TV SALES
ABC has finalized a deal for the new single-cam series the UNTITLED NICOLE RICHIE COMEDY from writer Jeff Rake. Series, which was developed last year with a different spin, will again center on a single mother, as she attempts to balance her professional and personal life. Jamie Tarses, Nicole Richie and Michael Baum will exec produce with Rake.
FOX has picked up the 1980’s music biz drama FULL NELSON with a script commitment and penalty from writer/exec producer Jeffrey Lieber and exec producer Jerry Bruckheimer. Series, which in inspired by the experiences of Kathy Nelson, will follow a female music executive, as she plots her rise to the top of a record label, but has to start at the bottom. Jonathan Littman, KristieAnne Reed and Nelson will exec produce.
LIFETIME has taken a step into the action/drama genre by picking up new TV film CLOSE QUARTERS from writer Jolene Rice. Project, which will be directed by Ernest Dickerson, and produced by Gale Anne Hurd, centers on a happy suburban wife and mother who has been concealing her dark past as a military-trained special-ops agent, until her husband is mysteriously kidnapped, and now she must risk everything to protect her daughter and save the man she loves.
NBC has ordered a new action/adventure series THE MCCULLOCH from Battlestar Galactica EP writer/exec producer Ron Moore. Series, which was given a script commitment and penalty, will center on the men and women of the fictional Coast Guard cutter The McCulloch as they travel around the world.
Meanwhile, IFC NETWORK has announced their new slate, naming 8 new shows now in the pipeline:
- CARTOON SHOW, created by Aaron Augenblick and Chris Burns, and written/exec produced by David Wain, Ken Marino, Jonathan Stern, Aaron Augenblick and Chris Burns, will center on a large cast of iconic cartoon characters as they struggle to produce a daily variety television show.
- HERO HOUSE, from exec producers Peter Franchella, Aaron Rothman, and Al Szymanski, is a non-fiction show that will center on a group of real-life super heroes from around the country who join forces and endeavor to clean up one city’s troubled streets.
- WHISKER WARS, from exec producers Thom Beers and Philip D. Segal, and co-EP Jeff Conroy, will center on a group of men from the National Beard and Mustache Championship in Bend, Oregon as they ready for the world’s largest facial hair competition in Norway.
- CHOSEN GUNS, from writers/exec producers Brennan Shroff and Lonny Ross, is a police procedural, that centers on the loser cops of the ethnically diverse 90th precinct of Brooklyn. Principato/Young Entertainment will produce, and Pat Proft will serve as a consultant.
- UNTITLED ALAN SPENCER PROJECT, from writer/exec producer Alan Spencer, is pitched as an action series about a psychotic criminal trying to juggle the demands of violence and an active social life. Michael Prupas and Bruce Hills will also exec produce, and Jesse Prupas and Evi Regev will produce.
- GREG & DONNY, from writers/stars/exec producers Matt Yeager and Jeff Skowron, centers on two friends who have known each other their entire lives, as they’ve grown up in a very small American town.
- UNTITLED RHETT/LINK PROJECT, from executive producers Rhett McLaughlin, Link Neal, Howard T. Owens, Todd Cohen and Fernando Mills, is a non-fiction series that will follow comedy filmmakers Rhett & Link, as they travel to small towns across America where they develop and produce commercials for local businesses using local talent. Paul Cockerill will also produce.
- HARD ‘N PHIRMS MUSICAL TIMEHOLE, from writers Chris Hardwick and Mike Phirman is pitched as an animated comedy series in which our heroes hurtle through time while helping historical figures solve crises through the power of song.
TV CANCELLATIONS
HBO has halted progress on the Kathryn Bigelow-directed pilot THE MIRACULOUS YEAR from writer John Logan, citing an uncertainty in the series finding an audience as reason.
