Danson Tapped for FX Pilot
By Christian Lewis -- Multichannel News, 1/31/2007 12:11:00 PM
Actor Ted Danson joined ranks with Glenn Close and director Allen Coulter (TheSopranos, Sex and the City, Six Feet Under) on an upcoming drama pilot for FX.
The untitled pilot -- written by Todd Kessler, Daniel Zelman and Glenn Kessler and produced by FX Productions and Sony Pictures Television -- is the basis for a legal thriller series. If picked up by the network, the show would mark Close’s first lead in a television series and Danson’s first role in a drama series for cable television.
“We are thrilled to have an actor of Ted Danson’s caliber join the cast of this pilot,” FX executive vice president of original series Nick Grad said in a prepared statement. “He is an incredibly talented dramatic actor, and he is the perfect fit for what we believe is a fantastic role.”
The pilot stars Close as high-stakes litigator Patty Hewes, while Danson plays Arthur Frobisher, a corporate giant embattled in a class-action lawsuit brought by Hewes. At the peak of her career, Hewes has added new lawyer and protégé Ellen Parsons (played by Rose Byrne) to her firm. Tate Donovan (The O.C.) plays Tom Shayes, a longtime law partner of Hewes, and Zeljko Ivanek (Oz) plays Ray Fiske, an attorney for Frobisher.
Production begins next week in New York.
The pilot is a reunion for Close and Danson, who starred together in made-for-television movie Something About Amelia, which won Danson a Golden Globe award and Emmy Award nomination and which won Close both Golden Globe and Emmy nominations. The pilot also brings Close back to FX, where she co-starred in season four of The Shield -- earning her Emmy and Golden Globe nominations for lead actress in a drama series in the role of Capt. Monica Rawling.
Of 10 drama-series pilots ever produced for FX, six received full series orders of 13 episodes: The Shield, Nip/Tuck, Rescue Me, Over There, Dirt and The Riches. One show, Thief, received a limited-series order of six episodes.
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