Storyline Entertainment

Deadline
By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Friday December 9, 2011

EXCLUSIVE: Lifetime is heading back to The Blue Lagoon. The cable network has greenlighted a contemporary remake of the 1980 romance/adventure movie starring Brooke Shields, which centered on a boy and a girl marooned on a tropical island, where they grow up together, fall in love and discover sexuality. Neil Meron and Craig Zadan’s Storyline Entertainment and Judith Verno’s Peace Out Prods are producing the film in association with Sony Pictures TV, with Meron, Zadan and Verno executive producing. The project was originally set up at Lifetime in 2004 with Heather Rutman and Matt Heller as writers. Casting is already underway, with filming eyed for a February start in Puerto Rico.The Blue Lagoon movie franchise is known for giving young actresses their big break. The 1980 film made Shields a household name, while the 1991 sequel Return To The Blue Lagoon launched the career of Milla Jovovich.

The story of The Blue Lagoon, which echoes the biblical tale of Adam and Eve, originated as a novel by Henry De Vere Stacpoole. It was first made into a movie in Britain in 1949, with Jean Simmons as the young girl. This is the second high-profile contemporary movie remake in the works at Lifetime and produced by Zadan, Meron and Sony TV, along with a Steel Magnolia reboot with an all-black cast. On the series side, Zadan and Meron are executive producing Lifetime’sDrop Dead Diva and NBC’s midseason musical drama Smash.

CW Buys Treasure Hunter Drama, Couples Comedy

DEADLINE
By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Tuesday November 22, 2011

The CW is joining the treasure hunt trend this development season with Golddigger. The project, from Bill Haber’s Ostar Prods., centers on a young female treasure hunter who tracks down artifacts for a variety of mysterious and interesting clients. Lauren Horowitz is writing, with Haber and Stephanie Germain executive producing. With Golddigger, the CW is putting a young female twist on a genre that has been pretty hot this pitch season. NBC bought an untitled adventure drama from John Glenn. Described as “Da Vinci Code meets National Treasure,” it centers on a young NYPD beat cop who, along with his family and friends, embarks upon the greatest treasure hunt in history. NBC also is developing an updated version of the 1984 action-adventure romantic comedy film Romancing the Stone, whose plot kicked off with a romance writer played by Kathleen Turner receiving a treasure map. Mark Friedman is writing. And in another book adaptation, ABC recently bought the Michael Seitzman-penned The Seven Wonders, a treasure hunt show in the spirit of Raiders of the Lost Arc and National Treasure based on the Jack West Jr. series of adventure books by Australian author Matthew Reilly.

Swordfighting, whose deal is still being finalized, is part of new CW president Mark Pedowitz’s efforts to re-introduce comedy series on the network with sellected few half-hour projects his team has put in development this season. Written by Ben McMillan and Josh Greenbaum, Swordfighting revolves around two young couples who have been best friends and neighbors for years and whose friendship is put to the test when when the two wives reveal they’ve fallen in love (with each other). Craig Zadan and Neil Meron are executive producing the project, which will be produced by CBS TV Studios.

Lifetime To Remake ‘Steel Magnolias’ With All-Black Cast

DEADLINE
By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Tuesday October 11, 2011

EXCLUSIVE: The 1989 film Steel Magnolias is getting a contemporary remake with an all-black cast. Lifetime is developing an original movie based on the hit feature, which will be produced by Craig Zadan and Neil Meron and Sony Pictures TV, where the duo’s Storyline Entertainment has an exclusive deal for event long-form programming. Kenny Leon, who directed Storyline/SPT’s previous collaboration, the 2008 ABC movie A Raisin In The Sun, is attached to direct the new Steel Magnolias, which, like the movie, will be set in Louisiana and explore the bond among a group of women in the present day.

Both Lifetime’s Steel Magnolias and ABC’s A Raisin In The Sun are based on properties that span a famous play and a feature. But while the Emmy-nominated Raisin In the Sun was based on Lorraine Hansberry’s play (whose 2004 Broadway revival Leon directed), Steel Magnolias, penned by Sally Robinson (Iron Jawed Angels), is an adaptation of the screenplay for the movie, which was written by Robert Harling based on his play. The feature boasted an all-star cast of Sally Field, Dolly Parton, Shirley MacLaine, Darryl Hannah, Olympia Dukakis, and Julia Roberts. The goal of the TV movie’s producers is to assemble a similarly high-wattage cast of black actresses. The film, said to be a passion project of Lifetime president Nancy Dubuc and EVP Programming Robert Sharenow, has not been greenlighted but is on a fast track, with some preliminary work on casting choices for the leads expected to begin soon.

In addition to A Raisin In The Sun, which starred Sean Combs, Phylicia Rashad, Audra McDonald and Sanaa Lathan, Leon also directed the stage productions of Fences starring Denzel Washington and Viola Davis, and most recently The Mountaintop with Samuel L. Jackson and Angela Bassett. Zadan and Meron are executive producing the midseason NBC series Smash and Lifetime’s Drop Dead Diva, which was recently renewed for a fourth season. Additionally, the duo is producing Paramount’s Footloose remake that opens next week and the Broadway production of How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying starring Daniel Radcliffe, who will be succeeded next year by Glee‘s Darren Criss and Nick Jonas. Steel Magnolias is not the first classic American literary property to be given an African-American makeover: L. Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz spawned the musical The Wiz, while Debbie Allen directed a Broadway production of Tennessee Williams’ Cat On A Hot Tin Roof with an all-black cast. (Leon had been attached to that project at one point.)

‘Glee’ Star Darren Criss Eyed To Succeed Daniel Radcliffe In ‘How To Succeed’ On Broadway For 3-Week Stint
By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Thursday July 21, 2011

EXCLUSIVE: The news is brimming with symbolism – the young actor who portrayed Harry Potter in viral online videos to step in for the actor who played the boy wizard on the big screen. I hear that Darren Criss, breakout star of Fox’s hit dramedy Glee, is poised to make his Broadway debut, succeeding Daniel Radcliffe as the lead in the Broadway musical How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying. Negotiations between Criss and the musical’s producers, Craig Zadan & Neil Meron and Broadway Across America, are expected to begin shortly after Glee co-creator/executive producer Ryan Murphy and the series’ producing studio 20th Century Fox TV gave Criss their blessing for the stint. (I hear Murphy even encouraged the actor, who made his processional stage debut at age 10, to fulfill his Broadway dream).

If a deal is made, Criss will replace Radcliffe when the Harry Potter star finishes his run on January to return to movies. Criss will do a 3-week stint, from Jan. 3 through Jan. 22, in addition to 2 weeks of rehearsals in December, missing a total of an episode and a half of Glee. Additionally, I hear that Criss may make his feature debut opposite Kristen Wiig and Annette Bening in Imogene for American Splendor helmers Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini as the Glee producers have agreed to accommodate him for that too the same way they have let other cast members do movies during Glee production, including Lea Michele, Matthew Morrison and Dianna Agron. This caps a remarkable 8-month rise for Criss from a YouTube celebrity as the star of A Very Potter Musical and A Very Potter Sequel to a bona fide TV star with Glee and now – a Broadway leading man. How To Succeed has already been doing very well at the boxoffice, grossing over a $1 million every week, with its ticket sales going through the roof since the recent opening of the final Harry Potter movie starring Radcliffe. With his huge following, Criss’ turn could rival that. Criss emerged as the star of this year’s Glee summer tour, with his performances getting huge ovations and screams from female fans. Along with other Glee castmates, Criss is headed to Comic-Con for a panel moderated by my colleague Michael Ausiello this weekend where the upcoming 3D Glee concert movie will be showcased by clips of some of Criss’ performances. As for How to Succeed, the search continues for a permanent replacement of Radcliffe as well as an actor to succeed fellow star John Larroquette.

NBC Unveils 2011-2012 Primetime Schedule
By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Sunday May 15, 2011

NBC is introducing 12 new series next season — six dramas, including acquisition The Firm, and six new comedies. As we predicted, the network is planning a splash in midseason by holding one of its biggest new shows, Smash, to launch in January with freshman hit The Voice. NBC has put six new series — dramas The Playboy Club, Prime Suspect and Grimm and comedies Up All Night, Free Agents and Whitney — on the fall schedule and has slots reserved for Smash and The Firm in midseason. Drama Awake and comedies Are You There, Vodka? It’s Me, Chelsea; Bent and BFF have yet to be scheduled. For analysis of the schedule, including NBC chief Bob Greenblatt talking the rational behind some key scheduling decisions and the reasons to renew Chuck and cancel Law & Order: Los Angeles, read Analysis Of NBC Schedule: Bob Greenblatt On Renewing ‘Chuck’ & Canceling ‘LOLA’. You can see previews of all new series here.

NBC FALL 2011-12 SCHEDULE (New programs in UPPER CASE)
MONDAY
8-10 p.m. – The Sing-Off
10-11 p.m. – THE PLAYBOY CLUB

TUESDAY
8-10 p.m. – The Biggest Loser
10-11 p.m. – Parenthood

WEDNESDAY
8-8:30 p.m. – UP ALL NIGHT
8:30-9 p.m. – FREE AGENTS
9-10 p.m. — Harry’s Law
10-11 p.m. — Law & Order: Special Victims Unit

THURSDAY
8-8:30 p.m. – Community
8:30-9 p.m. — Parks and Recreation
9-9:30 p.m. – The Office
9:30-10 p.m. – WHITNEY
10-11 p.m. – PRIME SUSPECT

FRIDAY
8-9 p.m. – Chuck
9-10 p.m. – GRIMM
10-11 p.m. – Dateline NBC

SATURDAY
Encore programming

SUNDAY
7- 8:15 p.m. — Football Night in America
8:15-11:30 p.m. — NBC Sunday Night Football

NBC 2012 MID-SEASON HIGHLIGHTS
SUNDAY
7-8 p.m. – Dateline NBC
8-10 p.m. – The Celebrity Apprentice
10-11 p.m. – THE FIRM

MONDAY
8-10 p.m. – The Voice
10-11 p.m. – SMASH