‘Powerpuff Girls’ Live-Action Pilot at CW Finds Its Mojo Jojo in Nicholas Podany

Joe Otterson TV ReporterAmazon Studios has ordered a YA pilot based on the Harlan Coben novel “Shelter,” Variety has learned exclusively.Shelter” is the first novel in Coben’s Mickey Bolitar book series. MGM has acquired the rights to all the other books in the Mickey Bolitar series as well.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterCecilia Suárez and Augusto Aguilera have joined the ABC drama pilot “Promised Land,” Variety has learned.The show is described as an epic, generation-spanning drama about two Latinx families vying for wealth and power in California’s Sonoma Valley.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterCall it the pilot season that wasn’t. One year later, the COVID-19 pandemic is still casting a long shadow over the new crop of broadcast shows.Across the Big Five networks, the majority of the pilots in contention this year are holdovers from 2020. The backlog is still being sorted out, underscoring the disruption of last spring when the public health crisis shut down work for months just as pilot production would have normally reached its peak.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterJohn Ortiz has been cast in a leading role of the ABC drama pilot “Promised Land,” Variety has learned.The show is described as an epic, generation-spanning drama about two Latinx families vying for wealth and power in California’s Sonoma Valley. Ortiz joins previously announced cast members Christina Ochoa and Mariel Molino.Ortiz will star as Joe Sandoval, the patriarch of the Sandoval family, a wealthy vineyard-owning family in the Sonoma Valley.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterAnika Noni Rose has been cast in the “Let the Right One In” pilot at Showtime, Variety has learned.She joins previously announced cast member Demián Bichir. The series centers on Mark (Bichir), a father and his 12-year-old daughter, Eleanor, whose lives were changed forever 10 years earlier when she was turned into a vampire.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterChristina Jackson has been cast in a leading role in the FX pilot based on the Sam Greenlee novel “The Spook Who Sat by the Door,” Variety has learned.The project was ordered to pilot at FX in February. Jackson will star opposite series lead Y’lan Noel.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterNBC has given out a pair of comedy pilot orders, including one starring music superstar Demi Lovato.The Lovato project is titled “Hungry.” NBC had previously given the single-camera show a put pilot commitment back in January.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterMichael Cera will star opposite Amy Schumer in the upcoming Hulu comedy series “Life & Beth.”Formerly known as “Love, Beth,” the show received a 10-episode order in July 2019 as part of a first-look deal Schumer signed with Hulu. She will serve as the writer, director, executive producer, and star of the series.In the show, Beth’s (Schumer) life looks pretty great on paper.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterChi McBride has joined the untitled CBS multi-cam comedy pilot based on the life of pro bowler Tom Smallwood, Variety has learned.In the series, after being laid off from the assembly line at the GM factory, seemingly ordinary man Tom (Pete Holmes) makes the extraordinary decision to provide for his family by following his dream of becoming a professional bowler.McBride will star as Archie.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterNatalia Anderson will direct the ABC single-camera comedy pilot “Maggie,” Variety has learned exclusively.Anderson started out as a director and producer on the CBS comedy series “Life in Pieces,” directing multiple episodes. Other TV directing credits for Anderson include “Black-ish,” “Single Parents,” “Brews Brothers,” “Grown-ish,” “American Housewife,” and “Perfect Harmony.” She previously worked at Brownstone Productions under Elizabeth Banks.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterHBO Max has given a series order to the half-hour comedy “Minx.”The streamer has given the show a 10-episode order. Set in 1970s Los Angeles, “Minx” on around an earnest young feminist (Ophelia Lovibond) who joins forces with a low-rent publisher (Jake Johnson) to create the first erotic magazine for women.In addition to Lovibond and Johnson, the show also stars Idara Victor, Jessica Lowe, Lennon Parham, Michael Angarano, and Oscar Montoya.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterShowtime has named both Danielle De Jesus and Dave Binegar as vice presidents of scripted programming.De Jesus joins the premium cabler from Courtney Kemp’s End of Episode production company, while Binegar was most recently director of original programming at Showtime.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter“The Three of Us,” a comedy pilot at CBS, is no longer moving forward at the network.The multi-camera pilot was a holdover from CBS’ 2020 pilot crop, which was thrown into disarray due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It starred Oliver Hudson, Malin Akerman, Brent Morin, and Vanessa Lachey.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterSarah Michelle Gellar is set to star in the YA comedy “Hot Pink,” which has been ordered to pilot at Amazon, Variety has learned.The show is loosely inspired by Elana K. Arnold’s book “What Girls Are Made Of.” In the book, Nina Faye was raised to believe that there is no such thing as unconditional love, meaning she will do anything for her boyfriend to prove her worthiness.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterIn a competitive situation, Mike Scully and Julie Thacker Scully have signed with Verve, Variety has learned exclusively.The husband and wife duo most recently co-created the Fox animated series “Duncanville” with Amy Poehler, on which they also serve as co-showrunners. Poehler also provides the voice of the lead character on the show and serves as an executive producer along with Scully and Thacker Scully.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterEugenio Derbez’s upcoming Apple comedy series “Acapulco” has added four new cast members, with Richard Shepard now onboard to direct the pilot.Enrique Arrizon, Damian Alcázar, Camila Perez, and Raphael Alejandro will all star alongside Derbez in the half-hour series.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterJack Reynor has been cast in a lead role of the Amazon series adaptation of the William Gibson novel “The Peripheral,” Variety has learned.Reynor will star as Burton. He joins previously announced cast members Chloë Grace Moretz and Gary Carr, with Moretz set to play Flynne and Carr set to play Wilf.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterDonald Faison has joined “The Powerpuff Girls” live-action pilot at The CW in the role of Professor Drake Utonium.The series, now titled simply “Powerpuff,” was first announced as being in development back in August. Based on the Cartoon Network series created by Craig McCracken, the new series sees the pint-sized superheroes as disillusioned twentysomethings who resent having lost their childhood to crime fighting.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterChristina Ochoa has been cast in a major role of the ABC drama pilot “Promised Land,” Variety has learned.The show is described as an epic, generation-spanning drama about two Latinx families vying for wealth and power in California’s Sonoma Valley.Ochoa will star as Veronica Sandoval, the eldest daughter of the Sandoval family, a wealthy vineyard-owning family in the Sonoma Valley.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterDon Cheadle will serve as the narrator on the “Wonder Years” reboot pilot currently in the works at ABC, Variety has confirmed.Cheadle will voice the adult version of main character Dean, who will played by Elisha Williams. Daniel Stern served as the narrator on the original series.The pilot will show how a black middle-class family in Montgomery, Alabama in the turbulent late 1960s, made sure it was The Wonder Years for them too.