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‘The Selection’ Dead At The CW

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Thursday May 9, 2013 @ 3:22pm PDTTags: the CW, The Selection
Nellie Andreeva

After two development cycles and two pilots, the CW is throwing in the towel on bringing Keira Cass’ book The Selection to the small screen. By all accounts, the second pilot, which was shot in Budapest, was an improvement over last year’s effort. But in the end I hear the finished product, while beautifully shot, was not compelling enough. I hear CW brass felt that there was no room for two kings-and-castles series on the schedule, and Reign came in stronger.

Related: CW’s ‘Tomorrow People’, ‘100′, ‘Reign’ & ‘Oxygen’ Ordered To Series

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Pilots ‘Boomerang’, ‘The Selection’ & ‘Company Town’ Add Actors

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Thursday March 14, 2013 @ 7:20pm PDTTags: Boomerang, Company Town, The Selection
Nellie Andreeva

Rosa Salazar (Parenthood) has been cast in Fox‘s drama pilot Boomerang, from John Wells Prods. and Warner Bros TV. It is about the Hamiltons — parents (Anthony LaPaglia and Felicity Huffman) and grownup sons (Michael Stahl-David … Read More »

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Louise Lombard Tapped For Queen Role In CW Pilot ‘The Selection’

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Tuesday March 12, 2013 @ 11:25am PDTTags: Louise Lombard, the CW, The Selection
Nellie Andreeva

EXCLUSIVE: The CW‘s The Selection reboot has found its queen. CSI and Stargate Universe alumna Louise Lombard has joined the project based on Kiera Cass’ book. The Selection, written by Elizabeth Craft and Sarah Fain and … Read More »

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CW Pilot ‘The Selection’ Casts Aspen, ‘Reign’ Finds Its Queen

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Monday March 4, 2013 @ 12:30pm PSTTags: CBS TV Studios, CW, Reign, The Selection
Nellie Andreeva

Lucien LaviscountIn his first pilot season in the U.S., young British actor Lucien Laviscount (Skins) has landed one of the male leads in the CW reboot of The Selection after arriving in Los Angeles less … Read More »

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CW Pilot ‘The Selection’ Casts Its Lead

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Friday February 22, 2013 @ 3:49pm PSTTags: The Selection, Yael Grobglas
Nellie Andreeva

EXCLUSIVE: In her first pilot season in the U.S., Israeli actress Yael Grobglas has landed one of the most sought-after roles for young actresses, the lead in the CW drama The Selection. Because of a … Read More »

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Joey McIntyre & Jessica Chaffin Join CBS Pilot ‘The McCarthys’, CW’s ‘The Selection’ Brings Back Peta Sergeant

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Thursday February 21, 2013 @ 9:48am PSTTags: Jessica Chaffin, Joey McIntyre, Peta Sergeant, The McCarthys, The Selection
Nellie Andreeva

EXCLUSIVE: Actor-singer Joey McIntyre has been cast in CBS/Sony TV single-camera comedy pilot The McCarthys. Also added to the pilot, written by Brian Gallivan, directed by Fred Savage and executive produced by Will Gluck, is Jessica Chaffin, joining previously cast Jacki Weaver, Jake Lacy and Jack McGee. The McCarthys revolves around an Irish-Catholic, sports-crazed Boston clan and the gay son (Lacy) whose greatest sin is not his sexuality but his desire to spend less time with his family. McIntyre will play Gerard McCarthy, the one short guy in the family who is mad about it. Chaffin, repped by CAA and attorney Jeff Endlich, plays his sister Jackie, who swings wildly from overconfidence to insecurity, and is completely unaware that she’s her mother’s (Weaver) least favorite. This marks McIntyre’s first regular series gig since David E. Kelley’s Boston Public. At CBS, he is joining fellow New Kids On The Block bandmate Donnie Wahlberg, who co-stars on Blue Bloods. McIntyre, repped by Domain and KLWGN, will next be seen in Paul Feig’s The Heat with Melissa McCarthy and Sandra Bullock. Read More »

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Alex Graves, Bharat Nalluri & Brad Silberling To Direct CW Pilots

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Monday February 4, 2013 @ 8:06am PSTTags: Reign, the CW, The Hundred, The Selection
Nellie Andreeva

EXCLUSIVE: The CW has set directors for three of its drama pilots. Alex Graves will direct and executive produce The Selection. Written by Elizabeth Craft and Sarah Fain, Selection is based on the book by Kiera Cass. Set 300 years in the future, the epic romance centers on a working-class young woman chosen by lottery to participate in a competition with 25 other women for the Royal Prince’s hand to become the nation’s next queen. This marks the second Selection pilot ordered by the CW; the first one last season was directed by Mark Piznarski. Last year, Graves directed the pilot for ABC’s horror/mystery drama 666 Park Ave. He also helmed the pilot for Fox’s Fringe as virtually all of his pilots have gone to series. Additionally, Graves directed the two-hour opener of Fox’s Terra Nova.

Another director whose pilot last season went to series, Bharat Nalluri, is back on pilot-directing duty. He will direct and executive produce The Hundred. Written/executive produced by Jason Rothenberg, the pilot is based on the books by Kass Morgan. Set 97 years after a nuclear war has destroyed civilization, it revolves around 100 juvenile delinquents sent back to Earth to investigate the possibility of re-colonizing the planet. Warner Bros TV and Alloy are producing. Last season, WME-repped Nalluri directed the pilot for the CW’s Emily Owens MD. Read More »

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‘The Selection’ & Taylor Hackford Military Drama Get CW Pilot Orders

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Wednesday January 23, 2013 @ 10:44am PSTTags: Big Deals TV, Company Town, the CW, The Selection
Nellie Andreeva

The CW today got on the pilot board with its first orders, a Selection redo and Taylor Hackford’s Company Town. They join The Originals, the planted Vampire Diaries spinoff, which will air as an episode … Read More »

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William Moseley Joins ‘The Silent Mountain’

By DOMINIC PATTEN | Friday June 15, 2012 @ 7:12am PDTTags: the CW, The Selection

William Moseley has joined the cast of The Silent Mountain. Moseley, best known for his Peter Pevensie role in the Chronicle of Narnia movies, will play a young lover in the romantic drama. The British-born Moseley was selected … Read More »

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The CW Eyes ‘The Selection’, Two Comedies For Midseason

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Thursday May 17, 2012 @ 10:45am PDTTags: CW, The Selection
Nellie Andreeva

The Selection Aimee Teegarden CWThe CW had been open to launching as many as six new drama series next season and it may still do it. The network picked up five pilots to series and the one that just missed the cut, The Selection, remains in serious contention. I hear CW brass are planning to sit down with the producers of the project next week to discuss its redeveloping. Elizabeth Craft and Sarah Fain, who wrote the adaptation of Kiera Cass’ novels, are expected to remain on board but instead of staying close to the source material as they did this season, they will likely use the books more of a jumping-off point the second time around. The cast is expected to change, but the CW and The Selection studio Warner Bros TV are looking to keep the lead – Friday Night Lights‘ Aimee Teegarden — who got high marks. The project is being put on a fast track and, if it comes together, could join the CW’s schedule in midseason. “I truly believe that there is a series in The Selection,” CW president Mark Pedowitz said after the network’s upfront presentation today.

Related: Upfront 2012: What Pilots Are Still Alive

As part of Pedowitz’s efforts to re-introduce comedy series on the network, the CW developed several half-hour scripts. None of them was picked up to pilot — Pedowitz explained the decision with the need to stabilize the schedule, which is done easier with hourlong series. Now that he feels  the lineup is in good shape, Pedowitz said he will focus attention on comedies. Of the half-hour scripts that the CW developed this past cycle, two remain in contention: an adaptation of the 2009 British comedy FM starring pre-Bridesmaids Chris O’Dowd, about two radio DJs and their producers; and the Ben McMillan- and Josh Greenbaum-written and Craig Zadan- and Neil Meron-produced Swordfighting, about two young couples. While one of the scripts is written as a single-camera and one as multi-, both may be done as single-camera as the CW will likely re-introduce scripted comedy to its drama-heavy lineup with single-camera shows. Like The Selection, the two comedy projects could be piloted off cycle and launch later in the season.

Related: The CW’s 2012-13 Schedule: ‘Supernatural’ To Wednesday, ‘Top Model’ To Friday, Fall Launch Pushed To October Read More »

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Upfront 2012: What Pilots Are Still Alive

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Thursday May 17, 2012 @ 6:58am PDTTags: Gotham, Guilty, Judy Greer, The Selection
Nellie Andreeva

Cuba Gooding Jr GuiltyThe broadcast networks left an uncharacteristically small number of pilots in midseason contention this year. The strongest among them is the Fox drama Guilty starring Cuba Gooding Jr, who tested very high. The network picked up … Read More »

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CW Picks Up ‘Carrie Diaries’, ‘Arrow’, ‘Cult’, ‘Beauty and the Beast’, ‘First Cut’ To Series

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Friday May 11, 2012 @ 2:00pm PDTTags: Arrow, Beauty and the Beast, Cult, First Cut, The Carrie Diaries, The Selection
Nellie Andreeva

The Carrie Diaries CWThe CW has made five new drama series pickups, with all early standouts making the cut. That includes the Sex And The City prequel The Carrie Diaries, the Green Arrow-themed Arrow, the contemporary reboot of the 1980s series Beauty and the Beast, mystery Cult and medical drama First Cut starring Mamie Gummer.

CW TV Show ArrowPicking up five new scripted series is a record for the CW which, under new topper Mark Pedowitz, has vowed to increase the amount of originals on the air at any time, avoiding long spells of repeats. The CW also has been planning to employ the cable model of shorter seasons with some of its series, including Cult, which had been envisioned from the get-go as doing 13 episodes a season. There had been speculation that the CW would pick up as many as 5-6 of its eight pilots to series. The sixth drama pilot that had been in serious contention but did not get a nod today was the book adaptation The Selection whose chances were boosted by its similarities to the blockbuster Hunger Games movie franchise. Were those similarities too close for comfort?

The large number of new series pickups does not bode well for the CW many bubble series but a couple, like Hart of Dixie, Gossip Girl and maybe Nikita, would likely make the cut. Studio-wise, three of the five new CW series, Carrie Diaries, Arrow and Cult, hail from Warner Bros. TV, the other two from CBS TV Studios. Two of the series are co-produced by Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage’s WBTV-based Fake Empire, while Arrow is with Berlanti Prods. Read More »

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PRIMETIME PILOT PANIC: The Early Buzz

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Sunday April 8, 2012 @ 9:00am PDTTags: Animal Kingdom, Arrow, Elementary, Hannibal, Karyn Usher, Kevin Williamson, Malibu Country, Midnight Sun, Mistresses, Ralph Lamb, Save Me, The Carrie Diaries, The Selection
Nellie Andreeva

(RE-POSTED FROM FRIDAY): Back by popular demand: Deadline’s Pilot Buzz lists. We’re earlier than normal this year while pilots have generally been late, with only a handful of them having cuts by now and the vast majority still in various stages of production. Therefore, everything on this list has to be taken with a gigantic grain of salt as a lot could change between a table read and a final cut. Take NBC’s comedy pilot SAVE ME for example. After some mixed and even negative chatter early on, mostly related to the tone of the show, originally developed for Showtime, the tide changed completely over the last two days when people saw the completed pilot, which is getting high marks. The list also doesn’t cover every pilot as some of them have not gotten into production yet or feedback has been insufficient:

The network already has one new scripted series on tap for next season, HANNIBAL, which I hear may go for midseason. With the network in such bad shape after years of neglect and bad decisions by previous regimes, NBC seems to have cast a very wide net this season, developing a vast range of projects that are all over the map, making it harder to handicap. On the drama side, mystery MIDNIGHT SUN and the Jekyll & Hyde-esque DO NO HARM are getting some solid early buzz. The Jason Katims/Jason Ritter medical drama COUNTY, which just wrapped, also has been getting positive feedback. Western-esque THE FRONTIER, which is shooting in Australia, is getting notices for its rich look. Comedy-wise, ANIMAL KINGDOM is hot, as is White House family comedy 1600 PENN, despite a last-minute recasting, as well as the Matthew Perry starrer GO ON and Greg Daniels’ FRIDAY NIGHT DINNER. The network also is high on a couple of multi-camera comedies, the untitled KARI LIZER and JIMMY FALLON projects, with TABLE FOR THREE also looking encouraging so far. The Ryan Murphy/Ali Adler blended family comedy THE NEW NORMAL is still shooting but, with the auspices involved, it is considered a strong contender. NBC brass seem to like the SARAH SILVERMAN pilot, which had an early order, but Silverman is considered acquired taste, so a lot will depend on testing.

The KEVIN WILLIAMSON project was very strong at the script stage, got even stronger with the casting of Kevin Bacon and James Purefoy, and seems to be sailing through production. Meanwhile the untitled KARYN USHER teen-spy drama, which also was an early standout during the script phase, then hit a speed bump in casting the lead, which took a very long time, now appears to be in great shape, with newcomer Saxon Sharbino getting strong reviews. The Williamson and Karyn projects seem to be the top drama contenders at the moment, Read More »

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William Moseley To Star As Aspen In CW Pilot ‘The Selection’

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Tuesday March 13, 2012 @ 11:07am PDTTags: the CW, The Selection
Nellie Andreeva

William Moseley The Selection CWEXCLUSIVE: The Chronicles Of Narnia star William Moseley has landed one of the most buzzed-about pilot roles this season: He will play Aspen in the CW’s drama pilot The Selection. Based on the upcoming … Read More »

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CW’s ‘The Selection’ Casts Its King & Queen

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Wednesday March 7, 2012 @ 9:07pm PSTTags: Martin Donovan, The Selection
Nellie Andreeva

EXCLUSIVE: Leonor Varela (Blade II) and Martin Donovan (Boss) are set to co-star in the CW’s drama pilot The Selection, which has been compared to The Hunger Games. Based on … Read More »

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Ethan Peck To Star In CW Pilot ‘Selection’

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Saturday February 25, 2012 @ 4:29pm PSTTags: The Selection
Nellie Andreeva

EXCLUSIVE: The CW tapped the offspring of acting royalty to play the prince in its futuristic drama pilot The Selection. Ethan Peck (full name Ethan Gregory Peck), the grandson of Oscar winner Gregory Peck, is set to star opposite Aimee … Read More »

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CW Castings: Robert Knepper To Co-Star In ‘Cult’, Aimee Teegarden Gets ‘Selection’ Lead

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Thursday February 23, 2012 @ 2:38pm PSTTags: Cult, Robert Knepper, The Selection
Nellie Andreeva

Robert Knepper is set to co-star in the CW drama pilot Cult. The project, from Warner Bros TV and Fake Empire, centers on Skye (Jessica Lucas), an inquisitive young female production assistant on a wildly popular television show called Cult … Read More »

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CW Picks Up 3 More Drama Pilots, Including J.J. Abrams & Mark Schwahn’s ‘Shelter’

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Tuesday January 31, 2012 @ 12:15pm PSTTags: JJ Abrams, Joey Dakota, Mark Harmon, Shelter, The Selection
Nellie Andreeva

The CW today gave the green light to three more drama pilots: J.J. Abrams and Mark Schwahn’s Shelter; Elizabeth Craft and Sarah Fain’s The Selection; and Bert Royal’s Joey Dakota, which has Mark Harmon executive producing. That brings the total number of hourlong pilots picked up at the CW this year to … Read More »

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