Notícias da TV

[JRibeiro]

CW Teams With Tom Fontana And Barry Levinson For Rookie Cop Drama

Former Homicide executive producers Tom Fontana and Barry Levinson are back on the beat, this time at the CW. The network has bought Musketeers 3.0, a cop drama project which will be written by Fontana and executive produced by him and Levinson. It centers on three outstanding but out-of-control New York detectives who meet their match when a sexy, young rookie is assigned to their team. Levinson and Fontana’s banner The Levinson/Fontana Co. is producing with Warner Bros. TV. Rookie cops are popular on TV these days — ABC has Rookie Blue and CBS is launching The 2-2 in midseason.

Developing procedurals, which have better repeatability, has been one of the goals of new CW president Mark Pedowitz going into this season. The CW had been looking to crack the classic legal, medical and cop franchises for the past couple of years. This past season, the network greenlighted to pilot the cop drama Cooper & Stone and soapy medical drama Heart of Dixie, the latter of which was picked up to series for fall. Along with procedurlas, half-hour comedies and DC-themed comic book adaptations are among CW’s development priorities this season. The network is already working on both, buying Eric Kripke’s adaptation of the comic Deadman and redeveloping as a half-hour Todd Graff’s summer camp dramedy Acting Out. Levinson and Fontana have a history at CW’s predecessor the WB. The two produced the short-lived 2006 college drama The Bedford Diaries, which was co-created by Fontana. UTA-repped Fontana recently co-created the BBC America’s upcoming first original scripted series, drama Copper. ICM-repped Levinson, who recently directed HBO’s You Don’t Know Jack, is attached to another biopic at the pay cable network, The Day the Laughter Stopped, about silent-film star Fatty Arbuckle. John Adams writer Kirk Ellis is writing, with Modern Family star Eric Stonestreet on board to portray Arbuckle.

[JRibeiro]

‘The Corrections’ Adaptation Nears Pilot Pickup At HBO, Anthony Hopkins Circling

I hear HBO is nearing a pilot order for The Corrections, a drama series project from filmmaker Noah Baumbach based on Jonathan Franzen’s book of the same name. Top film producer Scott Rudin, who has been developing the project for a decade, originally as a feature, is executive producing with Baumbach and Franzen, and I hear Anthony Hopkins has expressed interest in playing the male lead and will be meeting with the producers. Baumbach and Franzen co-wrote the adaptation of Franzen’s book, with Baumbach also attached to direct. Franzen’s 2001 novel, which won the National Book Award and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, revolves around the troubles of an elderly Midwestern couple and their three adult children, tracing their lives from the mid-twentieth century to “one last Christmas” together near the turn of the millennium. Rudin and Baumbach have worked together on 4 features, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, Margot at the Wedding, Fantastic Mr. Fox and Greenberg. This would be the second HBO pilot executive produced by Rudin. He is also behind Aaron Sorkin’s More As This Story Develops, which is nearing a series order. Additionally, he is exec producing a Cynthia Mort half-hour project, now in development.

[JRibeiro]

Greg Daniels To Adapt British Comedy ‘Friday Night Dinner’ For NBC

After successfully adapting British workplace comedy The Office for NBC, Greg Daniels is taking on another half-hour British format for the network, this time a family comedy. I hear that NBC has put in development a U.S. version of the UK series Friday Night Dinner with Daniels at the helm. It is unclear whether Daniels will write, co-write or supervise the writing of the adaptation for UMS. Created by Robert Popper, Friday Night Dinner, which debuted on Channel 4 in February, centers on the Goodmans, a traditional but not strictly observant Jewish family, and chronicles their Shabbat dinners. Every Friday night, brothers Adam and Jonny reluctantly visit their parents — mom Jackie, who is obsessed with Masterchef, and dad Martin, who loves to walk around shirtless — for a home-cooked meal. Adding to the gallery of oddball characters is a grandmother who struts her stuff in a bikini and eccentric neighbor Jim who constantly interrupts dinner. Friday Night Dinner, which has been renewed by Channel 4 for a second season, airs in the U.S. on BBC America. The show hails from Big Talk Prods, the UK production company also behind another Channel 4 comedy series that is being remade by NBC, Free Agents. NBC’s version, starring Hank Azaria and Kathryn Hahn, was picked up to series and launches this fall. Daniels is expected to executive produce Friday Night Dinner with his producing partner Howard Klein, Popper and Big Talk. The project falls under the new two-year overall deal Daniels recently signed with UMS. In addition to developing and executive producing the Emmy-winning The Office, WME-repped Daniels also co-created and executive produces another NBC Thursday comedy series, Parks and Recreation. Both shows are nominated for best comedy series Emmys, making Daniels the first comedy writer-producer to have two shows competing against each other in that category since 1975, when James L. Brooks and Allan Burns were nominated for Mary Tyler Moore and Rhoda. Additionally, Daniels is nominated in the comedy writing category for penning Steve Carell’s farewell episode on The Office.

[JRibeiro]

Greek Creator Developing Young Adult Adventure Drama for Fox

Greek creator Patrick Sean Smith is taking his special brand of young adult angst global.
Smith is developing an hour-long drama/adventure series for Fox set in the world of young international travelers.
The working title: Wanderlust.
Imagine TV, the purveyor of such acclaimed dramas as Friday Night Lights, Felicity, 24 and Parenthood, is producing with 20th Century Fox.
Prior to creating ABC Family’s long-running Greek, Smith served as a writer on the late, great Everwood.

[kon-el]

“Nunca digo nunca, mas acredito que é o fim dele.” Quem o diz é Rowan Atkinson, britânico famoso na comédia, sobre o desfecho da personagem televisiva que o tornou famoso: Mr. Bean.

Não gostei nada dos filmes, o 1º ainda se vê mas muito fraco, mas havia sketchs do programa televisivo que eram fenomenais. Ele era excelente na arte de fazer rir sem falar nada e ninguém se irá esquecer das suas desventuras em que por vezes era acompanhado pelo seu ursinho

[rui sousa]

Eu gostei do primeiro filme, mas a série é outra coisa. Fica agora a memória de Bean, e talvez no futuro não nos iremos esquecer dele muito depressa, já que a RTP gosta muito de repetir a série e a TVI os filmes...

[picaroto84]

Sem dúvida que ele ficará na memoria como um excelente comediante.
A série era mesmo excelente e os filmes também foram engraçados, mas como tudo o que começa um dia acaba ja era de prever.

[BurnCycle]

Syfy announced today that it has ordered 13 more episodes of the superhuman drama series "Alphas" for 2012:

Syfy's new super-powered original drama series Alphas, featuring a team of superhuman investigators, will be returning for a second season, it was announced today by Mark Stern, President, Original Content, Syfy, and Co-Head, Original Content, Universal Cable Productions. Syfy is ordering 13 episodes of the breakout scripted summer hit from series producers Universal Cable Productions and BermanBraun Television to air in 2012.

"Alphas' smart, innovative approach to a superhero franchise has clearly caught on with our audience," said Stern. "From the first-rate writing to the outstanding cast lead by David Strathairn, we're very proud of what was achieved in its first season and look forward to seeing this series fulfill even more of its creative potential in a second season."

Alphas debuted on July 11th and became Syfy's most-watched original scripted series premiere in two years. To date, premiere episodes which air Monday nights at 10PM ET/PT have averaged 3.3 million total viewers (including all available Live +7 DVR data).

Comparatively, in both key demos, Alphas has outperformed other new and returning scripted series this season including Teen Wolf, Rescue Me, Hawthorne and The Killing. Alphas also tops Memphis Beat in Adults 18-49.

Alphas has scored impressive numbers with on demand viewers since its July launch averaging over 240,000 plays within 7 days per episode. Alphas is also Syfy's most popular series in digital downloads.

Alphas, airing Monday nights at 10PM ET/PT on Syfy, follows a clandestine group of ordinary people whose unique neurological condition equips them with extraordinary physical abilities. Led by preeminent neurologist and psychiatrist Dr. Lee Rosen (Emmy Award-winner and Academy Award-nominee David Strathairn (Temple Grandin, Good Night, and Good Luck) and operating within the Defense Department, the team investigates cases involving other Alpha activity. The ensemble cast also stars Malik Yoba (New York Undercover, Why Did I Get Married?), Warren Christie (October Road), Azita Ghanizada (Castle), Ryan Cartwright (Bones) and Laura Mennell (Watchmen). Valerie Cruz is a recurring guest star.

Notable guest stars this season include Summer Glau (Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles), Garret Dillahunt (Raising Hope), Lindsay Wagner (The Bionic Woman), Brent Spiner (Star Trek: The Next Generation) and Rebecca Mader (Lost) on September 12th and John Pyper Ferguson (Caprica) on September 26th.

Created by Zak Penn and Michael Karnow, Alphas is a production of Universal Cable Productions and BermanBraun Television.

Source

[inverso]

Rowan Atkinson (Mr Bean) diz que vai deixar de fazer rir, que está velho... Mas todos os meses manda um carro de um milhão de libras para a sucata...

[JRibeiro]

Why Is Television Losing Women Writers? Veteran Producers Weigh In

As the fall TV season approaches, it's worth taking a closer look at the people who have created and written the scripted fare you'll see.

In the 2006-2007 television season, 35 percent of the writers of broadcast network, prime-time programs were women, according to an annual study by San Diego State University's Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film. In the 2010-2011 season, that number had dropped by half, to 19 percent. What happened?

Since the latest edition of the annual SDSU study came out two weeks ago, I've posed that question to a dozen experienced television writers and creators, female and male alike. Most of these professionals, who've worked on everything from 'Battlestar Galactica' to 'Sons of Anarchy' to 'Pushing Daisies' to 'Chuck,' were alarmed by the numbers that the Center released.

For some, it confirmed their worst fears. "The situation is getting worse," said one veteran woman writer. "In the '90s, the networks cared more. They don't anymore." For others, it made them re-evaluate gains they thought women had made. "I had certainly perceived the situation as getting better and better for women -- I am rarely the only woman in the writers' room anymore, and I encounter more women at the higher levels," said Jane Espenson ('Once Upon a Time,' 'Torchwood,' 'Buffy,' 'Battlestar Galactica'). "I remember what it was like 20 years ago, and this is not that."

Today, everyone seems to agree in principle that diversity is desirable for a whole host of reasons, some of them pragmatic. "Overall, I've found that an equal mix of estrogen and testosterone in the writers' room -- and, indeed, with the support staff -- make for the best working environment for both genders," said Marc Guggenheim ('No Ordinary Family,' 'Eli Stone,' 'Brothers and Sisters'.) "A good working environment equals, in my opinion (though Lord knows there're plenty of examples to prove me wrong), good television."

"A balanced writers room is like a balanced world. Everyone thrives, good work gets done, people like each other and the show is better for it," said an experienced female writer who did not want to be named (let's call her Writer A). "Women keep the room moving. They're great at multitasking and getting along with others. They don't procrastinate and they open up with lots of personal anecdotes that make for great stories on the show and great character beats. They tend to smell good."

But the SDSU study isn't the only one showing that progress for women writers has, at best, stalled. According to statistics compiled by the Writers Guild of America, in 1999, 26 percent of working writers in cable and broadcast were women. By 2009, that number had risen by a mere 2 percent (and that was before the sharp decline recorded by the SDSU study). Moreover, between 2000 and 2009, "the earnings gap between women and white males [had] nearly quadrupled (from $4,735 to $17,343)."

"With women comprising a majority of the television viewing audience, this doesn't make much sense. You would think it would be an advantage to have greater numbers of women on staff," said Shawn Ryan ('The Chicago Code,' 'Terriers,' 'The Shield').

Asked to explain these worrying trends, the writers I spoke to offered various interpretations, ranging from economic pressures to old-fashioned sexism. Taken together, their observations paint a nuanced picture of a professional environment that's as stubbornly resistant to change as any in America.

The Economic Factor

The stagnant economy of the last several years affects hiring decisions in peculiar ways, some of which may prove especially detrimental to women.

"If I had to hazard a guess, I'd say that the size of writing staffs and the number of job opportunities for TV writers have been shrinking since the [2007-2008] writers' strike and the start of the recession," Guggenheim said. "While that wouldn't explain the disproportionate decrease percentage-wise, my instinct is that when jobs are harder to come by, it's minorities -- including women -- who are disproportionately impacted."

And old-school attitudes can inform hiring decisions, according to Nell Scovell ('Warehouse 13,' 'NCIS,' 'Sabrina the Teenage Witch'). "Anecdotally, I think in hard economic times, there's a misconception that men are still the breadwinners, i.e., 'If you give a woman a job, she's only supporting herself, but if you give a man a job, he'll support an entire family.' This is far from the truth."

The networks' and studios' desire for a "security blanket" in uncertain times is also a factor. Ask any television writer or critic: When we read about projects that the networks are developing or greenlighting, the names of the same male producers (and their proteges) crop up again and again.

"I think networks are panicking a little," said Amy Berg ('Eureka,' 'Leverage'). "With the emergence of digital media, no one is quite sure where the television industry is headed. How long will it be before content is created and distributed exclusively online? I think this, along with the country's current economic instability, is making networks reach for their security blankets. They're buying content from familiar faces with proven track records instead of taking risks with fresh voices. And if you're a veteran of this industry, chances are you're also a dude."

'Terra Nova' may well be emblematic of the current state of television drama. It's a big-budget, action-adventure series from big names -- among them Steven Spielberg and former Fox executive Peter Chernin -- and it has a whopping 12 executive producers. Two of them are female, and though 'Terra Nova' is being pitched in part as a family show, neither of those women is creatively guiding the project on a day-to-day basis (the project's showrunners are veteran writer/producers Rene Echevarria and Brannon Braga).

The Woman in the Room

In some quarters, there's still the perception that if a show has one woman writer on staff and perhaps one writer of color, that program's commitment to diversity is fulfilled (about 10 percent of working writers are minorities, according to the WGA, and that number has not budged for many years). But several woman pointed out that those writers are often the junior ones in the room, and they say it's not unusual for those writers to stay on the lower rungs of writing staffs for years rather than be promoted to positions of greater responsibility.

"If women aren't hired to write on staff they can't be mentored. They can't gain experience and they can't move up and then ultimately create their own show. They can't have overall deals" with studios, Writer A said. "They are essentially shut out of the process. We are seeing the effects now of women being shut out of the process."

The women who do get hired aren't particularly keen on being thought of as "the woman writer." As Ali Adler ('No Ordinary Family,' 'Chuck') put it, "During staffing season, you'll hear people say: 'We're looking for an upper-level female writer,' versus [a female writer] just being the best and brightest and shiniest non-gender specific penny in the bunch."

Being the only one of anything can certainly be an anxiety-inducing situation. Writer A recalled working for a show that fired its sole female writer every few months. "Being the only woman in a writers' room is like walking around with a target on your back," she said.

One male showrunner who has made strenuous (and successful) efforts to have a racially diverse writers' room remains frustrated that he still only has one woman on staff, and he said he's been thinking a lot about what it must be like for that woman.

"When you reach a critical mass of guys, you realize, even if you add women, it's still a very male culture, and that may not be the working style that the woman is used to or most comfortable with," noted that showrunner (let's call him Writer B). In that male culture, a woman may be less willing and able to offer ideas and pitches that come from their personal experience. (It also produces a different kind of show: The SDSU study found the number of female characters has dropped from from a high of 43 percent in the 2007-2008 season to 41 percent in the 2010-2011 season.)

When she staffed 'Alcatraz,' Elizabeth Sarnoff ('Lost,' 'Deadwood'), who co-created the show with J.J. Abrams, made sure that the writing staff had four women on it. All those women are senior writers.

"There just aren't enough women on writing staffs, period. There just aren't," Sarnoff said when I spoke to her a few weeks before the SDSU stats came out. "I felt very marginalized on every staff I've ever been on, because you feel like, 'Now I have to say that chicks wouldn't do that.' You know what I mean? Because there's nobody else to say it. It's not that guys are biased in one way or another, they're just guys in the same way we're women."

The irony is, according to Sarnoff, is that women's cultural conditioning makes them more likely to be able to contain their own creative impulses in way that allow them to hew to the vision of the showrunner. "[Women are] better at subjugating their own egos and allowing themselves to embrace another voice," Sarnoff said. "Men fight it. I've seen it. I've been on enough staffs to see it, where they're the ones who are trying to push their own [stuff] through rather than actually say, "Okay, I'm actually here to serve another."

It's All About the Genre

The kind of shows that are in vogue can affect the composition of writers rooms as well. Women are perceived as being more appropriate for the staffs of "soapier," ensemble-driven shows, but that's not where TV is headed right now. "The trend in the industry has been away from that kind of [soapy] TV, toward shows that are either more episodic or more big-event shows," said Writer B. "And in those areas, the perception -- and I'm not saying I agree with this -- is that they are more the province of male writers." (Here's a bit of advice for aspiring women writers from that showrunner, whose last few potential female hires got better offers from other shows: "If you're a woman who writes kick-ass action, the employment picture is a lot better.")

Comedy's comeback could be a factor as well; networks have been bulking up on half-hour programs ever since 'Modern Family' became a breakthrough hit. Though late-night shows typically have very few or zero women on staff (that's true even now, despite last year's controversy over the overall lack of women in late-night writers' rooms), finding a prime-time comedy in which more than a third of the writing credits come from women isn't all that easy. Though 'Parks and Recreation' has many women on staff (40 percent of its Season 3 writing credits went to women), that's not necessarily typical -- of the 17 credited writers for 'Modern Family's' first two seasons, five are women.

"Having started in the half-hour world, I definitely felt that was male-dominated territory," said Rina Mimoun ('Privileged,' 'Pushing Daisies,' 'Everwood'). "Those rooms are generally larger than one-hour writing rooms, and they almost always have hardly any women on staff. [Maybe] that could account for some of the statistics?"

Ad Advice

But what if the problem is simply baked into television's revenue structure? For everyone except Netflix and the premium pay networks, pleasing advertisers is the name of the game, especially in these uncertain times.

"Just look at the primary measuring statistic for a viewing audience, the only statistic that matters financially -- males 18-49," said Kurt Sutter ('Sons of Anarchy,' 'The Shield'). "Networks demand that shows be aimed at that target audience. They have to. That's what advertisers demand of them. No ads, no TV. So by default, for the most part, we are creating television for white guys.

"Play out that reality -- who better than to write those shows? White guys. I'm guilty of it. I have women on staff, but the truth is, I've learned that men write shows about the struggles of men better than women," Sutter added. "I'm not saying that women can't write male characters. Some do, very well. But men can write male characters more accurately."

Even networks aimed at female viewers are generally cautious and unlikely to pursue shows that take creative risks -- and feature truly unconventional stories by and about women.

"We're not making art out here, we're making programming that allows networks to sell ad dollars," says Jill Soloway ('Six Feet Under,' 'United States of Tara,' 'How to Make It in America'). "The only ad dollars that appeal solely to women only are diapers and cleaning products. The expensive ad dollars, like cars and air travel, must appeal to both genders. ...Sometimes I watch 'Louie,' which, for my money, is one of the best shows I have ever seen on television, and wonder if ... a network would air a show where a woman was talking about masturbating and farting (in an awesomely deep way, mind you). The answer is no -- not because networks hate women, not because studios refuse to hire women creators -- but because there is no brand that would be willing to be associated with the idea of such an anti-heroic woman."

The Elephant in the Room

And then there are the powerful men in the industry who just don't get it.

"They tend to say things like, 'We tried [hiring a woman] once but she just didn't work out.' Or 'Women aren't as funny as men. Women writers aren't as good.' Yes, they say this. I've heard it. They often don't even realize how they sound," said Writer A.

"Without going into specifics, two older male colleagues teamed up to make my life miserable" at one of her previous gigs, Berg said. "The experience was as surprising as it was devastating, which is probably why I didn't handle it well. As a result, I'm much more discerning now with the jobs I take on other shows and have a strictly enforced No Douchebags policy when hiring a staff of my own."

"I've been on staffs, not recently, where I remember at the beginning of one season, the boss just called in all the men and didn't want the women, and was so happy not having the women around," Sarnoff recalled. "When I asked later why he did that, he said, 'Well, you know, it was just the upper-level people.' I said, 'Do you understand how wrong that is on every level?'"

An Unequal Future?

Perhaps as successive generations of men and women take the reins of the creative community in Hollywood, things will change. But where will the next generation of female writer/producers come from if the talent pool is shrinking?

"We've backtracked," says Scovell. "My sense is there are more women at the top, but fewer coming up the pipeline."

Given the dire statistics, there may be a vicious circle at work: Women who hear that the television industry is not welcoming to them may be less likely to become part of it in the first place. Writer B said he's tried to convince female feature writers to work as TV scribes, but they're wary of the hours and the probably have heard stories like the ones above. In any case, the process of winnowing down the number of female candidates begins at the talent agency level, where agents determine which writers even get representation in the first place. They tend to go with writers who have powerful mentors or who are shopping the kind of TV projects that have worked in the past. And so the cycle continues.

"My guess is that the majority of the showrunners are still males and tend to hire males disproportionately to women," said Ryan. "Anecdotally, I will say that when I get spec scripts [i.e., work samples] sent to me for consideration (from staff writer level all the way up to co-executive producer), we always get more from male writers than female. Are more male writers trying to write in Hollywood than women? Are agencies representing a disproportionate number of males? I'm not sure."

Whatever set of factors have led to the current state of affairs, the networks and studios have stood by while it happened.

For the networks and the studios, there's no real downside to things remaining exactly as they are. Women are understandably reluctant to engage in the kind of legal actions that would make them unemployable, and who would they sue, anyway? There are multiple studios and networks; the industry is more diffuse than, say, Walmart, which was sued because only 33 percent of women were in management. (And, as I pointed out in a story last year, that percentage would be an improvement for women in Hollywood, where only about 25 percent of the people with the title executive producer are women).

So things stay the same -- or, when the industry recoils from perceived or real crises, things get worse.

Will the brave new world of online media save the day? Will the decoupling of advertising and content lead to greater opportunities and different kinds of stories made by a wider variety of people? It's hard to say.

In a hopeful example, Felicia Day and Kim Evey, the women behind the hit web series 'The Guild,' talked in this story about how creating their own online series -- a season of which costs six figures -- allowed them to bypass many of the hurdles that women in the industry must jump.

On the other hand, when Netflix commissioned its first series, 'House of Cards,' it went with David Fincher, a big-name talent who has no experience running a television show. Is 'House of Cards' even television, considering you won't need to be near a set to watch it? It's a good question -- one that Fincher will reportedly have $100 million to answer.

Who'll have the last laugh? Well, Felicia Day owns her content. Maybe David Fincher should ask her for career advice.

[JRibeiro]

HBO orders Aaron Sorkin drama about cable news

HBO has ordered Aaron Sorkin's untitled drama series about cable news to series, premiere date TBD.

The project features an impressive cast, including Jeff Daniels as the anchor, Emily Mortimer as his new producer, Alison Pill, Olivia Munn and Dev Patel as newsroom staffers and Sam Waterston as the wise boss. (Looking at this from a distance, the Sorkin shorthand seems as follows: Daniels is Casey, Mortimer is Dana, Pill and/or Munn is Natalie, Patel Jeremy, and Waterston a hybrid of Isaac and Leo.)

When it became clear that Aaron Sorkin's "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" wasn't working - in part, but not entirely, because the show-within-the-show never seemed nearly as funny as the characters insisted it was - a sentiment arose that viewers wish he had just taken the "Sports Night" approach to life at a cable news channel, rather than sketch comedy. Now he is, and with the backing of HBO plus the authority that comes with winning an Oscar for writing "The Social Network."

[JRibeiro]

ABC Buys Updated ‘Beauty And The Beast’

After ordering Once Upon a Time to series for this fall, Disney-owned ABC is staying in a fairytale mode by putting Beauty and the Beast in development for next season. Written by Jericho co-creator Jonathan E. Steinberg, the drama project is described as an epic fantasy re-imagining of the classic Beauty and the Beast tale. And just like most fairytale characters in Once Upon a Time, including Snow White and Prince Charming, those in Beauty and the Beast happen to have headlined a popular Disney movie. Steinberg is executive producing Beauty and the Beast with Mojo Films’ Gary Fleder and Mary Beth Basile for ABC Studios. Steinberg has experience with TV series adaptations. He most recently developed Fox’s drama Human Target based on the comic book.

[JRibeiro]

TBS Orders Comedy Pilot From Conan O’Brien’s Company

TBS is expanding its relationship with late-night host Conan O’Brien to primetime. The cable network has ordered a half-hour comedy pilot from O’Brien’s Warner Bros TV-based production company Conaco. WBTV’s cable division Warner Horizon Television will produce. The multi-camera sitcom, written by Ben Wexler (Still Standing), Ross Novie (Secret Girlfriend) and Jay Rondot (Secret Girlfriend), centers on a family man who quits his day job and returns to the neighborhood where he grew up. There, he reunites with his former best friend. Wexler, Novie and Rondot are executive producing with O’Brien, David Kissinger and Jeff Ross. Wexler will serve as the showrunner for the untitled pilot, which is slated to begin shooting this year. After veering into developing hourlong comedies for the past two years, TBS is returning to the half-hour comedy genre with two multi-camera pilots ordered over the past two weeks: the O’Brien-produced buddy sitcom and the recently ordered Men at Work, created by Breckin Meyer and produced by Jamie Tarses.

[JRibeiro]

ABC Buys Jenna Bans/Shonda Rhimes Legal Drama Project

Off the Map creator/executive producer Jenna Bans and executive producer Shonda Rhimes are teaming for a new ABC drama project created by Bans. The untitled legal drama centers on a young, idealistic defense attorney who, after being ignominiously fired from his high-powered Minneapolis law firm, struggles to start his own firm with an eclectic group of lawyer misfits, while starting to realize that he may have been fired from his old job because he got too close to a deadly cover-up. ABC Studios and Shondaland are producing, with Bans, Rhimes and Betsy Beers executive producing. Before she created Off the Map, Bans worked on Rhimes’ veteran medical drama Grey’s Anatomy and now serves as a co-executive producer on Rhimes’ midseason ABC drama Scandal. This marks Shondaland’s second ABC sale this season. Last month, the ABC Studios-based company set up Gilded Lillys, a 1895 drama written by The Nine co-creator KJ Steinberg. Bans and Rhimes are with ICM.

[JRibeiro]

Gaumont Launches U.S.-Based Division Run By Katie O’Connell, Sets Projects From Bryan Fuller And Michael Hirst

French film studio Gaumont has become the latest foreign production company to establish a U.S. outpost and tap a seasoned U.S. TV executive to run it. Gaumont today announced today the launch of Gaumont International Television, an independent studio based in Los Angeles, designed to produce drama and comedy television programming for the U.S. and international markets. Former NBC head of drama Katie O’Connell will run the company as CEO, with Sony Pictures TV business exec Richard Frankie tapped as COO. GIT also announced its first two projects that will be taken to MIPCOM next month: Hannibal, a one-hour drama series written by Pushing Daisies creator Bryan Fuller, and Madame Tussaud, a six-hour miniseries written by The Tudors creator Michael Hirst.

Hannibal will explore the early relationship of Thomas Harris’ signature character, renowned psychiatrist Dr. Hannibal Lector, and his patient, a young FBI criminal profiler named Will Graham, who is haunted by his ability to empathize with serial killers. Fuller is executive producing with Martha De Laurentiis who has produced three Hannibal Lector features: Hannibal, Red Dragon and Hannibal Rising.

Madame Tussaud is based on the book by Michelle Moran and follows the turbulent life of Madame Tussaud, who was not only a great artist, a formidable business woman and entrepreneur but also survived the horrors of the French Revolution and the Reign of Terror that swept away friends, family and an entire way of life. Hirst is executive producing with Alan Gasmer and Sherry Marsh.

This marks the return to the business for O’Connell, who served as head drama programming for NBC from 2006 until December 2008 when she exited as part of NBC’s massive executive shakeup. Prior to that, O’Connell was EVP of Development and Current Programming for Imagine Entertainment. Frankie most recently held the position of EVP Business Operations at Sony Pictures TV. O’Connell and Frankie have brought on board Erik Pack, based in London, who will head International Distribution and Co-Production for GIT. Pack previously served as EVP of International Sales and Co-Productions at London-based production and distribution company Power. Financing for GIT was arranged and structured by Evolution Media Capital, an investment banking firm for the entertainment and media industries.

The creation of GIT comes on the heels of leading Canadian production company Shaftesbury Films launching a U.S. arm and tapping former Columbia TriStar Network TV president Tom Mazza to run it. Last year, Montreal-based Cineflix launched U.S.-based Cineflix Studios and tapped former top AMC scripted executive Christina Wayne to run it.