The newest trend on TV—which, like most trends, isn’t exactly new—is taking big-screen properties to the small screen. Joining the forthcoming limited series takes on “Fargo” and “The Exorcist,” Deadline is reporting that the Bradley Cooper-starring vehicle “Limitless” will get a small-screen adaptation of its very own. In case you forgot, the Neil Burger-helmed film followed Cooper as a down-on-his-luck writer who takes an illegal drug that gives him access to his brain’s full potential, sending him down a road of success and some very bad guys. We’re not sure how well the high concept will sustain an entire series given the fact the original film barely scraped by on the charms of Cooper alone, but there have been stranger—and worse—TV hits. And intriguingly, Cooper will be one of the executive producers.
High-concept paranoid thrillers aren’t the only movies getting scaled down for TV, as per Deadline, NBC is developing a comedy series based on the Tom Hanks and Shelley Long-starring 1986 comedy “The Money Pit.” Justin Spitzer, a former writer-producer from NBC cash-cow “The Office,” will write and executive produce the series. The film, co-executive produced by Steven Spielberg, followed Hanks and Long as a couple who sink their money into renovating a mansion they were tricked into buying. With “The Office” gone and “Modern Family” a giant hit on their rival’s network, we won’t be surprised if the “The Money Pit” takes on a mockumentary slant under the guise of home makeover show.
After delivering the summer hit that was the adaptation of Stephen King’s “Under The Dome,” CBS is sticking with everyone’s other favorite Steven. Deadline reports that sci-fi series “Extant,” which Steven Spielberg’s Amblin TV will produce with the network, has cast Halle Berry as its lead. The series will follow Berry as “an astronaut who returns home from a year-long solo mission in space and tries to reconnect with her husband and son in their everyday life. Her experiences in space and home lead to events that ultimately will change the course of human history.” A production date is set yet but look for it to come quickly as CBS has already ordered 13 episodes.
He might be leaving “Parks and Recreation” but Rob Lowe isn’t straying from the comedy world or NBC. According to Deadline, Lowe will lead the workplace comedy series, “The Pro,” which like his previous series will be single-camera. The show, shepherded by “The Larry Sanders Show” and “Frasier” vets Pete Huyck and Todd Holland, will follow “Lowe as former tennis doubles champion ‘Big Ben’ Bertrahm, whose career flame-out and misguided investments have left him working as the pro at a tennis and golf club, where tries to hustle and charm his way back into America’s 1%.” So, a more sanitized “Eastbound & Down”?
While it was only this past summer when we called out Topher Grace for floundering after “That ’70s Show,” dude has proven us wrong. Hot on the heels of joining Christopher Nolan’s already stacked cast for “Interstellar,” Deadline reports that Foreman is heading back to TV with HBO’s “People In New Jersey” alongside Sarah Silverman, who is no stranger to TV comedy herself. The half-hour comedy series, produced by Lorne Michaels, follows Grace and Silverman as adult siblings living in New Jersey trying to make their way through modern life. The pilot will be written by Bruce Eric Kaplan and directed by “Bridesmaids” helmer Paul Feig.
Though her directorial debut “Paradise” wasn’t the success it could have been, Diablo Cody is soldiering on, selling the TV teen drama “Prodigy” to Fox. The series follows “a 16-year-old genius who through home schooling has been isolated from her peers. Hoping to experience a ‘normal’ teen social life before she enters the adult world of academia, she enrolls in her local high school. But her experiment goes off the rails when she finds herself adopted by a wild crowd, getting caught up in a whirlwind of romance and crime.” Cody is also still developing her talk show “Me Time With Diablo Cody.” No timeline on either yet.
