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Comedy ‘Family Album’ Not Going Forward At Fox; Will That Help ‘Breaking In’?

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Thursday August 11, 2011 @ 7:31pm PDTTags: Breaking In, Family Album, Fox, I Hate My Teenage Daughter, Little In Common, New Girl
Nellie Andreeva

Fox’s single-camera comedy pilot Family Album is no longer in contention for midseason. Considered one of the hotter pilots at the network this past season, the half-hour, written by Joe Port and Joe Wiseman and directed by Shawn Levy, didn’t get a series order but, along with another comedy pilot, Little In Common, was put in redevelopment for midseason consideration. The network ordered a pilot reshoot, which later morphed into filming a whole new episode/pilot. The project’s original premise was to to have each season take place during a family vacation and the pilot reflected that. I hear that Fox ultimately found that premise too narrow and asked the creators to turn Family Album into a more traditional family show, with every episode focused on a different incident in the family’s daily life, including one chronicling their vacation. The studio, 20th TV, which co-produces Family Album with 21 Laps/Adelstein Prods., extended the options on stars Mike O’Malley and Rachel Harris and standout supporting player Rob Huebel at the end of June, while Port, Wiseman and fellow executive producers Levy, Adelstein and Becky Clements focused on reworking the show. But after a lot of back-and-forth with the network, I hear the producers and the studio felt that by transforming Family Album into a family show the concept no longer felt as unique and specific as they wanted it to be. Said a person close to the network, “We loved the auspices but ultimately could not get a clear handle on the creative direction for a re-tooled pilot.” The plan for such pilot has now been scrapped.

Family Album‘s opens the door for the show that refuses to die, Breaking In, which was picked up to series 6 months after Fox passed on the pilot only to be canceled in May after a handful of airings. Like it did last year, producing studio Sony TV extended the options on the actors, this time sharing the cost with Fox. The single-camera workplace comedy has been added to the pool of contenders for the two-hour comedy block Fox plans to launch in March when Glee goes on hiatus. The field originally included new series New Girl and and I Hate My Teenage Daughter as well as pilots Family Album and Little In Common competing for 3 of the 4 slots. (Raising Hope has a full-season order.) Breaking In recently entered the fray, bringing the number of contenders to 5. That number has now dropped to 4 with the exit of Family Album.

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Midseason Status Report: ‘Breaking In’ Stays Alive With Cast Options Pickup, ‘Common’ & ‘Album’ Keep Some Actors,’Smothered’ Dead

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Tuesday July 5, 2011 @ 2:50pm PDTTags: Breaking In, Exit Strategy, Family Album, Little In Common, Smothered
Nellie Andreeva

June 30 marked the deadline for TV studios to pick up the options on the casts of broadcast pilots and series whose fate was still in limbo. Good news for fans of Fox’s midseason comedy Breaking In: The options on the series’ actors have been picked up until Nov. 15. And, in a rare move, I hear the network, Fox, has pitched in, splitting the cost of the option extension with producing studio Sony Pictures TV. Fox’s decision to cancel the Christian Slater-starring comedy after a brief midseason run was one of the biggest surprises this past upfront season.

Among the pilots left in contention for midseason, Fox’s comedies Little In Common and Family Album remain in the running for Fox’s two-hour, four-show midseason Tuesday comedy block. But both projects will undergo some tweaking as reflected in their producing studios’ decision to pick up only parts of their casts. Read More »

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‘Family Album’ Creators Joe Port And Joe Wiseman Ink Overall Deal With 20th TV, Join ‘New Girl’; ‘Album’ To Film Second Episode

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Wednesday June 1, 2011 @ 7:00pm PDTTags: 20th Century Fox TV, Family Album, Joe Port, Joe Wiseman, New Girl, overall deal
Nellie Andreeva

Comedy writer-producers Joe Port and Joe Wiseman, creators of the 20th Century Fox TV-produced comedy pilot Family Album, have signed a two-year overall deal with the studio. Under the pact, the two will join New Girl, 20th TV’s hot new comedy series for Fox, as co-executive producers. Additionally, their pilot Family Album is in strong contention at Fox for midseason. Along with another half-hour pilot, Little In Common, Family Album is vying for a spot on the network’s four-show comedy block in March. To further boost the project’s chances, 20th TV has agreed to produce a second episode, which Port and Wiseman are currently working on. Family Album, which 20th TV co-produces with Marty Adelstein and Shawn Levy’s studio-based 21 Laps/Adelstein Prods., stemmed from a blind script deal the studio signed with Port and Wiseman last year. “Having dated for a while, we all collectively wanted to take this relationship to the next level,” 20th TV chairman Gary Newman said. “They have the inspiration to create their owns show and also have the right demeanor to be able to fit into a show and support other creators when they don’t have anything going on.” Read More »

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Fox To Schedule Midseason Comedy Block

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Monday May 16, 2011 @ 7:23am PDTTags: comedy block, Family Album, Fox, I Hate My Teenage Daughter, Little In Common, New Girl, Raising Hope
Nellie Andreeva

Fox will experiment with a night of all live-action half-hour comedies in midseason. During Fox’s conference call this morning, entertainment president Kevin Reilly said the network plans to launch the four-show comedy block on Tuesdays in March, when the current … Read More »

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WHO IS STILL ALIVE? ‘Exit Strategy’ Taps Ken Olin As Co-Showrunner; ‘Family Album’ Eyes Midseason Order & More

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Friday May 13, 2011 @ 7:49pm PDTTags: A Mann's World, ABC, Exit Strategy, Family Album, Fox, Little In Common, Locke & Key, Metro, Smothered
Nellie Andreeva

Between the VIP section of newly picked up series and the pilot of rejected pilots is the no man’s land of pilots that are neither dead nor picked up yet. Here is a rundown on what is still alive and which dead pilots are looking for life elsewhere:

… Read More »

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Primetime Pilot Panic: Screenings Updates

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Thursday May 5, 2011 @ 11:30pm PDTTags: Awakening, Bad Mom, Cooper & Stone, Council of Dads, Danni Lowinski, Exit Strategy, Family Album, Good Christian Bitches, Grace, Grimm, Hail Mary, Hart of Dixie, Heavenly, How To Be a Gentleman, Metro, My Freakin' Family, Other People's Kids, Person of Interest, playboy, Prime Suspect, Primetime Pilot Panic, REM, Rookies, Scandal, Smash, Smothered, Suburgatory, The Rememberer, The Secret Circle, Touch, TV Pilots, Two Broke Girls, Untitled Peter Knight, Untitled Susannah Grant, Weekends at Bellevue, Wonder Woman
Nellie Andreeva

The marathon pilot screenings at the broadcast networks are in full force. While they are rarely the deciding factor in the networks’ final series pickup decisions, they help solidify early standouts’ frontrunner positions and sometimes breathe life into pilots that might have been written off too soon. Here are some … Read More »

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Megan Dodds, Orlando Jones Among Latest Pilot Cast Additions

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Thursday February 17, 2011 @ 1:00pm PSTTags: Are You There Vodka? It's Me Chelsea, Are You There Vodka? It's Me Chelsea Pilot, Exit Strategy, Exit Strategy Pilot, Family Album, Family Album Pilot, Identity, Identity Pilot, Orlando Jones, Pan Am, Pan Am Casting, Pan Am TV Pilot, Rachael Harris, TV, TV Deals
Nellie Andreeva

Megan Dodds has landed the female lead opposite Ethan Hawke in Fox’s drama pilot Exit Strategy, a high-octane procedural about a team of 5 experts associated with the CIA led by Eric Shaw (Hawke) who are deployed when a … Read More »

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Mike O’Malley To Star In Fox’s ‘Family Album’ Pilot Directed By Shawn Levy

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Wednesday February 16, 2011 @ 7:30pm PSTTags: Family Album, Family Album Casting, Family Album Pilot, Mike O'Malley, Shawn Levy, Shawn Levy Family Album, TV, TV Pilots
Nellie Andreeva

Mike O’Malley, who is recurring on Fox/20th TV’s Glee, is adding a potential regular series gig to his plate, also for Fox and 20th TV. O’Malley is set to play the lead in the single-camera comedy pilot … Read More »

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PILOT CASTINGS: Rob Huebel Gets Fox’s ‘Family Album’ After FX Passes On ‘USS Alabama’, Jamie Bamber To ’17th Precinct’

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Tuesday February 15, 2011 @ 8:39am PSTTags: 17th Precinct, 17th Precinct Casting, 17th Precinct Pilot, Family Album, Family Album Casting, Family Album Pilot, Jamie Bamber, Joe Port, Joe Wiseman, Shawn Levy, TV, TV Deals, TV Pilots
Nellie Andreeva

Rob Huebel has become the first actor cast in Fox’s single-camera comedy pilot Family Album, written by Joe Port and Joe Wiseman and directed by Shawn Levy. Huebel most recently guest starred in the FX sci-fi comedy pilot U.S.S. Alabama. … Read More »

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Shawn Levy To Direct ‘Family Album’ Pilot

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Friday January 28, 2011 @ 10:26pm PSTTags: 20th Century TV, 21 Laps/Adelstein, Family Album, Family Album Pilot, Shawn Levy, Shawn Levy Family Album, TV, TV Deals
Nellie Andreeva

EXCLUSIVE: In a rare TV directing gig, feature helmer Shawn Levy has signed on to direct the Fox single-camera comedy pilot Family Album. The pilot hails from 20th Century Fox TV where 21 Laps/Adelstein Prod., Levy’s company with Marty Adelstein, … Read More »

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Fox Picks Up Peter Tolan, Joe Port/Joe Wiseman Single-Camera Comedy Pilots

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Tuesday January 25, 2011 @ 5:45pm PSTTags: Bruce Feiler, Family Album, Family Album Pilot, Fox Pilots, Joe Port, Joe Wiseman, Peter Tolan, The Council of Dads, The Council of Dads Pilot, TV, TV Deals
Nellie Andreeva

Fox has picked up 2 more single-camera comedy pilots, Peter Tolan’s The Council of Dads and Joe Port and Joe Wiseman’s Family Album.… Read More »

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