TV SALES
ABC has given a pilot order with penalty to FAMILY FORTUNE. From Matt Hubbard, Tina Fey and Robert Carlock, the comedy is based on the family life and stand-up of Fortune Feimster, who will star, and centers on a popular gym teacher (Feimster) who comes out of the closet to her close-knit group of family and friends. Universal TV is producing.
ABC has ordered a TV reboot of UNCLE BUCK. Written by Steven Cragg and Brian Bradley, the comedy will center on a childish man who learns how to be an adult by taking care of his brother’s kids. Cragg, Bradley and Packer executive produce under Packer’s first look deal with Universal TV.
The CW has ordered CHEERLEADER DEATH SQUAD from Marc Cherry. CBS TV Studios is producing the series that follows a former CIA agent-turned-teacher who fid out his students at an elite Washington, D.C., prep school have high-level access through their personal connections. He trains them to be his eyes and ears in the world of international espionage so can return to the CIA. Neal Baer, Dan Truly, and Sabrina Wind also produce.
The CW has ordered CORDON from The Vampire Diaries showrunner Julie Plec and director David Nutter. The drama centers on a deadly epidemic breaks out in Atlanta, forcing a large city quarantine and leaving those stuck on the inside to fight for their lives. Plec and Nutter are EPing for Warner Bros. TV, My So-Called Company, and Eyeworks.
The CW has also ordered a remake of TALES FROM THE DARKSIDE. Coming from producers Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci and writer Joe Hill, Tales is a horror/fantasy anthology series.
Fox has ordered a pilot for COOPER BARRETT’S GUIDE TO SURVIVING LIFE. Produced by Gail Berman through her Jackal Group and 20th Century TV, the single-cam comedy celebrates the pitfalls of being a twentysomething. Jay Lacopo is writing and executive producing.
HBO has given a pilot order to INSECURE about the awkward experiences and racy tribulations of a modern day African-American woman. Issa Rae wrote, with Larry Wilmore, and will star in the pilot. 3 Arts Entertainment is producing with Dave Becky, Jonathan Berry, and Michael Rotenberg.
NBC has given a pilot order to an UNTITLED RUSSO BROTHERS COMEDY. The series, from Joe Russo, Anthony Russo, and Aseem Batra, is pitched as a politically incorrect office comedy where two best friends, Dale and Georgie find their relationships tested when one of them starts dating the perfect woman. Because women only even get in the way of male friendships. Batra wrote the pilot and is executive producing.
TV RENEWALS
BET has renewed BEING MARY JANE for a third season. The drama stars Gabrielle Union and follows the sometimes disastrous personal and professional life of news anchor Mary Jane Paul (Union.) Mara Brock Akil created and EPs the series.
Bravo has ordered a 13-episode second season of GIRLFRIENDS’ GUIDE TO DIVORCE. From Universal Cable Productions, from creator and EP Marti Noxon, based on the novel by Vicki Iovine. follows Abby McCarthy (Lisa Edelstein), a self-help book author whose seemingly perfect career and marriage simultaneously implode.
TV ATTACHMENTS
Michael Offer will direct the ABC pilot RUNNER. From 20th Century TV and written by Michael Cooney, the female-driven project follows Lauren Marks, who must follow a trail of lies that takes her into the world of the illegal gun trade between the US and Mexico.
Niels Arden Oplev will direct and executive produce NBC’s new drama pilot, GAME OF SILENCE. From Carol Mendelsohn, David Hudgins, and Sony TV, the series follows a rising attorney on the brink of success who could lose his perfectly crafted life when his long-lost childhood friends threaten to expose a dark secret from their violent past.
Steve Pink will direct the pilot of TELENOVELA. The NBC comedy stars Eva Longoria as the willful but popular diva Ana Maria, the star of Latin America’s most beloved telenovela, who strives to stay on top in a world where the drama on-camera is nothing compared to the drama off-camera. The series is written and executive produced by Chrissy Pietrosh and Jessica Goldstein based on an idea by Longoria, who is also EPing through her UnbeliEVAble banner and Universal TV with Ben Spector,
TV GREENLIGHTS
HBO has given the greenlight to the miniseries LEWIS AND CLARK. The series is based on the book Undaunted Courage by Stephen E. Ambrose and follows the journey of the famed Lewis and Clark as they embark on their mission to deliver President Thomas Jefferson’s message of sovereignty and their search for his fabled all-water route to the Pacific. Casey Affleck and Matthias Schoenaerts star as Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, and Edward Norton, Brad Pitt, Tom Hanks, Dede Gardner and Gary Goetzman are executive producing.
USA have given COLONY a 10-episode order. Written and EP’d Carlton Cuse and Ryan Condal, the sci-fi drama is set in the near future in Los Angeles, which exists in a state of occupation by a force of outside, alien intruders. Josh Holloway and Sarah Wayne Callies star in the co-production between Legendary TV and Universal Cable Productions.
TV DEALS
MTV has inked a deal with Jill Soloway and Upright Citizens Brigade duo Lyle Friedman and Ashley Skidmore to develop a feminist comedy. The currently untitled project follows two girls who meet at summer camp and bond over their passion for second-wave feminism. Unexpectedly the girls are struck by lightning and their friendship, power, and destiny is fatefully sealed. Brillstein Entertainment Partners will executive produce with Soloway and Robin Schwartz, and Friedman and Skidmore will co-executive produce.
