‘CSI’ Producer Carol Mendelsohn, Julie Weitz Ink Broadcast Deal With Fox Entertainment

Fox is drawing up its latest animated order.

EXCLUSIVE: Petey Gibson (Broad City), Fivel Stewart (Atypical) and Bre Blair (Game of Silence) are set for major recurring roles opposite Scott Caan and Dania Ramirez in Alert, Fox’s character-driven police procedural from The Blacklist showrunner John Eisendrath and Jamie Foxx. 

EXCLUSIVE: My Daughter’s Killer producer Rogan Productions has signed Passion Pictures’ Nicholas Franklin as Head of Production. Franklin replaces the departing Viv Steele, who is exiting after seven years.

We’re getting a sneak peek at the first footage of new Fox series Alert. The network just released the first on-air promo for the upcoming character-driven police procedural from The Blacklist showrunner John Eisendrath and Jamie Foxx, which will air tonight on Fox during Game 3 of the World Series.

One of the top contenders for Best Documentary at the Oscars this year ranges from the skies above Delhi, India to a basement below the city’s north end.

Fox has unveiled the first on-air promo for its upcoming anthology drama Accused, based on the International Emmy-winning British series. The project comesfrom 24 executive producers Howard Gordon and Alex Gansa and House creator/executive producer David Shore.

Production on Fox’shas been halted following the death of Leslie Jordan. Jordan, who portrayed Phil in the series since Season 1, completed work on a total of 9 episodes.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter Carol Mendelsohn and Julie Weitz’s Carol Mendelsohn Productions (CMP) has signed a multi-year first-look broadcast direct deal with Fox Entertainment. The announcement was made by Michael Thorn, Fox Entertainment’s president of entertainment, during MIPCOM Cannes. Under the deal, CMP will develop scripted drams for Fox. Should any shows be greenlit, they would be wholly owned by Fox with Mendelsohn and Weitz executive producing. CMP has already set up one project for development under the deal — a series adaptation of the Thomas Perry novel “The Bomb Maker.” Per the official logline, the series “follows former commander Dick Stahl, who is called in after the majority of the LAPD Bomb Squad is killed by a house bomb. On his first day back, the now three-person team is dispatched to a suspected car bomb, and it quickly becomes clear to him that they are dealing with an unusual criminal mastermind―one whose intended target appears to be the Bomb Squad itself.”

Carol Mendelsohn, the former showrunner of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, has signed a deal with Fox and is once again attempting a series adaptation of Thomas Perry’s The Bomb Maker.

Cynthia Littleton Business Editor CANNES – The newly constituted senior entertainment team at Fox Corp. came to Mipcom this year with checkbooks in hand. The trio of executives who offered the keynote address Monday evening at the international content conference were blunt in telling the crowd that they came to make some new friends around the world and strike some deals. The company is bucking the trend in media toward direct-to-consumer subscription platforms. Fox is putting its resources into content and IP that can travel around the world and be adaptable in many forms. “While others are trying to hide their content behind paywalls, we are doing the opposite,” said Rob Wade, who was promoted this month to CEO of Fox Entertainment (“I’m 10 days in to the job,” he noted with a smile on stage). “We see the potential of working with (outside) networks, producers and distributors to be able to get our content out there further.”

Meet any high-profile Indian director or producer these days, and the talk is all about bibles, writers rooms and showrunners, rather than making films. Driving down Mumbai’s main artery, the Western Express Highway, most of the billboards are promoting new premium drama series from Prime Video, Netflix and Disney+ Hotstar, rather than the latest Bollywood release.

New Fox Entertainment CEO Rob Wade has talked up the potential for TMZ to become a “huge entertainment studio,” setting out his stall at Mipcom Cannes for the first time since he replaced Charlie Collier.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter Fox has given out an early Season 2 renewal to the Jon Hamm-led animated comedy “Grimsburg” before the show has even premiered. The announcement was made by Michael Thorn, president of entertainment for Fox Entertainment, during a MIPCOM panel moderated by Variety‘s co-editor-in-chief, Cynthia Littleton. “’Grimsburg’ is yet another clear example of our strong commitment to, and intense focus on, upholding the high bar of standards any show must exceed in order to reside under the Animation Domination banner,” Thorn said. “Of course, having Jon Hamm’s talent and star power front and center is a great place to start. Equally important, everything we’re seeing with ‘Grimsburg’ – from the very first scripts and show bible to animatics and preliminary cuts – makes us believe we have a winner on our hands that beautifully complements our animation brand.”

Community alum Joel McHale has been tapped for the lead of Fox’s straight-to-series workplace comedy, Animal Control. McHale also will executive produce the single-camera show, Fox Entertainment’s first wholly owned live-action comedy.

The Mosquito Coast,” a drama series adapted from the novel of the same title, starring Justin Theroux, Melissa George, Logan Polish and Gabriel Bateman. Based on Paul Theroux’s best-selling novel, “The Mosquito Coast” Season 2 picks up on the family after barely escaping Mexico with their lives, venturing deep into the Guatemalan jungle to meet up with an old friend and her community of refugees. This creates trouble when they become entangled in a conflict between a local drug lord and his family. The show is executive produced by Mark V. Olsen and Will Scheffer, Stefan Schwartz, Evan Katz, Rupert Wyatt, author Theroux and series star Theroux. Bob Bookman, Alan Gasmer and Peter Jaysen serve as executive producers for Veritas Entertainment Group. The series is created for television and executive produced by Neil Cross. Developed by Cross & Tom Bissell, the series is a Fremantle Production for Apple TV+.

EXCLUSIVE: Labid Aziz’s People of Culture Studios is partnering with Man of Action Entertainment (Ben 10), Creation Station and Composition Media to produce the 3D animated family feature Sky & Luna, based on the original IP from Creation Station.

Fox’s new Entertainment Global sales unit will “go against the grain of other U.S.-based media entities” by being wholly agnostic and selling to everyone, according to CEO Fernando Szew.