Patrick Swayze Revives Career With A&E Pilot
Posted by David Onda Categories: Action, Drama, Prime Time, Cable, Editorial, News,
Just when you thought that the world was ready to let Patrick Swayze’s career rest in peace, A&E comes along and proves that they just can’t let sleeping dirty dancers lie. Variety is reporting that Swayze has signed on to star as a rough-n-tumble, take no crap from anybody undercover FBI agent for the pilot of the upcoming A&E series, The Beast. You just can’t stop this man, he is like the wind.
Swayze will star alongside Travis Fimmel (best know for, if at all, his role on WB’s Tarzan) who will play his more straight-laced partner. Move over Benson and Stabler, Swayze and Fimmel are taking over the streets! Beast will be produced by Sony Pictures which has yet to announce an air date or what retirement home they pulled Swayze out of.
Read More 
| Variety
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J.J. Abrams’ New Series
Posted by Wendy Michaels Categories: Drama, Prime Time, ABC, FOX, Lost,
J.J. Abrams, the power house behind Alias and Lost (not to mention Felicity and What About Brian), is back to rock your television screen. His latest series, Fringe, has been picked up by Fox—and this is a doozy. It’s got a spooky theme and a killer budget for the pilot. We’re talking a pilot that’s well over $10 million. How obscene is that? Given, it will be a two hour pilot, but still! The show is so far director-less and lacks a cast, but with J.J. on board, you can bet it will grab some viewers. Of course, I thought the same of last season’s… uh, what was it called? Six Degrees? Seriously, I tuned in just because it was a J.J. deal and didn’t like it at all (and I guess I wasn’t alone, because it wasn’t around for long!). Abrams says Fringe includes elements of The X-Files and the Twilight Zone, so it could be interesting, with plenty of paranormal mysteries to be had. According to Abrams, “It’s definitely meant to scare the hell out of you, but it’s also meant to make you laugh… It pushes all the buttons of things we loved from our childhood.”
Read More | Coming Soon
Christoper Guest to Adapt Brit Comedy for ABC
Posted by Wendy Michaels Categories: Comedy, Prime Time, ABC, Arrested Development, Ratings,
Christopher Guest, the genius behind films like For Your Consideration, Best in Show and Waiting for Guffman, will be involved in creating a comedy pilot for ABC. But wait, it gets better because Arrested Development creator, Mitch Hurwitz, is also involved. If the result is only a fraction as good as Arrested or any of Guest’s films, it will be 100 times better than most of the stuff on television. Of course, you have to wonder if it will suffer Arrested‘s curse of low ratings and an early cancellation. The comedy is an adaptation of the The Thick of It, a British series. Guest has been away from TV for quite some time—you may remember his mid-80s stint on Saturday Night Live, but his last work for television was a 1993 HBO remake of Attack of the 50-Foot Woman. The Thick of It takes a humorous spin on the ins and outs of a member of Congress.
Read More | Zap2it
Kirstie Alley Returns to TV
Posted by Wendy Michaels Categories: Comedy, Prime Time, FOX, Oprah Winfrey Show,
Kirstie Alley has been gracing the TV quite a lot, what with her Showtime series Fat Actress, the Jenny Craig ads, and the appearance on Oprah. This time, however, she’s back on network television, playing the lead in The Minister of Divine, a British remake of the comedy The Vicar of Dibley. I just love the word “vicar,” and I don’t really know why, other than it just sounds funny when the Brits say it. So, she plays a former rebel who comes back to her hometown—as a minister. I’m looking forward to Alley’s return to TV. While I didn’t enjoy Veronica’s Closet, Fat Actress was a little gem. And anyone who can parade their weight loss on Oprah has more than their fair share of fans, no doubt.
Read More | Zap2it
New Pilots Share Similarities With Sex and the City
Posted by Wendy Michaels Categories: Drama, Prime Time, ABC, NBC,
Taking a page from the successful Sex and the City is a good place to start. Three new drama pilots all have the potential makings of another chick hit.
ABC will air Cashmere Mafia, described as “the next generation of Sex and the City”—and with good reason, it comes from Sex creator, Darren Star. Cashmere Mafia looks at four friends from college who also happen to be successful female executives. It’s set in New York City, and the gals will work through the stress of juggling careers, family and the choices they must make.
ABC also picked up Women’s Murder Club, based on James Patterson’s mystery books, which has the capacity to be “CSI meets Sex and the City.” In it, four friends (women, naturally) just happen to be a medical examiner, a district attorney, a newspaper reporter, and a homicide detective. The women all work together to solve murder cases.
NBC has ordered a dramedy called Lipstick Jungle. Wouldya believe it? This one is from Sex author Candace Bushnell, based on her follow-up novel. Lipstick Jungle is a peek into the cutthroat world of New York businesswomen.
Read More | AOL News
‘The Thick of It’ to be Helmed by Arrested Development Folks
Posted by Wendy Michaels Categories: Comedy, Prime Time, ABC, Arrested Development,
Well, it would be a lot more exciting if I could announce that Arrested Development was coming back to TV, but instead we’ll have to settle for the next (potentially) great thing from Arrested‘s creator Mitch Hurwitz. The Thick of It is yet another British adaptation for American TV. You would think that Americans have run out of creative ideas of their own! Anyway, Hurwitz and Richard Day, who wrote and produced Arrested Development, will be working together on the new comedy series for ABC. The American version will take place in the oh-so-funny world of Congress, looking at the inept players and bureaucrats who muck up the works. Day has a great writing pedigree—earning five Emmy nominations for The Larry Sanders Show and Arrested. He’s also written and/or produced for Mad About You, Ellen, Spin City, and Good Morning, Miami.
Read More | Zap2it
Showtime’s ‘Manchild’ Adds Kevin Smith
Posted by Wendy Michaels Categories: Comedy, Prime Time, Cable, Cable/Satellite,
The Showtime pilot, Manchild, looks like it’s shaping up to be a decent little comedy. I reported last week that the pilot was in the works and that John Corbett (Northern Exposure, Sex in the City, Lucky) was cast as a former Deadhead trying to get his work and social life on track. The show is based on a BBC series, about a group of four guys who are each experiencing their midlife crises in different ways. The latest news is that director Kevin Smith (Clerks, Chasing Amy, Dogma) will also be joining the cast—playing a bitter divorced guy who is hatin’ on his ex-wife and her new husband. Oh, and he can’t stand himself either. Can’t you just see Smith delivering all the hate and self-loathing? The cast is rounded out by British actor James Purefoy (Rome, Vanity Fair, Resident Evil and A Knight’s Tale) and Paul Hipp.
Read More | Yahoo! News
Farrelly Brothers Pilot Coming to NBC
Posted by Wendy Michaels Categories: Comedy, Prime Time, BBC, NBC,
The Farrelly brothers (Peter and Bobby) are perhaps best known for their films There’s Something About Mary, Kingpin, Stuck on You, and Shallow Hal. Now they’re bringing their brand of humor to the small screen, joining forces with Ben Silverman, producer of The Office and Wil Calhoun, a writer for Friends. The pilot, called I’m With Stupid, is an adaptation of a British show that pairs a homeless man with a disabled man in a wheelchair. The man comes to live at the home for the disabled where the wheelchair-bound man lives. So where is the Farrelly brothers’ signature gross-out humor? Well, it’s sure to have some people prickly over the nature of the show and possibly the title (who is the “stupid” one in this friendship?). The brothers will direct and serve as executive producers. The British version has received high marks for its potrayal of disabled people. We’ll see if the Farrelly’s can bring any sensitivity to the subject. The Farrelly’s are currently working on a Three Stooges project.
Read More | Zap2it
Will Ferrell Developing a Comedy for Fox
Posted by Wendy Michaels Categories: Comedy, Prime Time, FOX,
Wow, this is kinda like deja vu. We reported earlier that Will Ferrell was developing a show for HBO. Well, now he’s developing a show for Fox. Church of Steve is about a man from New Jersey who discovers he is a descendant of Jesus. The half-hour show is coming from Will Ferrell and Adam McKay’s production company. So far, the pilot for the project has been approved—no official date on when the show is expected to air. The pilot episode sets the scene with a biblical Italian scholar who discovers that Steve is a descendant of Jesus. Also, no casting announcements have yet to be made.
Read More | Comingsoon.net
CBS’ Smith: Lacking the Ummph for High-Stakes Drama
Posted by Monica Edwards Categories: Action, Drama, Prime Time, CBS, 24, Editorial,
I was undecided about whether I wanted to tune into the new drama on CBS called Smith starring Ray Liotta and a noteworthy ensemble cast, but made the decision to give it a chance largely due to my female insensibility; basing my decision merely on the fact that the cast included one Simon Baker, the hunky Aussie that I had just “fell in love” with (if I were not already married to my wonderful husband), while watching a silly romantic comedy a few weeks back entitled Something New . Of course that is not what I told my husband. I just asked if he wanted to watch with me, in which case he did since he enjoyed Ray Liotta’s performance in Goodfellas.
Click to continue reading CBS’ Smith: Lacking the Ummph for High-Stakes Drama
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