Nellie Andreeva

NBC has bought one-hour drama pitch The Meadows from husband-and-wife Memphis Beat creators Liz Garcia and Joshua Harto, while Jamie Tarses’ Sony TV-based company has sold two more comedy pitches: Teresa Strasser’s Mother Teresa to ABC and an untitled David Lampson/Andrew Leeds project to Fox.

Described as a complex, high-stakes, character-driven drama that takes place both in the 1960s and the present, The Meadows will be executive produced by Scott Stuber and his development executive Quan Phung through Universal Television,where Stuber Pictures has an overall deal. It follows two parallel storylines: In the ’60s, Lucia ‘Lucy’ Cortes, a Mexican-American who’s fled an abusive marriage with her 12-year-old son Tommy, starts her life over in Las Vegas. In present day, Tommy is a powerful, enigmatic casino owner poised to become the King of Vegas. The show chronicles how the outsider from the wrong side of the tracks was able to rise to the top and explores the dark mystery that threatens to take it all away from him. Garcia and Harto, repped by CAA and Madhouse Entertainment, are the creators/executive producers of TNT Memphis Beat, which is on the bubble after completing its second season. Additionally, Garcia is writing the feature French Women Don’t Get Fat for Hillary Swank to produce for Alcon Entertainment.

ABC’s single-camera Mother Teresa will be written by Teresa Strasser based on her book Exploiting My Baby: Because It’s Exploiting Me. It centers on a working mom whose slightly estranged, hippy mother comes back to live with them to take care of the new baby. The Lampson/Leeds comedy at Fox is about a larger-than-life family man who constantly finds himself overly involved in the lives of those around him to help them reach their full potential.

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