Hellevator Network: GSN Studio: Lionsgate TV Production Company(s): Blumhouse Productions, Matador Executive Producer(s): Jason Blum, Jay Peterson, Todd Lubin Logline: A team of three friends rides a haunted elevator into various levels of an abandoned warehouse. One player must get out on each floor and conquer a frightening challenge in order to earn money (up to $50,000) for the team. But if they don’t make it back in time, the elevator moves on without them. SSN Insight: GSN gave a series order of eight episodes and has scheduled the premiere of this horror-themed game show for later this year. The show will feature Jen and Sylvia Soska, aka the “Twisted Twins”.
Doubt Network: CBS Entertainment Studio: CBS Television Studios Production Company(s): Timberman/Beverly Productions Executive Producer(s): Tony Phelan, Joan Rater, Sarah Timberman, Carl Beverly Writer(s): Tony Phelan, Joan Rater Logline: A smart, successful thirty-something defense attorney shockingly falls for one of her clients who may or may not be guilty of a brutal crime. While she continues to try a variety of cases at her firm, she pursues her lover’s defense as this relationship reverberates throughout her previously well-constructed life. SSN Insight: CBS gave an initial commitment of a put pilot in October and ordered the pilot in January. This week, news hit that a new pilot might be shot after a recast of the series’ leads, KaDee Strickland and Teddy Sears.
Marcella Network: ITV 1 Production Company(s): Buccaneer Media Executive Producer(s): Hans Rosenfeldt, Nicola Larder, Tony Wood Writer(s): Hans Rosenfeldt Logline: Set in contemporary London, a detective in her late 30s returns to the Metropolitan Police’s Murder Squad after a 12-year career break to start a family. With the abrupt end to her marriage and isolated from her daughter at boarding school, Marcella returns to work while attempting to make sense of what’s happened in her life. She is immediately assigned to investigate a spate of recent killings which bear the hallmarks of unsolved murders committed over a decade prior, a case on which she first worked in 2003. Has the killer reappeared or is a copycat murderer responsible for these recent deaths? SSN Insight: ITV has given a series order of eight episodes as of June 18. Shooting will start in London this fall. Hans Rosenfeldt created the original Danish-Swedish series Bron/Broen, aka The Bridge which was redeveloped as a U.S. series.
Lady Dynamite Network: Netflix Production Company(s): Hurwitz Company Executive Producer(s): Maria Bamford, Pam Brady, Mitchell Hurwitz Writer(s): Maria Bamford Logline: A comedy series based on the life of comedian Maria Bamford. Details: Based on the life of comedian Maria Bamford. SSN Insight: Netflix gave a series order of 13 episodes as of June 19. Brady will serve as the showrunner. Bamford created and starred in the web series The Maria Bamford Show which originally aired on TBS networks' now retired Super Deluxe website. She also created and starred in the Maria Bamford: the special special special, available on Netflix.
Son of Zahn Network: Fox Broadcasting Company Studio: 20th Century Fox Television Production Company(s): Lord Miller Executive Producer(s): Reed Agnew, Eli Jorne, Phil Lord, Christopher Miller, Seth Cohen Writer(s): Reed Agnew, Eli Jorne Logline: Upon arriving home for the first time in ten years, an animated Barbarian father finds that reconnecting with his moody, live-action teenage son Alan and ex-wife while suffering a mundane office job and the banality of suburban life is harder than waging actual war in his distant, animated world. SSN Insight: Fox has given an initial commitment of a pilot presentation for the live action/animated hybrid project. The 10 minute presentation is slated to shoot in summer which Eric Appel (Brooklyn Nine-Nine) will direct and co-executive produce. Johnny Pemberton, who had a supporting in their 21 Jump Street movie franchise, will star.
Tennison Network: ITV 1 Production Company(s): Noho Film and TV, La Plante Global Executive Producer(s): Lynda La Plante, Robert Wulff-Cochrane, Camilla Campbell Writer(s): Lynda La Plante Logline: The series portrays the young Jane Tennison beginning her career and reveals why she became such a complex and formidable character in London’s police force. It’s set in East London in the 1970s, when women police officers are being uneasily "integrated" into the force. Starting as an officer on the beat, she is thrown in at the deep end, drawn into a brutal murder inquiry, and experiences first hand London’s violent criminal ganglands. Details: This series is a prequel to the various series and miniseries incarnations of "Prime Suspect," which premiered in 1992 with "Prime Suspect" and concluded with 2006's "Prime Suspect: The Final Act." The prequel is an adaptation of the novel, "Tennison," written by Lynda La Plante and to be published by Simon & Schuster in September 24, 2015. SSN Insight: ITV has given a series order of six episodes as of June 18. The original “Prime Suspect” series that Helen Mirren starred in, garnered a Peabody, won three Emmys for Outstanding Mini and multiple BAFTA awards.
The Durrells Network: ITV 1 Production Company(s): Sid Gentle Films Executive Producer(s): Simon Nye, Sally Woodward Gentle, Lee Morris Writer(s): Simon Nye Logline: The story focuses upon Louisa Durrell whose life is in meltdown. Widowed years ago and running out of money, Louise has four unruly children to look after: Larry, Leslie, Margo and Gerry, all going off the rails in their own way. Gerry, 11, is about to be thrown out of school; Larry is a would-be novelist but the worst real estate agent in Bournemouth, and the middle two are hitting adulthood like a car-crash. It is the 1930s, and a woman’s options are limited. So Louisa decides to take them all to the untamed paradise that is Corfu. Details: Based on the Corfu memoir trilogy, "My Family and Other Animals" (1956), "Birds, Beasts and Relatives" (1969) and "The Garden of the Gods" (1978), written by Gerald Durrell. SSN Insight: ITV has given a series order of six episodes as of June 18. Filming is slated to take place in Corfu in September this year. Sid Gentle’s production banner is on a role having set up “SS:GB” at the BBC with James Bond screenwriters Neil Purvis and Robert Wade to pen the series.
The Ranch Network: Netflix Executive Producer(s): Don Reo, James Patterson Writer(s): Don Reo, James Patterson Logline: Two brothers reunite after one returns from a brief semi-pro football career to run the family ranch in Colorado. SSN Insight: Netflix gave a straight to series order on June 17. Netflix ordered 20 episodes and it’s rumored the network will release the series ten episodes at a time in 2016. It’s the second original, multi-camera comedy pick-up for Netflix after the order for “Fuller House”. As Ashton Kutcher will star, it reunites him with his “Two and a Half Men” co-showrunners, Reo and Patterson.