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Second Time Is The Charm For High-Profile Series With Pre-Sold Titles

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Sunday May 15, 2011 @ 8:18am PDTTags: Charlie's Angels, Hawaii Five-0, playboy, Prime Suspect
Nellie Andreeva

UPDATED: In features, it is the norm for big franchise movies to have multiple writers take a pass at a script before they get greenlighted. Now that MO seems to have migrated to TV in the case of tentpole series based on famous properties. During the 2008-09 development season, CBS put in development a reboot of iconic TV series Hawaii Five-0 penned by former Criminal Minds showrunner Ed Bernero. The project didn’t go to pilot, and the next season, CBS tried again with new writers: Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman and Peter Lenkov. The script sailed through the pilot stage and the show landed on CBS’ 2010 fall schedule. This season, the same happened to 4 shows with pre-sold titles: ABC’s Charlie’s Angels, based on the classic series, and Pan Am, inspired by the famous airline, as well as NBC’s Prime Suspect, an adaptation of the acclaimed British series, and The Playboy Club, inspired by the original Playboy club in Chicago. The first 3 were originally  developed last season with different writers: Charlie’s Angels was written by Josh Friedman, Prime Suspect by Hank Steinberg and Playboy (then Bunny Tales) by Becky Mode. None of them went to pilot but, just  like Hawaii Five-0 last year, ABC and NBC took a second stab at remaking Charlie’s Angels and Prime Suspect and creating a Playboy club show this season with new writers. 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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Jeff Hephner To Co-Star On Starz’s ‘Boss’

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Monday March 28, 2011 @ 10:31am PDTTags: Boss, Jeff Hephner, Kelsey Grammer, playboy, Starz
Nellie Andreeva

EXCLUSIVE: It’s a happy ending to the pilot season for Jeff Hephner after all. The actor, who after grueling auditions landed the lead in NBC’s drama pilot Playboy but was replaced after the table read with Eddie Cibrian, … Read More »

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Eddie Cibrian To Play The Lead In ‘Playboy’

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Friday March 11, 2011 @ 9:08am PSTTags: Eddie Cibrian, Jeff Hephner, NBC, playboy, recast
Nellie Andreeva

EXCLUSIVE: The lead in the NBC drama pilot Playboy is being recast.

Third Watch alum Eddie Cibrian has been tapped for the role, replacing Jeff Hephner, who landed the part last week after a marathon of auditions. The decision was … Read More »

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