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TV Pilots |OT| The Season's Dead, But Development Hell is Forever

C

Cornballer

Member
- Deadline: HBO Developing ‘The Commissar’s Report’ Russian Spy Series From Martyn Burke
Two decades after the end of Cold War, Russian spies have never been hotter on American television. FX has The Americans, NBC has upcoming drama Allegiance. Now HBO has put in development The Commissar’s Report, a comedic drama thriller based on author/writer/director Martyn Burke’s 1984 Cold War satire. Burke will adapt his novel, writing the pilot script. Writer/director Jerry Zucker (Airplane!, Naked Gun, Ghost) and his wife, producer Janet Zucker (Friends With Benefits), are producing through their Zucker Prods.

The Commissar’s Report follows Dimitri, a young spy in post-war Stalinist Russia who rises so quickly through the ranks of Soviet espionage that he is sent to New York as a spy to help bring down America. But his life is quickly in mortal danger when he finds himself not only in love with America, but through a fluke of fate, becoming what he is pledged to destroy —a major capitalist. The project was brought into Zucker Prods. by director of development Katie Zucker.

HBO and Burke first took a stab at developing a series about Soviet spies in the U.S. three years ago with Reds. The project was set in the 1980s and was based on real-life events from Burke’s early film career when he was making on a documentary. Unbeknownst to him, the sound man on the crew was in reality a colonel in the Soviet KGB who later set up his base of operations outside New York City while attempting to raise a family as an ordinary American citizen but was eventually caught. Burke also worked with HBO on the 1998 film The Pentagon Wars, which he co-wrote, and wrote and directed TNT’s Pirates of Silicon Valley. Jerry and Janet Zucker, Zucker Prods. and Burke are repped by Paradigm.
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RatskyWatsky

Hunky Nostradamus
TNT Makes ‘One Giant Leap’ Into Miniseries With Neil Armstrong Project

The project, now in development, is based on Leon Wagener’s book. The mini will be written by Al Reinert, who co-penned the movie Apollo 13 as well as two episodes of Tom Hanks’ followup moon exploration HBO miniseries From The Earth To The Moon, including one about Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins preparing for their Apollo 11 mission in 1969.
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TheOddOne

Member
- Deadline: Duo Of Writers Sell Assassin & Auto-Theft Dramas Produced By Chris Morgan To Fox
Chris Morgan is backing two feature writers — Patrick Aison and Greg Russo — in their first network sales. Fox has bought both drama projects, from aisongregrusso20th Century Fox TV and Morgan’s studio-based Chris Morgan Prods. The untitled Patrick Aison project centers on a vengeful young woman and a master assassin who form an unlikely partnership; as he teaches her the art of the kill, their personal lives become entangled. The Greg Russo project is set in the underground world of auto-theft rings and follows a suburban family man who, on the side, runs the most successful custom-ticket auto-theft ring in Los Angeles.
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TheOddOne

Member
- Deadline: ’11/22/63′ Drama From J.J. Abrams Based On Stephen King‘s Novel Gets Hulu Series Order
11/22/63, a drama series adaptation of Stephen King‘s bestselling 2011 novel, produced by J.J. Abrams‘ Bad Robot, has landed at Hulu with a 9-episode straight-to-series order. The thriller is described as an event series, but the streaming service is open to additional seasons, possibly focused on other historic events. The pickup comes a year and a half after Bad Robot optioned the rights to the book through Warner Bros TV, where the company is based. “I’ve been a fan of Stephen King since I was in junior high school,” Abrams said. “The chance to work with him at all, let alone on a story so compelling, emotional and imaginative, is a dream.
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RatskyWatsky

Hunky Nostradamus
Jacki Weaver To Co-Star In Seth MacFarlane’s ‘Blunt Talk’ Series On Starz

Jacki Weaver (Silver Linings Playbook) is set as the female lead opposite Patrick Stewart in Starz’s live-action comedy series Blunt Talk, from Seth MacFarlane and Bored To Death creator Jonathan Ames, which has a 20-episode, two-season, straight-to-series order. Also cast in the MRC-produced series is British actor Adrian Scarborough (The King’s Speech).

Blunt Talk is a character-driven comedy revolving around Walter Blunt (Stewart), an infrequently sober but legendary British import intent on conquering the world of American cable news. The series follows the fallout from Blunt’s well-intentioned but mostly misguided decision-making, both on and off the air. Weaver will play Blunt’s straight-talking, tough and motherthy producer-manager Rosalie Winter, who looks after Walter’s career and helps shape the Blunt Talk newscast. Rosalie and Walter been working together for 20 years and once had a one-night stand. Scarborough plays Walter’s manservant, Harry Chandler (who rivals him in debauchery).
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Riley Keough To Topline Steven Soderbergh’s ‘The Girlfriend Experience’ On Starz

Riley Keough (The Runaways, Magic Mike) has signed on as the female lead for The Girlfriend Experience, a 13-part anthology series inspired by Steven Soderbergh‘s 2009 Magnolia Pictures film.
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C

Cornballer

Member
- Tim Peper, Mercedes Mason & Josh Pence Cast In AMC Pilot ‘White City’
Tim Peper (Selfie) is set as the lead and Mercedes Mason (666 Park Avenue) and Josh Pence (The Dark Knight Rises) will co-star in White City, AMC’s geopolitical drama pilot directed and exec produced by Stephen Gaghan. The project, about Western diplomats and journalists living in Afghanistan, centers on Jon Liston (Peper), a war junkie who has spent the better part of the last decade in Kabul with a front-row seat to the carnage. Mason, repped by Gersh and Luber/Roklin, will play Lizzie Ghaffari, the new deputy political counselor at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul. Pence will play Tommie Pierson, a reporter with the New York Times and ex-pat living in Kabul who’s involved in a romantic relationship with Heloise.

White City comes from co-writers/co-executive producers Nick McDonell, a novelist and journalist who has covered Iraq and Afghanistan for Time, and John Dempsey, former long-time resident of Kabul and senior advisor on Afghanistan to the late US diplomat, Richard C. Holbrooke. Chris Mundy (Low Winter Sun) and former Viacom CEO Tom Freston, a former resident of Afghanistan, currently an advisor to VICE and MOBY Group, an Afghan media corporation, are exec producers.
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C

Cornballer

Member
- Syfy orders alien terrorism series from 'Walking Dead' producer
Syfy’s next series combines two popular dramatic genres that don’t often get put together: Alien invasion and a terrorism thriller.

The cable network has given a 13-episode series order to Hunters, about an alien terrorist network on Earth. The project is from executive producers Gale Anne Hurd (The Walking Dead, The Terminator films) and Natalie Chaidez (12 Monkeys, Heroes), who wrote the pilot.

The project is based on Whitley Strieber’s novel Alien Hunter. In the book, a Philadelphia cop searches for his missing wife leads and discovers a secret government unit that assembled to hunt a group of ruthless terrorists who may not be from this world.

“We were so impressed by the pilot script from this outstanding and accomplished creative team led by Gale Anne Hurd and Natalie Chaidez that we bypassed the traditional process and greenlit Hunters directly to series,” said Syfy president Dave Howe. This fast-paced and innovative program takes viewers inside a chilling yet all too familiar world.”

Syfy has been on a brand-building tear recently, greenlighting more literary-based and hardcore sci-fi projects. “Adding Hunters to new series such as The Expanse, 12 Monkeys and Killjoys, and the miniseries Childhood’s End, provides us with a formidable lineup of diverse, high-end science fiction,” Howe added.

Hunters is scheduled to premiere on Syfy in 2016.
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T

TheOddOne

Member
- Deadline: ‘Real Genius’ Movie Reboot Set As NBC Comedy Series With Happy Madison & Sony TV
NBC is developing Real Genius, a single-camera comedy based on the 1995 movie starring Val Kilmer. The project, which has received a script commitment plus penalty, hails from Sony TV, whose sibling label TriStar Pictures produced the movie; Adam Sandler’s Sony-based company Happy Madison; and 3 Arts Entertainment.

Written by Workaholics co-executive producer Craig DiGregorio and David King (Parks And Recreation), Real Genius is a present-day reboot of the 1980s film, set as a workplace comedy. The show centers on the relationship between a rock star-like genius — the character played by Kilmer in the movie — and a sheltered, naive co-worker. DiGregorio and King executive produce with Happy Madison’s Doug Robinson and 3 Arts’ Oly Obst.

The Real Genius feature, directed by Martha Coolidge and produced by Brian Grazer, opened in August 1995 to mostly favorable reviews and grossed $13 million.
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D

Dan

No longer boycotting the Wolfenstein franchise
E

Effect

Member
Dan said:
Red Mars is brilliant, but this will never work. I had strong doubts AMC could pull it off when they were attempting an adaptation during their heyday. Spike TV certainly doesn't have the resources or wherewithal to do this justice.

Oddly enough, Martha Coolidge (Real Genius) was involved with the first attempt to adapt this.
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This. I think it could be doable but I don't think Spike TV of all places could possibly pull this off.
 
R

RatskyWatsky

Hunky Nostradamus
Decado said:
Could be cool, I guess. But I really want Cinemax to jump back into action shows, particularly with Strike Back winding down and Banshee's disappointing 2nd season. No-one is really doing them right now (not that they've ever been common).
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They've got quite a few action series in development, plus, I don't think Trail of Blood isn't not an action series. Have no fear!
 
Wiktor

Wiktor

Member
Decado said:
Could be cool, I guess. But I really want Cinemax to jump back into action shows, particularly with Strike Back winding down and Banshee's disappointing 2nd season. No-one is really doing them right now (not that they've ever been common).
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Quarry apparently is still in play and the writer of the novels series is optimistic. I hope it gets picked up. Because yeah, nobody does action on TV like Cinemax does.
 
C

Clevinger

Member
It's been a long time since I realized it was a long time since I heard about Quarry. :eek:

Last thing I heard was a gossip site saying Mary Elizabeth Winstead dropped out of it.
 
Wiktor

Wiktor

Member
Cornballer said:
Is it? I haven't heard anything about Quarry in quite a while.
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Yeah, from here:
http://www.maxallancollins.com/blog/2014/08/26/hooray-for/

First, QUARRY. Though a pick-up has not been announced, everything looks good – promising, let’s say. The meetings I took, both with the writers heading up the potential series and with the top execs at Cinemax, were encouraging.
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And they're also trying to shop a series based on Collin's other character:
As for Heller, the pitch meetings went very well and we have some interest. If you’re Heller fan, it’s premature to start doing cart wheels. At this stage, assuming a HELLER series will happen is like sending out birth announcements on your way out to a singles bar hoping to pick somebody up. But it’s a start
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C

Cornballer

Member
Oh, that's good to hear. Sounds like a fun project and a good fit for Cinemax. I'm just always a little wary when I don't hear anything for a long time - usually means it's dead.
 
C

Cornballer

Member
- EW: TNT orders fantasy pilot from 'Captain America' director
TNT is getting into the fantasy game with an ambitious pilot order from Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Television and director Joe Johnston.

The network has picked up Lumen, about a family trapped in an alternate universe. Here’s the pitch: “The famous author of a best-selling series of fantasy books suddenly disappears, and a family of four finds themselves transported to the mystical alternate world that inspired her work. Once there, however, they are plunged into the middle of a war raging between rival magical forces, of light and darkness. Facing peril at every turn, the family must unravel a complicated mystery and uncover some astonishing secrets as they struggle to find their way home.”

The project has some = heavy hitters involved. There’s director Johnston (Captain America: The First Avenger, Jurassic Park III), screenwriter Chris Black (Mad Men, Desperate Housewives) and executive producers Darryl Frank and Justin Falvey (The Americans), James Frey (A Million Little Pieces, Endgame) and Todd Cohen (Ugly Betty), along with Johnston and Black.
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TheOddOne

Member
Bunch of stuff at THR.

- THR: 'Scandal's' Jenna Bans Sells Political Thriller to ABC
The Scandal writer/co-EP has sold a political thriller to the network, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.

The untitled drama follows the return of a politician's young son who was presumed dead after disappearing more than a decade earlier, sending shockwaves throughout their tight knit community. But as the mysterious young man is welcomed back into his family suspicions emerge — is he really who he says he is?
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- THR: Rashida Jones, 'Marigold Hotel' Writer Team for Couples Drama at ABC
Receiving a hefty put-pilot commitment from the network, the untitled entry is described as a serialized drama that follows the lives of individuals and couples dealing with love in interrelated tales all set within and around a half-century-old bookstore in Pioneer Square, Seattle. It's a show about love — the search for love, the struggle to sustain love, and the magic of love.
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- THR: Chad Hodge, Amblin Team for 'Abandon' Adaptation at USA
The project, which is in development, hails from red-hot Amblin Television and landed at USA in a competitive situation with a significant penalty attached.
Abandon straddles two time periods and centers on a group of explorers who set out to uncover the mysteries of Abandon, a small mining town deep in the mountains of Colorado whose entire population disappeared on Christmas Eve more than a century ago. However, the eclectic crew is quick to discover that the town may not be as empty as they originally believed.
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C

Cornballer

Member
- THR: 'Lost's' Josh Holloway Reunites With Carlton Cuse to Star in USA's 'Colony'
USA Network is staging a major Lost reunion.

Former Lost star Josh Holloway has landed the lead in the cabler's Carlton Cuse-produced drama pilot Colony,The Hollywood Reporter has learned.

Colony, created and exec produced by Cuse and Hercules' Ryan Condal, is a naturalistic drama about a family forced to make difficult choices as they balance staying together with surviving an existential threat to the human race. Set in the near future, the story takes place in L.A., which exists in a state of occupation by a force of outside intruders. Some collaborate with the authorities and benefit from the new order, while others rebel and suffer the consequences.

Holloway star as Will Bowman, a former FBI agent who — in a bid to protect his family — is forced to collaborate with the occupational government to bring down the growing resistance movement inside the Los Angeles colony.
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R

RatskyWatsky

Hunky Nostradamus
NFL History Drama Series From Jon Favreau & Kevin Misher Eyed By Networks

I have learned that the NFL has teamed with filmmaker Jon Favreau (Iron Man) and producer Kevin Misher (Carrie) for a sprawling scripted series that chronicles the history of football in America that predates the launch of the professional league in 1920. It follows the evolution of the sport decade by decade up to the present. I hear Favreau and Misher had been working on the idea for several years. The series, which doesn’t have a writer yet, is envisioned to run over multiple seasons.
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I love period pieces :3

Interested networks were asked to submit offers, which I hear a number of them did, led by NBC and Fox — which carry NFL games — and A&E/History.
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Please land on cable please land on cable

And I hear that there might be a surprising, out-of-the-box play along with the traditional network agreements that would be considered. That would not include digital player Netflix, which has been involved in a number of big-ticket series deals in the past few years but I hear is sitting this one out.
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Hotmail finally getting into the original scripted programming business?
 
T

TheOddOne

Member
- Playlist: David Fincher Will Direct The Entire First Season Of HBO's 'Utopia' In 2015
Chatting with The Guardian, Fincher revealed that he will be behind the camera for every episode of HBO's remake of the U.K. series "Utopia." The project, which has been brewing for a while, was given a series order by the network earlier this year, with "Gone Girl" author Gillian Flynn also on board to produce. The show (which has two seasons overseas) follows a group of people who get their hands on a cult graphic novel called "The Utopia Experiments," which seems to have predicted no shortage of disasters. An organization known only as The Network hunts them down as the group tries to prevent the next disaster predicted in the pages of the manuscript from happening.
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C

Cornballer

Member
- THR: 'Big' Remake From 'Enlisted' Duo Set at Fox
Fox is going Big with Kevin Biegel and Mike Royce.

The duo who previously teamed on Fox's military comedy Enlisted are adapting Tom Hanks' 1988 movie Big for the network, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.

The comedy, which has received a script plus penalty commitment from Fox, is described as an event series based on the movie that explores what it means to be an adult and what it means to be a kid — and how in today's world, those two things are more confused than ever.

Biegel and Royce will pen the script and executive produce the half-hour comedy, which is envisioned as an ongoing series with a cable model episode count. The comedy hails from 20th Century Fox Television, the studio behind Enlisted.
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C

Cornballer

Member
- Deadline: ‘Rush Hour’ To Be Remade As Action Series From Bill Lawrence & Brett Ratner
A big series project is about to hit the markeplace — a Rush Hour hourlong action comedy based on the blockbuster movie franchise. I’ve learned that Warner Bros. TV has closed deals for the project, which will be co-written/executive produced by one of studio’s top showrunners, Bill Lawrence. The movie franchise’s director Brett Ratner and producer Arthur Sarkissian will serve as executive producers.

Written by Cougar Town co-creator Lawrence and the series’ executive producer/showrunner Blake McCormick, Rush Hour is expected to stay close to the premiere of the original movie, with a stoic, by-the-book Hong Kong police officer, played in the features by Jackie Chan, assigned to a case in Los Angeles, where he’s forced to work with a cocky black LAPD officer, originally played by Chris Tucker, who has no interest in a partner.
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T

Tim the Wiz

Banned
RatskyWatsky said:
I LOVE Rush Hour (2 is decent and I never watched 3) but this sounds iffy to me. The Jackie Chan/Chris Tucker dynamic is going to be extraordinarily hard to replicate - the entire thing rested on their shoulders, so what happens when you remove both of them from the equation?
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I thought they would do movie reboots with Kevin Hart first.
 
T

TheOddOne

Member
- Deadline: ABC Pilot ‘Clementine’ Stays Alive With New Cast Extension, Eyes Summer Run.
ABC and ABC Studios are very serious about drama pilot Clementine, reaching in their pockets to pay for another extension of the cast’s options. I hear the project is being considered for a 10-13-episode summer run.

Clementine was a major contender for series pickup in May but missed the cut. Still, ABC and ABC Studios remained high on the show, and in June the studio moved in to extend the cast when their options were to expire. That extension ended yesterday when the options were picked up again.

Written by Dean Georgaris and directed by Michael Dinner, Clementine centers on habitual criminal Clementine Ross (Sarah Snook) who digs in to the mystery of her origins after she becomes the target of a group of zealots who fear she possesses latent supernatural abilities that she will one day harness for either profound good or monstrous evil. The cast of the project, from the Mark Gordon Co., also includes Mykelti Williamson, David Strathairn, Edwin Hodge, Kevin Alejandro, Kathleen Munroe, Nick Gehlfuss and McKenna Grace.
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TheOddOne

Member
- Variety: Netflix Orders King Kong Movie, Animated Series from Avi Arad.
Netflix has set a 2016 debut for “Kong – King of the Apes,” an original animated TV series and feature-length film for kids from executive producer Avi Arad.

The SVOD leader has ordered a movie and 12 half-hour episodes from animation studio 41 Entertainment and Arad Prods. Slated to premiere worldwide sometime in 2016, the CGI-animated movie and series will be “a fresh and modern take on the classic King Kong story,” according to the companies.
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In “Kong – King of the Apes,” set in 2050, the humanistic giant ape is housed on San Francisco’s Alcatraz Island, which has since been transformed into a natural history and marine preserve. But when the star attraction suddenly goes ape — and Kong becomes public enemy No. 1 — the villain that framed him is free to unleash an army of gigantic robotic dinosaurs on the unsuspecting world.
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C

Cornballer

Member
- Deadline: Bill Burr To Star In FX Comedy Pilot From ‘It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia’ Team
After a lengthy gestational period, FX Networks has given a pilot green light to comedy Pariah starring Bill Burr. It was co-created by It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia writer-producers John Chernin and Dave Chernin, with Sunny creator Rob McElhenney set to direct. The project hails from FX Prods. and studio-based RCG Prods., the production company of Sunny masterminds McElhenney, Charlie Day and Glenn Howerton who will executive produce alongside Burr, the Chernins as well as 3 Arts Dave Becky, Michael Rotenberg and Nick Frenkel.

Pariah centers on volatile TV personality Joe Abbott (Burr) who, after an on-air meltdown, is exiled from show business and forced to navigate society as a man with no apparent skills. “Bill Burr is a great comedic talent,” said FX’s Nick Grad. “Teaming Bill with Rob, Charlie and Glenn, along with John and Dave is a perfect recipe for a terrific comedy Pilot.”
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beat

beat

Member
TV Land orders two single-cam sitcoms to series:
Both series have 10-episode orders and are targeted to premiere next year.

“Impastor” revoles around a man on the run from a loan shark who winds up posting as a gay pastor in a small town. “Teachers” (pictured) stars the six-woman improv comedy troupe the Katydids as elementary school teachers who are earnest about helping students even as their own lives are a mess.
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D

Dan

No longer boycotting the Wolfenstein franchise
CreeperBlocks said:
Is it going to be without Jackie and Chris? I dunno about this.
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Not a chance in hell will it be Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker.

I was thinking, I wonder if they'll stick with a Hong Kong cop with a heavy accent. It's one thing to do a little language humor in a two hour movie (or three, as it were), but for 22 hours a year? Beyond that, how much fish-out-of-water dynamic can you stretch out before it's tedious and/or insensitive?
 
beat

beat

Member
Dan said:
Not a chance in hell will it be Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker.

I was thinking, I wonder if they'll stick with a Hong Kong cop with a heavy accent. It's one thing to do a little language humor in a two hour movie (or three, as it were), but for 22 hours a year? Beyond that, how much fish-out-of-water dynamic can you stretch out before it's tedious and/or insensitive?
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CBS tried to turn "Martial Law" into an unlicensed Rush Hour adaptation in its second season... (and if you're gonna go that route, it definitely helps to have Sammo Hung in the Jackie Chan role)
 
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