Gerard Celasco to Star in ABC’s Drama Pilot “The Finest”

Posted on March 11, 2018 by Tom Castaneda

Gerard Celasco has landed his Finest role yet…

The 35-year-old Salvadoran-American actor has been cast in the ABC drama pilot The Finest (aka Untitled Holmes Sisters), from former CSI: NY showrunner Pam Veasey, Robin Roberts, Regina King, and ABC Studios.

Celasco will star opposite Eric Balfour, Dorian Missick, Zoe Robins, Frances Turner, Amirah Vanh and Tisha Campbell-Martin.

Written by Veasey and directed by King, the drama explores the lives of five African-American sisters, all officers in the NYPD, as they face the challenges of their high-risk jobs while juggling the responsibilities of marriage, motherhood and family.

Celasco will play Lucas, Nicole’s ex-boyfriend.

Celasco most recently recurred opposite Adam Brody and Ron Perlman on the Crackle series StartUp.

Marcus Coloma to Star in ABC’s Comedic Soap Pilot “False Profits”

Posted on March 10, 2018 by Tom Castaneda

Marcus Coloma is False-ifying his resume with a soapy new role…

The part-Spanish American actor has landed a series-regular role on ABC’s comedic soap pilot False Profits.

The project is set in the world of cosmetics marketing, from former Code Black writer-producer Kayla Alpert, Jason Reed and ABC Studios.

Written by Alpert, False Profits is described as Desperate Housewives meets Glengarry Glen Ross. It follows a team of down-and-out women in suburban Arizona as they fight their way to the top of the cutthroat world of a multi-level marketing cosmetics business.

Coloma will play Clark Steedler, Lila’s baby-daddy and Hilary’s (Shelley Hennig) ex who has been in and out of her life ever since she got pregnant

Coloma starred in the Beverly Hills Chihuahua films, and his television credits include Major Crimes, South Beach and Lucifer.

ABC Renews Nicholas Gonzalez’ “The Good Doctor” for a Sophomore Season

Posted on March 8, 2018 by Tom Castaneda

Nicholas Gonzalez will be doing rounds for another year…

ABC has given an early second-season renewal to its hit rookie The Good Doctor, starring the 42-year-old Mexican American actor.

The news should come as no surprise, as the drama hails as the network’s most-watched freshman series in 13 years.

The number of episodes hasn’t been disclosed but star Freddie Highmore’s contract calls for 18-episode seasons at most.

In the series, created/executive produced by David Shore based on a Korean format and executive produced by Daniel Dae Kim, Highmore stars as Dr. Shaun Murphy, a young surgeon with autism and savant syndrome, who relocates from a quiet country life to join the prestigious St. Bonaventure hospital’s surgical unit. His only advocate, Dr. Aaron Glassman (Richard Schiff), challenges the skepticism and prejudices of the hospital’s board and staff when he brings him in to join the team.

In addition to Gonzalez and Highmore, the series also stars

Antonia Thomas, Chuku Modu, Beau Garrett, Hill Harper and Tamlyn Tomita.

The pilot episode of the series, from Sony Pictures Television and ABC Studios, won a Humanitas Prize this year. The drama, whose hopefulness clicked with the audiences, airs Mondays at 10:00 pm ET.

“The Good Doctor’s message of inclusiveness resonates with our viewers and is a hallmark of what we aim to accomplish here at ABC,” ABC Entertainment president Channing Dungey said in announcing the renewal. “This series has quickly joined the zeitgeist and broken records in the competitive television landscape. We are thrilled to announce that Dr. Shaun Murphy will be back for another season.”

Shalim Ortiz to Star in ABC’s Drama Pilot “Grand Hotel”

Posted on March 6, 2018 by Tom Castaneda

Life is Grand for Shalim Ortiz…

The 39-year-old Puerto Rican actor/singer has been cast in a series regular role on ABC’s drama pilot Grand Hotel, hailing from Eva Longoria’s production company, Brian Tanen and ABC Studios.

Written by Tanen, Grand Hotel is based on a Spanish format and directed by Ken Olin.

It’s described as a soapy drama set against the backdrop of a Miami Beach hotel, centering on the family who owns the business, the staff who run it and the explosive secrets they hide under the perfect exterior.

Ortiz will portray Mateo, the Director of Guest Experiences at the hotel who knows every guest by name.

Ortiz played Alejandro Herrera on NBC’s Heroes and had a recurring role on HBO’s Ballers. His other credits include CSI: Miami, Lizzie McGuire and Cold Case.

ABC Orders Pilot of the Eva Longoria-Produced Drama “Grand Hotel”

Posted on February 4, 2018 by Tom Castaneda

It’s a grand old time for Eva Longoria…

ABC has ordered a pilor for the soapy drama Grand Hotel based on the Spanish series, from the 42-year-old Mexican American actress and former Desperate Housewives star and the hit ABC/ABC Studios dramedy’s writer Brian Tanen.

Written by Tanen, Grand Hotel is a soap opera-like drama set against the backdrop of a Miami Beach hotel, centering around the family who owns the business, the staff who run it, and the explosive secrets they hide under the perfect exterior.

Longoria and Ben Spector are executive producing via UnbeliEVAble Entertainment alongside Tanen as well as Oliver Bachert and Christian Gockel of Beta Film, which distributed the original series.

UnveliEVAble, ABC and ABC Studios also developed a Grand Hotel adaptation last season with a different writer.

Televisa USA previously took a stab at an English-language adaptation of the series set in pre-Castro Havana.

Gran Hotel (aka Grand Hotel) was created and produced by Bambu Producciones and ran on Spain’s Antena 3 for three seasons, with its first season reaching a 18.5% share. Dubbed “a Spanish Downton Abbey,” the original series, set in 1905 Spain, has been a top international seller for Beta Films.

Eva Longoria Developing English-Adaptation of Spain’s “Gran Hotel” for ABC

Posted on November 21, 2017 by Tom Castaneda

Eva Longoria is having a gran old time…

ABC is developing Grand Hotel, a soapy drama from the42-year-old Mexican American actress/producer and former Desperate Housewives star and writer Brian Tanen.

The project, from Longoria and Ben Spector’s UnveliEVAble Entertainment and ABC Studios, is based on the popular Spanish telenovela Gran Hotel.

Written by Tanen, Grand Hotel is a soapy drama set against the backdrop of a Miami Beach hotel, centering around the family who owns the business, the staff who run it, and the explosive secrets they hide under the perfect exterior.

Tanen, Longoria and Spector executive produce alongside Oliver Bachert and Christian Gockel of Beta Film, which distributes the original series.

UnveliEVAble, ABC and ABC Studios also developed a Grand Hotel adaptation last season with a different writer. Televisa USA previously took a stab at an English-language adaptation of the series set in pre-Castro Havana.

Gran Hotel was created and produced by Bambu Producciones and ran on Spain’s Antena 3 for three seasons, with its first season reaching a 18.5% share.

Dubbed “a Spanish Downton Abbey,” the original series, set in 1905 Spain, has been a top international seller for Beta Films.

Longoria recently teamed with another former Desperate Housewives writer, David Schulner, for immigrant drama Lucky Boy, with Nisha Ganatra directing.

ABC Gives Straight-to-Series Order to “Take Two,” Starring Eddie Cibrian

Posted on November 17, 2017 by Tom Castaneda

Eddie Cibrian is taking two…

ABC has given a straight-to-series order to Take Two, starring the 44-year-old Cuban American actor and Rachel Bilson.

Created by Castle creator Andrew W. Marlowe and his wife, former Castle executive producer Terri Edda Miller, the series is described as an upbeat procedural.

Written by Marlowe and Miller, stars Bilson as Ella, the former star of a hit cop series who’s fresh-out-of-rehab following a bender of epic proportion. Desperate to restart her career, she talks her way into shadowing rough-and-tumble private investigator Eddie (Cibrian) as research for a potential comeback role. Though lone wolf Eddie resents the babysitting gig, high-spirited Ella proves herself to be surprisingly valuable, drawing on her acting skills and 200 episodes of playing a detective. When the press touts Ella’s role in solving a high-profile case, Eddie finds his phone ringing off the hook with new clients looking to hire the pair.

The project is an international co-production between ABC Studios and StudioCanal’s Tandem Prods. In addition to ABC, the series has been picked up by RTL/VOX in Germany and France Television in France.

Cibrian played Jesse Cardoza on CSI: Miami and most recently was a series regular on Rosewood.

ABC Developing Mexican-American-Themed Comedy

Posted on August 28, 2017 by Tom Castaneda

It looks like ABC is going Tex-Mex…

The network has put in development a single-camera comedy from The Real O’Neals co-creators Casey Johnson and David Windsor and writer Rob Sudduth.

Penned by Sudduth with Johnson and Windsor supervising, the untitled multi-generational family comedy follows a man who, along with his husband and son, moves back in with his Mexican-American family in the heart of Texas, where he struggles to navigate his family’s deep-rooted traditions.

The project is semi-autobiographical: Sudduth was born and raised by a Latino family in Texas and is married to longtime The Young & the Restless actor Greg Rikaart; the two have a son.

Johnson and Windsor will executive produce, with Sudduth serving as co-executive producer. ABC Studios, which also produced the ABC comedy The Real O’Neals, is the studio.

This is the first project to be taken out this summer by Johnson and Windsor who also are working on several others under their ABC Studios overall deal. The duo co-created and executive produced The Real O’Neals, which aired on ABC for two seasons. They also served as co-executive producers on ABC’s Galavant and on Don’t Trust The B—- In Apt. 23.

Actor-turned-writer Sudduth also was a writer on Telenovela, GCB, The New Normal, The Crazy Ones, and Red Band Society.

CBS Renews Rodriguez’s “Criminal Minds” for a 13th Season

Posted on April 8, 2017 by Tom Castaneda

There’s more crime activity in Adam Rodriguez’s future…

CBS has picked up veteran crime drama Criminal Minds, starring the 42-year-old Puerto Rican and Cuban American actor, for a 13th season.

Criminal Minds, from ABC Studios and CBS Studios, averages respectable 10.8 million viewers (Live+Same Day). Its Live+7 adults 18-49 tally (2.4) is the third-highest for a CBS non-sports program.

After a major cast overhaul in the past year, with the departure of Shemar Moore, the shocking exit of Thomas Gibson, the return of Paget Bewster, the promotion of Aisha Tyler and the addition of Rodriguez, as Luke Alvez, and Damon Gupton, there are no major changes planned for next season, with the cast expected to return. That includes veterans Joe Mantegna, Matthew Gray Gubler, A.J. Cook and Kirsten Vangsness.

Rodriguez previously starred on CBS’ long-running series CSI: Miami.

Consuelos & Kelly Ripa to Develop Book “Geek Girl Rising” into Scripted TV Series

Posted on April 2, 2017 by Tom Castaneda

Mark Consuelos is ready to Geek out…

The 46-year-old half-Mexican actor and his wife Kelly Ripa will develop the book Geek Girl Rising: Inside the Sisterhood Shaking Up Tech as a scripted television series, according to Variety.

ABC Studios optioned the book, which will be released by St. Martin’s Press on May 23.

Ripa and Consuelos will executive produce along with Albert Bianchini through their Milojo Productions banner, which is currently under an overall deal with the studio.

Milojo also produces the upcoming Logo unscripted series Fire Island” and has previously developed several shows with ABC Studios.

The book, written by journalists Heather Cabot and Samantha Walravens, introduces readers to the female entrepreneurs and technologists who are building the next generation of tech start-ups, investing in each other’s ventures, upending male hacker stereotypes, and rallying women and girls everywhere to join the digital revolution.

According to information cited by the authors, just 2.7 percent of venture capital-funded companies have a female CEO, while 94 percent of venture capitalists are male and mostly white. In addition, 56 percent of women in technology drop out mid-career and only 18 percent of undergraduate computer science degree recipients today are women , which has dropped from a high of 37 percent in 1985.

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Celebrating the Latino Influence

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