will guest star on an upcoming episode of NBC's Chase as Chris Novak, a hard luck criminal facing prison who escapes prison to exact revenge on those who betrayed him. While being hunted by Annie Frost (Kelli Giddish) and her team of U.S. Marshals, Novak cuts "a swath of terror through downtown Houston."
NBC recently announced that the Jerry Bruckheimer produced Chase has been picked up for a full season.
http://www.tvsquad.com/2010/10/22/syfy-adama-blood-and-chrome/
A few months ago, the Syfy network commissioned an online series called 'Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome,' a chronicle of the war experiences of young William Adama.
The network liked Michael Taylor's script for the project so much that Syfy will air 'Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome' on the network as the pilot for a possible young Adama TV series.
Mark Stern, Syfy's executive vice president of original programming and the co-head of original content for Universal Cable Productions, said the network hoped to begin production on the pilot in Vancouver in early 2011.
"When we read Michael's script, it was so clearly a full-blown pilot for a series," Stern said in a Thursday interview. "The scope is fantastic and bigger, I think, than anticipated, so we said, 'Let's do it as a 2-hour backdoor pilot.' ... We're trying to get up and running as soon as possible."
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Read on for more on 'Blood & Chrome' as well as a bit of news on 'Caprica,' another 'Battlestar Galactica' spinoff.
'Blood & Chrome' won't air until the fourth quarter of 2011 at the earliest, Stern said, but an early 2012 debut sounds more likely, especially if the network decides to go forward with a full series. Given the project's origins as an online project, expect lots of Web extras as well.
Fans missing the Battlestar Galactica itself -- the valiant old ship that housed Adama, Starbuck, Apollo and the rest -- will get to see it once again, or a version of it, in the new show. High-resolution digital scans were made of all the 'Battlestar Galactica' sets before they were torn down, and those scans will be used in the new project, which, like Syfy's 'Sanctuary,' will employ cutting-edge computer effects to supply virtual sets.
"It's an opportunity to 'see them before they were famous,'" Stern said of 'Blood & Chrome,' which takes place roughly 20 years after the events of 'Caprica' and about 40 years before the events of 'BSG.' "Here's the Battlestar Galactica as a brand-new, shiny ship -- well, not shiny, but as a new ship that had just been commissioned. What was that like?"
The Adama of 'Battlestar Galactica,' as so memorably played by Edward James Olmos, was a capable military commander leading the fight against the Cylon race under almost impossible conditions. Ensign William Adama of 'Blood & Chrome' is newly minted Viper pilot, one who goes through a challenging experiences on a difficult mission.
"This is very much an action-adventure, war series," Stern said. "This is definitely dealing with people who are fighting the fight. ... As you hope 'Battlestar' would do, it kind of comments on that process a little bit... but not in a preachy way, not in an issues-oriented way, not in a hitting-you-over-the-head way. Really, the fabric and the canvas of the series are people in the fight and what they grapple with when it comes to each other and what they grapple with when it comes to the enemy they're fighting."
"Your way into the story is a young William Adama who is not the grizzled old veteran we have come to love in 'BSG,'" Stern noted. "This is someone who is more like us, in terms of coming into this with certain preconceptions and learning as you go. ... It's very much about relationships along the way. I think ultimately the arc of the pilot and of the series is about getting Adama to be who you came to know in 'BSG,' but it's also about the deep relationships he forms. And I don't think there are any deeper relationships than the ones you form in life-or-death situations."
In a July interview, Taylor, a 'Battlestar Galactica' and 'Caprica' co-executive producer, said 'Blood & Chrome' was about "a young man's initiation into war: both the realities of war as fought by soldiers on the ground (and in Battlestars and Vipers), and the somewhat less real version portrayed in the media."
Ronald D. Moore, 'BSG's' executive producer, was "in the room" when the 'Blood & Chrome' story was conceived; Stern called him the "godfather" of the project. However at this time, Moore, who has a deal with Sony and is developing projects like 'The Wild, Wild West' there, has no official role on 'Blood & Chrome.'
Given that a full-blown series, if one is ordered, might not go into production for a year, Stern said the hope is that Moore might be able to come on board if 'Blood & Chrome' goes forward beyond the pilot. David Eick and Taylor are executive producers and Bradley Thompson and David Weddle are producers on 'Blood & Chrome'; all are veterans of 'BSG.'
Stern said actor Nico Cortez was "great" as young Adama in the 'BSG' movie 'Razor,' but it is not certain that he will take the lead in 'Blood & Chrome.' "I'm assuming there will be a full casting process for this pilot, but with Nico at the top of the list," Stern said. There's also a chance that we'll meet younger versions of other 'Battlestar' characters or people connected to either that world or to 'Caprica,' but the new project would try to do those things with "a light touch," Stern said.
Asked if 'BSG' composer Bear McCreary would do the music for 'Blood & Chrome,' Stern said no deal had been struck but he "couldn't imagine" the project without a McCreary score.
For 'Caprica' fans wondering what all this means for their show, Stern noted that 'Blood & Chrome' was developed separately from the other 'Battlestar' spinoff, which is in the midst of airing season 1 episodes now.
"To be really categorical about it, this is not about finding something else so we can get rid of 'Caprica," Stern said. "I don't know the fate of 'Caprica' yet, but, if anything, 'Blood & Chrome' going to series would only be a great opportunity to pair it with something.'
Stern said the decision on whether to give 'Caprica' a second season would be made no later than Nov. 15.
A few more clues about the 'Blood & Chrome' story follow. Look away if you'd rather not know them.
'Blood & Chrome,' which takes place in the tenth year of the Cylon War, follows Adama, a recent Academy graduate, as he and a rookie pilot take a female character on an important mission. There's a potential love interest for Adama in the story, but the pilot is basically about that mission, which, if successful, could turn the tide of the war.
http://www.deadline.com/2010/10/2-more-scripts-for-human-target-and-2-more-episodes-for-rules-of-engagement/
Second good news in a row for Fox's Human Target. The comic book adaptation has received an order for 2 additional scripts before its second season has even premiered. This comes on the heels of the series' recent time slot upgrade in the aftermath of the Lone Star cancellation. Human Target, originally slotted on the low-trafficked Fridays, will now air the Wednesday 8 PM time period. It premieres on November 17. Meanwhile, CBS has picked up 2 additional episodes of veteran Rules of Engagement. The network has already done the same with How I Met Your Mother and is in the process of securing additional segments from Chuck Lorre's trio of Two and a Half Men, The Big Bang Theory and Mike & Molly, but those orders would hinge on Lorre's blessing as the man has a pretty full plate already with 3 series of 22 episodes each. The other CBS comedy, freshman $#*! My Dad Says, just received an order for 6 additional episodes and 3 scripts.
http://www.deadline.com/2010/10/ratings-rat-race-bang-tops-mentalist-dips-nbc-comedies-abc-dramas-down/
There is a new ratings king on Thursday. For the first time, the new kid on the Thursday block, CBS' transplant The Big Bang Theory (4.0/13, 12.9 million), ranked as the highest-rated program on the night in 18-49, supplanting perennial winner Grey's Anatomy. The comedy accomplished the feat on its fifth airing on the night, a nice validation of CBS' risky scheduling move. Big Bang was down a tenth from the comedy's 18-49 fast national result last week, while its lead-out, newly picked-up freshman $#*! My Dad Says (3.1/9) was flat, improving its 18-49 retention from last week to 78%. (Both comedies went up in the finals last week, Big Bang by .2, $#*! by .1) Both Big Bang and $#*! were up in total viewers from last week, by 3% and 7%, respectively. Veteran CSI (3.3/9, up 6%, 14.7 million, up 2%) continued its resurgence with a second consecutive week of ratings gains. But The Mentalist (2.9/9) was down 9% from its fast national number last week to post its lowest-rated telecast in the Thursday 10 PM slot, which it still won. (The Mentalist may gain a tenth of a rating point in the finals as it did last week.) CBS won the night by a wide margin in 18-49 (3.3/9) and total viewers (13.6 million), its fifth consecutive Thursday win.
After getting a ratings boost last week with its live episode, NBC's 30 Rock (2.2/7) took a 27% drop last night vs. its fast national number last weel. Its lead-in, Community (1.9/6) was down 14%. Its lead-out, The Office (3.4/9) and newly renewed freshman comedy Outsourced (2.3/6) were both down 8% fast nationals-vs.-fast nationals. (30 Rock, The Office and Outsourced all went up a tenth in the finals last week). For Outsourced, this was a series low and its weakest retention (68%, tied with last week) to date. At 10 PM, The Apprentice kept its streak alive, logging a 1.3/4 for a fourth consecutive week.
Following a Grey's Anatomy repeat (1.2/4), an original Grey's (3.9/10) was down 13% from its fast national number last week (15% from its final). Private Practice (2.8/8) was down 7%.
Fox's coverage of MLB NLCS Game 5 (2.9/8), in which the Phillies fought off elimination to extended the series against the Giants, was up 12% from the most recent NLCS Game 5 on Fox 2 years ago.
Vampire Diaries matched its season high in total viewers (3.6 million), adults 18-34 (1.9/6) and 18-49 (1.6/5). Nikita (2.8 million, 1.1/3 in 18-34) was up a tenth in the 18-34 its last original airing but its demo retention was a so-so 58%.
http://www.deadline.com/2010/10/foxs-dramedy-bones-plots-spinoff-series/
Fox's veteran procedural Bones is developing a potential spinoff series built around a character that would be introduced as a recurring on the series this season. Casting for the role is expected to begin shortly. If the Bones producers, Fox and studio 20th Century Fox TV find an actor that they feel can carry a new series, the new character, Walter Sherman, will debut in the December 6 episode of Bones. UPDATE: Hart Hanson, creator/executive of Bones, would also create the potential spinoff, which would be based on The Locator series of two books written by Richard Greener that center on Walter Sherman aka "the Locator". Walter is described as an eccentric, obstreperous and amusing reclusive man in his late 20s-30s with highly sought after abilities to find anything. He is skeptical of every statement and often asks offensive, seemingly irrelevant questions which oddly enough turn out to be extremely relevant. A former military policeman, Walter knows Agent Booth (David Boreanaz) from their time serving in Iraq together, and the two dislike each other very much. Meanwhile, Dr. Brennan (Emily Deschanel) finds him very intriguing. Walter was injured overseas and suffered brain damage which lead to his honorable discharge, as well as his ever present state of paranoia.
Planted spinoffs have become the networks' preferred way to spawn new shows from established series. CBS has successfully used the technique on its CSI, NCIS and Criminal Minds franchises. But planted spinoffs not always lead to new series. For instance, the PI character introduced as a recurring on Fox's hit medical drama House two seasons ago didn't pan out. The planted spinoff episodes of CW's Gossip Girl and Lifetime's Army Wives didn't get picked up to series, and the planned Prison Break spinoff set in a women's prison never got past the casting stage. Bones, about a prosaic forensic anthropologist (Deschanel) and a cocky FBI agent (Boreanaz) who team to investigate death causes, has been among Fox's most reliable performers despite being moved around the schedule a number of times. The series hit the 100th episode mark in the spring and is now in its sixth season.
http://www.deadline.com/2010/10/michelle-trachtenberg-to-develop-star-in-cw-drama-produced-by-josh-schwartz/
CW has handed out a script order to an untitled drama project starring Gossip Girl's Michelle Trachtenberg, which marks the actress' producing debut. It hails from the creators of CW's Gossip Girl, Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage, whose Fake Empire banner co-produces the project with Warner Bros. TV and CBS TV Studios. Based on an idea by Trachtenberg, the drama would star the actress as a young criminology student with a gift for profiling and a dark past. Stuart Zicherman (Six Degrees) will write the script and executive produce alongside Schwartz, Savage and Len Goldstein. Trachtenberg will serve as producer. This is Fake Empire's second hourlong project this season toplined by a young actress from one of Schawrtz's other shows. Schwartz is writing Ghost Angeles, a supernatural romantic comedy starring The O.C. alumna Rachel Bilson, which received a pilot production commitment from NBC. Trachtenberg has been recurring on Gossip Girl for the past 2 years. She will next be seen in Kids in America.
http://www.deadline.com/2010/10/cbs-gives-full-season-orders-to-all-5-freshman-series-hawaii-five-0-blue-bloods-defenders-mike-molly/
CBS is not monkeying around, handing out today full-season orders to all of its freshman series: dramas Hawaii Five-0 and Blue Bloods, dramedy The Defenders and comedies Mike & Molly and $#*! My Dad Says. No big surprise here given the fact that those happen to be the five most-watched new series of the season and 3 of them, Hawaii, Mike & Molly and $#*! also rank as the top three new series in adults 18-49. The solid showing by the five freshmen helped CBS win the opening 4 weeks of the season for the first time. "Everything has clicked so far this year—from development in January, to scheduling in May, to production over the summer, to marketing and publicity in the fall," CBS Entertainment president Nina Tassler said. Hawaii is averaging 14.2 million viewers and a 4.1/11 in 18-49 and also ranks as the most DVR'd TV program, adding some 3.4 million viewers with live plus 7-day playback. Blue Bloods (12.7 million, 2.2/07) dominates its Friday 10 PM time period. The season-to-date averages for the other newly-renewed series are: Defenders (11.3 million, 2.8/8), Mike & Molly (12.3 million, 4.1/11) and $#*!(11.3, 3.5/10). CBS is the only network to keep all of its freshman series for the whole season this fall. NBC, ABC and Fox have already cancelled one series each: Outlaw, My Generation and Lone Star, respectively. NBC has picked up the rest, giving The Event, Chase, Law & Order: Los Angeles andOutsourced back-nine order and Undercovers an order for 4 more scripts. Fox has picked up comedyRaising Hope for the rest of the season.
http://www.deadline.com/2010/10/abc-planning-party-planning-comedy/
ABC is developing Plan This, a comedy project loosely based on the life of Beverly Hills-based party planner to the stars Mindy Weiss. The single-camera project, from ABC Studios, will be written by Freaky Friday writer Heather Hach who will serve as co-executive producer. Alex Goldstone and Elana Barry will executive produce the comedy, which has received a script commitment. Weiss has planned weddings and parties for such clients as Ellen Degeneres & Portia Rossi, Ashlee Simpson & Pete Wentz; Eva Longoria & Tony Parker; Heidi Klum & Seal; Gwen Stefani & Gavin Rossdale; Jackie & Adam Sandler; Kate Beckinsale & Len Weisman; and Trista & Ryan of ABC's The Bachelorette televised wedding. Party planning is an area the networks have been trying to crack for some time with little success. The more notable efforts include the Fox/David E. Kelley series The Wedding Bells.
http://www.deadline.com/2010/10/ratings-rat-race-big-lola-rebound/
There are four freshman series on Wednesday that are still awaiting decision on full-season orders: ABC's Better with You and The Whole Truth, NBC's Undercovers and CBS' The Defenders. None of them made a case for itself one way or another last night, with the first 3 staying flat and The Defenders giving away last week's solid ratings gains.
Much needed good ratings news for NBC which recently handed back orders - episodic or script - to all of its freshman series still on the air. One of them, Law & Order: Los Angeles (2.4/7 in adults 18-49), was up 26% after 2 consecutive weeks of 20%+ declines. It won the 10 PM hour and improved its retention of Law & Order: SVU to 92% from 83% last week. In fact, the entire NBC Wednesday lineup was up. SVU (2.6/7) was climbed 13%. Undercovers (1.5/5), the only new NBC series to only get script order this week, was flat with the show's fast national number last week and up 7% vs. the final.
It was status quo at ABC, with The Middle (2.6/8) up 4%, Cougar Town (3.1/9) down a tenth and Better with You (2.1/6) flat with last week. Flagship comedy Modern Family (4.7/13) was also even with the show's fast national rating last week. (The show tends to go up a tenth in the finals.) Like Undercovers, The Whole Truth (1.4/4) was flat with the fast national for its last airing two weeks ago and up a tenth from the final number. (The legal drama was preempted for a 20/20 special on the Chilean miners last Wednesday.)
CBS' Survivor: Nicaragua (3.5/11) was probably affected by baseball, down 8% to tie its lowest-rated telecast this season. Criminal Minds (3.6/10) was actually up a tenth. But, after a nice 14% boost last week when there was no other pure legal drama competition in the 10 PM hour with The Whole Truth benched, The Defenders (2.2/6) retreated, down 12%. It finished second in the time slot behind LOLA. CBS still won the night in 18-49 (3.1) and total viewers (12.1 million) for a fourth straight week.
Fox's coverage of MLB NLCS Game 4 (2.7/8) was up 8% from the last NLCS Game 4 on Fox 2 years ago. The network finished second for the night in 18-49.
http://www.deadline.com/2010/10/eric-mccormack-to-star-in-tnt-drama-pilot/
Eric McCormack is returning to TNT as the star of the network's pilot Perception. The Will & Grace alum is in negotiation to play the lead in the project, Dr. Geoffrey Pierce, an eccentric, frequently erratic and absolutely brilliant neuroscientist who helps the FBI solve complex cases. Kenneth Biller and Mike Sussman co-wrote the pilot, which is produced by ABC Studios. At TNT, McCormack previously toplined ad agency drama Trust Me. He recently played the title character in the Lifetime movie Who Is Clark Rockefeller?, recurred on the CBS comedy The New Adventures of Old Christine and starred in the Artsclub Theatre production of Glengarry Glen Ross in Vancouver. Perception is one of 4 pilots recently greenlighted by TNT - along with Hollywood & Vine, Dallas, and an untitled project from Allan Loeb - and the first one to cast its lead.
http://www.deadline.com/2010/10/tbs-picks-up-2-more-hourlong-comedy-pilots/
TBS continues its shift to hourlong comedies with the pickup of 2 more one-hour pilots: Hound Dogs and The Wedding Band. Hound Dogs, from feature writer/ director Ron Shelton (Bull Durham) and Sony Pictures TV, draws from his experience as a baseball player and is set in the world of minor league baseball. It centers on a minor league team and its general manager as they try to handle life’s ups and downs, both in and out of the locker room. In addition to writing, Shelton serves as executive producer with Michele Weisler, Andrea Buchanan and Todd DeLorenzo. The Wedding Band, from writers-executive producers Josh Lobis and Darin Moiselle (South Park), FremantleMedia and Mike Tollin's Tollin Prods., follows a group of guys anchored by 2 lifelong best friends – a perennial bachelor and a married father of two – who try to escape the stress and craziness of their lives by performing in a wedding band. “Ron Shelton is one of America’s favorite storytellers, and Hound Dogs is another wry, sharp look at one of America’s favorite pastimes from a master of the genre," TNT and TBS' head of programmig Michael Wright said. "The Wedding Band mines great humor from its four very likable, and occasionally reckless, young men who have figured out that weddings are often the wildest parties in town. Both pilots affirm TBS' enthusiasm for irreverent, smart comedy and the storytelling advantages of the one-hour form.” Hound Dogs and The Wedding Band join another recently picked up hourlong TBS pilot, the Dean Devlin-produced Brain Trust.
TBS started its switch from half-hour sitcoms to hourlong comedies at the beginning of this year when it greenlighted 4 pilots: Glory Daze, Franklin & Bash, Uncle Nigel and In Security. Two of them, Glory Daze and Franklin & Bash, made it to series, with Franklin & Bash migrating to sister network TNT. Glory Daze, from creators Walt Becker and Michael LeSieur, premieres Nov. 16 on TBS.
http://www.tvguide.com/News/Exclusive-Fringe-gets-1024542.aspx
Great Scott! Back to the Future's Doc Brown will be meeting Fringe's resident Doctor Frankenstein when Christopher Lloyd guest stars early next year as Walter's musical hero.
"We all know how much Walter loves music, right? Well this fellow was one of his icons," explains John Noble of Lloyd's role in the season's 10th episode. "He adored this man. So Walter gets to be a bit of a fanboy."
Lloyd, who is currently enjoying a resurgence thanks to the 25th anniversary of Future, begins filming next week in Vancouver and will appear in the show's 10th episode. And while there remains a Fringe-ian veil of secrecy surrounding his actual involvement in the hour's investigation, it's very clear that Nobel is excited to have Marty McFly's bestie coming aboard. "It's a beautiful role and such good casting," he enthuses. "When I read the script I thought 'I hope hey get someone great.' And Christopher Lloyd exceeds my expectations!"
http://www.deadline.com/2010/10/abc-developing-comedy-produced-by-starring-mark-consuelos-and-kelly-ripa/
Kelly Ripa is ready for more daytime-primetime double duty with Port Love, a new comedy project at ABC. Ripa and her husband, actor Mark Consuelos, will co-write the story for the project, with Consuelos set to star and Ripa to recur. Both will executive produce through their production company Milojo Prods. Port Love, from ABC Studios, is a workplace comedy set at a formerly popular network series and revolves around the cast and crew who have more backstage drama in their lives than in the actual show they're working on. Jeffrey Hodes and Nastaran Dibai (According to Jim) will co-write the story with Ripa and Consuelos. Hodes and Dibai will write the script and will executive produce with the 2 actors and Aaron Kaplan of Kapital Entertainment. Ripa and Consuelos' producing partner Albert Bianchini also is expected to produce the project, which has received script commitment.
In February, Ripa will mark her 10-year anniversary on Live with Regis and Kelly, the veteran syndicated daytime talk show produced by Disney-ABC. She priviously juggled her duties on Live and a primetime comedy series when she starred for 3 seasons on the ABC sitcom Hope & Faith. There she met Hodes and Dibai who did a stint as executive producers. Last development season, Hodes and Dibai created the ABC comedy pilot Funny in Farsi, which the two executive produced with Kaplan. Ripa and Consuelos recently reprised their roles on the long-running soap All My Children in a two-episode arc.
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/blogs/live-feed/csi-showrunner-sells-crime-drama-31677
"CSI" showrunner Carol Mendelsohn has sold a new crime drama to CBS.
The currently untitled project brings to the small screen a series of suspense novels from author Thomas Perry.
The thrillers star protagonist Jane Whitefield, known to readers in books such as "Vanishing Act." Across six novels, Whitefield is half-white, half-Indian young woman who works as a one-person witness protection program, helping hide people who are in danger.
"Medium" producer Craig Sweeny will serve as writer and executive producer on the script deal, with Mendelsohn as a non-writing executive producer. CBS TV Studios and Carol Mendelsohn Productions will produce.
http://www.deadline.com/2010/10/hbo-and-malcolm-gladwell-plot-cia-drama/
After recreating Prohibition era Atlantic City in Boardwalk Empire, HBO is looking to resurrect Cold War era Berlin in a new spy drama project from Boardwalk executive producers Stephen Levinson and Mark Wahlberg, New Yorker writer/best-selling author Malcolm Gladwell and film/TV writer Charles Randolph (The Interpreter). Set in Cold War Berlin, the untitled project, to be written by Randolph, centers on a missionary who becomes involved in the CIA. Gladwell and Randolph, who are friends, had been working on an idea for a spy project when they met with Levinson and Wahlberg who had also been looking to do a spy drama. The four joined forces and took the joint project to HBO where Levinson and Wahlberg have deep ties as producers of 4 series, Boardwalk, Entourage, In Treatment and How to Make It In America. Randolph, Gladwell, Levinson and Wahlberg will all executive produce the new project, which HBO is producing in association with Levinson's Leverage and Wahlberg's Closest to the Hole Prods.
http://www.deadline.com/2010/10/tv-castings-actors-board-fxs-alabama-mtvs-death-valley-and-cws-nikita/
Mindy Sterling (Austin Powers in Goldmember) and Natahsa Leggero (Last Comic Standing) are set to co-star in the FX pilot Alabama a half-hour comedy co-created by and starring Robert Ben Garant and Thomas Lennon, co-creators and stars of Reno 911! where Sterling had a minor role. Alabama is set a thousand years in the future aboard the United Nations peacekeeping spaceship: The Alabama and begins six years into their seven year mission to maintain peace and enforce treaties between planets in their jurisdiction: Sector 187-G. The show will follow the crew as they visit hostile planets, meet alien life-forms, and try to have sex with each other in their tiny, metal bunk beds. Lennon plays Acting Captain Glen Frenchman, Garant plays #2, a robot who is second in command; DSA-repped Sterling plays Doc, the ships doctor officer; and Leggero, who will guest in the pilot, plays Roxy Sexbot. Also cast in the pilot is Brandon Johnson. Production begins later this month in Los Angeles.
Actor/comedian Bryan Callen (Hangover, How I Met Your Mother) has landed a lead on MTV’s new series Death Valley, a COPS-type mockumentary about the dark comedic adventures of cops in the 'UTF' (Undead Task Force). Callen plays Capt. Jim Dashell... Noah Bean (Damages) has joined CW's freshman series Nikita as a recurring, playing Ryan Fletcher, a CIA case officer & analyst. he is with Gersh and Antrim Street.
http://www.deadline.com/2010/10/ratings-rat-race-cbs-lineup-up/
With the biggest show on the night, Fox's Glee, airing a rerun, CBS' veteran 8 PM drama NCIS (4.2/12, 19.1 million viewers) got a 8% boost, which the network carried over to 9 PM where NCIS: Los Angeles (3.9/10, 16 million) was up 11% and 10 PM where The Good Wife (2.6/7, 12.2 million) was up 4%. All 3 dramas won their hours in 18-49 and total viewers and posted CBS' highest 18-49 Tuesday tally since February. ABC's new superhero family drama No Ordinary Family (2.2/6) didn't get a boost from the weakened competition at 8 PM with a Glee repeat but may have found its comfort ratings zone, down just .1 from last week for a new low. At 9 PM, the Dancing with the Stars result show (3.1/8) was down 11% from last week to a season low. Freshman ABC drama Detroit (1.9/5) was up 12% but might have been inflated by a Dancing overrun. NBC's The Biggest Loser (2.5/7) matched its lowest rating of the season, down a fraction from last week. Parenthood was also down .1 at 10 PM to a series low, tying Detroit 187 in the fast nationals. Following Glee (2.0/6) and Raising Hope (1.7/4) repeats, a new Running Wilde (1.2/3) on Fox was down 14%. At CW, One Tree Hill at 8 PM matched season high in women 18-34 (2.0/6).
