TNT/TBS unveil a boatload of new development

Turner execs are touting all of the original skeins on TNT and TBS, and as usual they've raised the curtain on a slew of development projects as part of the cablers' upfront announcements today.

This summer, TNT will have no less than seven original series running across four nights: "The Closer," "Saving Grace," "Dark Blue," "Leverage," "Rizzoli & Isles," "Memphis Beat" and "Hawthorne," and "Men of a Certain Age" will be back by year's end. By 2011, it will add three more: "Franklin & Bash," seaoon three of "Southland" and the Steven Spielberg event drama "Fallen Skies" starring Noah Wyle.

In the development stage at TNT:

•    UNTITLED DON CHEADLE MEDICAL SHOW – Executive producers Don Cheadle (Crash, Iron Man 2), Kay Liberman (Traitor) and Lenore Zerman (Darfur Now) of Crescendo Productions; executive producer Brett King; executive producer/writer Ed Horowitz (Exit Wounds); and producer/writer Norm Solomon focus on 1971 Los Angeles, where a group of idealistic doctors open an urgent-care clinic in hopes of upholding the values that inspired them to become doctors in the first place.  The project comes to TNT from Lionsgate Television and Cheadle’s Crescendo Productions.

•    GRAYSMITH – Based on the life of cartoonist, writer and part-time private detective Robert Graysmith (author of Zodiac and many other books), this series will follow the renaissance man himself as he uses an unconventional approach and unusual skills to solve crimes.  GRAYSMITH comes to TNT from Scott Free Productions and executive producers Ridley Scott (Robin Hood, The Good Wife) and Tony Scott (The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3, The Good Wife) and executive producer/writer Dan Gordon (The Hurricane).

•    GREEN DETECTIVE – Steven Bochco (NYPD Blue) and Jonathan Abrahams follow a quirky environmentalist who seeks the truth as an insurance adjuster for a big insurance company.

•    BRAIN TRUST – Dean Devlin (TNT’s Leverage) and Marco Schnabel (TNT’s The Librarian movie trilogy) delve into the world of an old-fashioned (and recently demoted) detective as he teams with four brilliant but socially awkward, sheltered academics to help him solve crimes.  BRAIN TRUST comes to TNT from Electric Entertainment.

•    MISS PHILLY – Executive producer/writer Jamie Foxx (The Soloist, Ray), executive producer/writer Barbara Hall (Joan of Arcadia, Judging Amy) and executive producers Marcus King (The Jamie Foxx Show) and Jaime Rucker King (Ray) explore the pristine suburbs and urban war zones of Philadelphia, where the mayor has hired the first African-American police commissioner.  She finds herself handling more than she ever expected.

•    DEAR GOD – Executive producers Mark Gordon (Private Practice, Grey’s Anatomy), Mark Burnett (Survivor), Roma Downey (Touched by an Angel) and Deborah Spera (Army Wives, Criminal Minds), along with writer/executive producer Joel Fields (TNT’s Rizzoli & Isles), look into the dead letters bureau at the U.S. Postal Service, where a team of humanitarians try to help those on the verge of losing their faith by answering their letters to God.  DEAR GOD comes to TNT from ABC Studios.

TBS, meanwhile, has of course Conan O'Brien on tap for November and the new 1980s-set college comedy "Glory Daze." And it just shelled out big bucks for off-net rights to "The Big Bang Theory" starting in fall 2011.

New fare in the development stage at TBS:

•    THE WEDDING BAND – The writing team of Josh Lobis and Darin Moiselle (South Park) and executive producer Mike Tollin (Wild Hogs, Smallville) introduce a fresh comedy that centers on four friends.  Some are married and some are single, all with day jobs and responsibilities, but they share one thing in common: They are in a wedding band.  THE WEDDING BAND comes to TBS from FremantleMedia.

•    THE RABBIT FACTORY – From executive producer/writer Alan Loeb (Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, New Amsterdam), executive producer Steven Pearl (The Beast) and Lionsgate Television, this series follows the detective team of Mike Lomax and Terry Biggs, two characters from the book series by Marshall Karp.  Recently widowed Lomax and recently married Biggs work to protect and serve, navigating the daily challenges of their jobs while tackling their personal lives.

•    THE CATCH – Executive producer/writer Vic Levin (Mad About You) and executive producer Chris Albrecht focus on a widower who re-enters the world of dating, only to learn that he is quite the catch.

TBS has these animated series in development:

•    GOOD AND EVEL – Olive Productions (Stanley Tucci, Steve Buscemi and Wren Arthur), Gotham Group (Ellen Goldsmith-Vein and Lee Stollman), Lionsgate Television and executive producer/writer Glenn Eichler (The Colbert Report, Beavis & Butt-Head) introduce the ultimate dysfunctional family.  Voiced by acclaimed actors Tucci (Julie & Julia, The Lovely Bones) and Buscemi (Fargo, Boardwalk Empire), the show centers on Jack Good, a moral, upstanding family man, and his nefarious twin brother, Bo Evel, a rebel and drunk who’s been in and out of prison.

•    THE BLACK FAMILY – Executive producer/writer Ali LeRoi (Everybody Hates Chris, TBS’s Are We There Yet?); executive producer/artist Todd Goldman; executive producers Keenen Ivory Wayans, Marlon Wayans and Shawn Wayans (Scary Movie, White Chicks, Little Man); and executive producer Rick Alvarez (Dance Flick) introduce a blended interracial family, the Blacks.