News

Fox is taking a new direction in its hunt for a one-hour wedding-planning show with David E. Kelley's The Wedding Store.

The network has given a 13-episode midseason order to the project, based on Kelley and Jason Katims' idea for their 2004 ABC pilot DeMarco Affairs.

Wedding Store, from David E. Kelley Prods. and 20th Century Fox TV, is set to replace Fox's midseason series The Wedding Album, which is not going forward.

The series order for Wedding Store was based on a new script written by Kelley. The show, said to be different than DeMarco, is described by Kelley as "a romantic comedy about a group of wedding planners dedicated to having their clients live happily ever after, or at least until they get to the parking lot." The dramedy DeMarco revolved around three sisters who inherit their family's full-service wedding-planning business.

Fox entertainment president Peter Liguori said he became interested in the wedding-planning arena after seeing the amount of buzz the Wedding Album pilot generated at the network.

Emmy-winning director-producer Michael Dinner has inked a one-year overall deal with Sony Pictures Television to develop and direct network and cable pilots. "Michael is a fantastic director and a visionary filmmaker," said Jamie Erlicht, senior vp development and network programming at SPT. Under his previous overall deal with 20th Century Fox TV, Dinner directed three pilots in 2004: North Shore, which had a short run as a series on Fox; The DeMarco Affairs, penned by David E. Kelley for ABC; and Laws of Chance for Fox.

Leland Orser has been tapped as a recurring on NBC's medical drama ER. Meanwhile, Jonathan Silverman has been tapped to co-star opposite Eddie Griffin in Showtime's comedy pilot Pryor Offenses. On the Emmy-winning ER, from Warner Bros. TV, Orser will play a trauma surgeon who becomes the new chief of surgery. Orser most recently co-starred in NBC's two-hour drama pilot Homeland Security, which aired as a movie earlier this year. His recent feature credits include Runaway Jury, Twisted and Daredevil. Orser is repped by the Gersh Agency. Pryor Offenses is a half-hour inspired by the stand-up material and real life of Richard Pryor. It centers on a thirtysomething comedian (Griffin) on the verge of a career breakthrough who is dealing with a ton of personal issues. Silverman will play the comedian's agent. This past development season, Silverman co-starred on ABC's drama pilot The DeMarco Affairs. Pryor Offenses reunites Silverman with Showtime. Last year, he starred opposite Forest Whitaker in the cable channel's film Deacons for Defense. Silverman is repped by WMA and Untitled Entertainment.