News

Laurie Arent (NCIS: New Orleans) has signed on as writer and executive producer on Kelly Ripa’s Freeform project based on Jasmin Rosemberg’s book How The Other Half Hamptons, from Aaron Kaplan’s Kapital Entertainment and Ripa and Mark Consuelos’ Milojo Productions.

The project, which is currently in development, explores the Hamptons sharehouse, an annual ritual with a camp-like culture that scores of Manhattan twentysomethings take part in every summer.

Best friends Rachel (the good girl), Jamie (the wild one), and Allison (the suddenly single serial monogamist) are about to find out How The Other Half Hamptons. For 16 weekends, they’ll inhabit a 10-bedroom house with 40 strangers and juggle endless parties with regrettable hookups while dodging unexpected twists of fate. They’ll encounter shared bathrooms discover what passes for entertainment and face sticky dilemmas (having your ex show up at the same house.

The CW is developing a series adaptation of Lesley Livingston’s novel The Valiant, which is a story that revolves around a female gladiator.

The series will follow "a Celtic princess on the run from an arranged marriage and a sheltered life who is captured and forced into slavery under Julius Caesar. She ends up training among the first wave of female Gladiators to compete in the Colosseum for fame, fortune and, ultimately, her freedom."

It sounds like a cool project that could turn out to be an awesome series. But, it seems like the kind of show that would be better off being developed by a cable network or streaming service. Places like HBO, Starz, and Netflix tend to give their shows a decent budget and give the creative team more freedom to realize their vision. But, who knows, maybe The CW will surprise us and give us an epic series.

Recently,CBS delivered the new,official synopsis/spoilers for their upcoming "NCIS: New Orleans" episode 18 of season 1. The episode is entitled "The List," and it turns out that we're going to see some pretty intriguing stuff go down when the team is led to two other unsolved murders, stemming from the initial murder, and more. In the new, 18th episode press release: The NCIS Team Searches For The Common Thread Among Three Seemingly Unlinked Murder Cases After The Victim's Names Are Spotted On A Mural In A Dilapidated Part Of Town. Press release number 2: After a sailor is murdered in the champagne room of a strip club, the NCIS team is going to link the murder weapon to two additional unsolved cases and discover that the names of all three victims appear on a mural in a dilapidated part of town. Also, Brody's ex-fiancé will pay her a surprise visit.

Recently, CBS delivered the new,official synopsis/spoilers for their upcoming "NCIS: New Orleans" episode 10 of season 1. The episode is entitled, "Stolen Valor," and it turns out that we're going to see the NCIS New Orleans team look into the homicide of a retired Seal, and more. In the new, 10th episode official press release: Pride will travel to afghanistan after the lead suspect in a murder case, is found with the navy-issued jacket of an officer believed to have been killed in the line of duty. Press release number 2: The NCIS team is going to investigate the murder of a retired Seal who tracked down individuals impersonating military personnel. But the case will take a mysterious turn when the lead suspect is found with the Navy-issued jacket of an officer believed to have been killed in the line of duty in Afghanistan. Also, Brody is going to discover...

After spending untold amounts of cash on hundreds of dramas and comedies — most of which will never make it to your living rooms — the five broadcast networks will begin announcing in New York next week which projects are good enough to earn a coveted fall pickup. (NBC and Fox will present their fall schedule to advertisers on Monday, followed by ABC on Tuesday, CBS on Wednesday and the CW on Thursday).

Buzz is already strong for several projects (for more on the hot ones, click here). But every year, we always wonder what diamond-in-the-rough was left on the cutting room...

And they’re off! Casting is all but completed and production has already begun on scores of pilots for the five broadcast networks. But not every comedy and drama will go the distance. Which project has the right stuff? What pilot already has you feeling like you popped a Lunesta? Check out the mammoth slate for fall consideration. (And remember, all projects are whittled down in late April/early May before the nets present their fall slates to advertisers in New York):

CBS

The Doctor (Rina Mimoun, David Nutter). A mother (Christine Lahti) reconnects with her adult children when...

Vanessa Ferlito has landed the second title role opposite Alex Breckenridge in CW's pilot Cooper & Stone. The pilot, from writer/exec producer Laurie Arent and CBS TV Studios, is about Jenna Cooper (Breckenridge) and Stone (Ferlito), two smart female detectives on Chicago’s North Side who are best friends, equally adept at discussing fashion, music and pop culture as they are solving homicides. Ferlito, repped by Innovative and attorney Carlos Goodman, did stints on 24 and CSI: NY and was recently seen in Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps.

CW topper Dawn Ostroff may be shepherding her best development season yet, but the veteran programmer is not expected to stick around to see the 2011-12 launch: Ostroff, whose contract is up in June, reportedly informed both CBS Corp chief Leslie Moonves and Warner Bros., Chairman and CEO Barry Meyer that she will leave sometime this summer to return to New York, where her husband’s job is based.

Ostroff has run CW since 2006, when it became joint venture between Warner Bros., and CBS. She’s been bi-coastal for the last five years.

For now, Ostroff told EW that her...

Alex Breckenridge (Life Unexpected) has been tapped as one of the 2 leads in CW's pilot Cooper & Stone. The pilot, from writer-exec producer Laurie Arent and CBS TV Studios, is about Jenna Cooper (Breckenridge) and Stone, two smart young female detectives on Chicago’s North Side who are best friends, equally adept at discussing fashion, music, pop culture as they are solving homicides. John Wirth serves as showrunner.

Human Target executive producer Brad Kern has been tapped as executive producer/showrunner on ABC's drama pilot Poe. The crime procedural, from writer-exec producer Chris Hollier, Warner Bros. TV and Dan Lin's Lin Pictures, follows Edgar Allan Poe, the world's very first detective, as he uses unconventional methods to investigate dark mysteries in 1840s Boston. Kern previously served as showrunner on the WB's Charmed. 24 showrunner Howard Gordon will serve as executive producer/showrunner on REM, Kyle Killen's drama pilot for NBC described as an Inception-style thriller about a cop living in two different realities. The gig falls under Gordon's overall deal with 20th TV. In addition to Rem, Gordon has the pilot Homeland, which he co-wrote, in contention at Showtime. If the two projects go to series, Gordon could conceivably run both the way Shawn Ryan juggled showrunner duties on The Shield and Lie to Me. The Cape...

British helmer Mark Mylod (Entourage), who directed the pilots for the U.K. series Shameless and its U.S. version on Showtime, has signed on to direct ABC's drama pilot Once Upon a Time. The project, from Lost executive producers Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz, centers on a woman with a troubled past who is drawn into a small town in Maine where the magic and mystery of Fairy Tales just may be real. John Dahl, who has helmed multiple episodes of Dexter, Californication and Justified, is set to make his pilot directing debut with the CW's Cooper and Stone. The pilot, from writer-exec producer Laurie Arent and CBS TV Studios, is about two smart young female detectives on Chicago’s North Side who are best friends, equally adept at discussing fashion, music, pop culture as they are solving homicides. At the CW, UTA-repped Dahl has directed episodes of The Vampire Diaries and Hellcats.

A buddy legal drama starring a former angel? How about some zombies, which we reported yesterday? Maybe some cops and doctors to go with the network known for spies, vampires, angsty rich kids and angsty 20-somethings and cheerleaders, who also happen to be angsty as well? The CW has picked up thre more pilots to go with their zombie show picked up the other day.

‘Hart of Dixie.’ From Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage (‘Gossip Girl’), ‘Dixie’ follows a New York City doctor who inherits a practice in a small Southern town. According to TVLine, look for pleny of quirky characters.

‘Heavenly.’ From Richard Hatem (‘Supernatural’), the legal drama follows the team of a young female attorney and a former angel who tackle cases together. The former angel is now human and named Dashiel Coffee.

‘Cooper & Stone.’ The cop drama follows two detectives, who are also best friends. They love...

Fans of "The O.C." and "Gossip Girl" should enjoy this latest pilot season nugget of news very much.

The CW has announced four pilot pickups, including one from the "O.C."/"Gg" dream team of Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage, EW reports.

Their show is called "Hart of Dixie" and is about a "young New York City doctor after she inherits a medical practice in a small Southern town inhabited by an eclectic and eccentric group of characters." So basically it's like "Gossip Girl" meets "Everwood"? Leila Gerstein and Len Goldstein are behind the project as well.

Also picked up by the network was the much-talked about zombie series "Awakening," which centers on "two sisters who come of age and face off against one another amidst the beginning of a zombie uprising." If only one of the Michalka sisters wasn't already starring on a CW show. Alas, it was not meant to be.

The CW’s zombie series just shambled another step closer to getting on the air, along with a project about an ex-angel and a couple cop ‘n’ doc shows.

The network just announced four pilot pickups, including one from the Chuck/Gossip Girl team of Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage.

First up is one you’ve heard about already if you’ve been reading your Inside TV blog: Awakening, about “two sisters who come of age and face off against one another amidst the beginning of a zombie uprising.” The others after the jump…

Next is Heavenly, from Supernatural co-exec producer Richard Hatem,...