TNT unveils 2011/12 series, telemovies

Turner-owned US cable channel TNT has ordered Major Crimes, a Warner Bros drama set in the LAPD, as well as the seventh and final season of The Closer. Original telefilms are also in the mix.

Major Crimes (10×60′) will be executive produced by James Duff, creator of The Closer, along with Greer Shephard and Michael M Robin. Starring Mary McDonnell (The Closer, Battlestar Galactica), it will debut after the series finale of The Closer in 2012. The latter show – also from Warner Bros – will air 15 episodes in 2011 and six in summer 2012.

TNT is also making a return to original telefilms, launching the new strand TNT Tuesday Night Mystery (working title). To fill the new strand, the net is developing the two-hour movie Innocent, based on the book by author Scott Turow.

TNT is also developing movies based on Richard North Patterson’s Silent Witness; Sandra Brown’s Ricochet; Lisa Gardner’s Hide; April Smith’s Good Morning Killer; and Mary Higgins Clark and Carol Higgins Clark’s Deck the Halls.

Explaining the return to original telefilms, TNT said the genre has “earned the network many Emmys, along with unprecedented ratings that hold records yet today.”

For 2012, TNT has also ordered Perception from ABC Studios, a series starring Eric McCormack (Will & Grace) that centres on a neuroscientist who solves complex criminal cases.

In development for 2012 are a number of projects, including an adaptation of novel Scent of the Missing from CBS Television Studios; period drama Gateway, from Warner Horizon Television; and action drama Snatched, from Prospect Park.

Other projects in development for next year include mystery-of-the-week Enigma, from CBS Television Studios and Anthony Zuiker (CSI), Matt Weinberg and Ed Whitmore (Waking the Dead). The Command, meanwhile, from Cineflix Studios, centres on NYPD detectives.

Auther Mitch Albom (Tuesdays with Morrie) is also developing a drama set in a Detroit radio station; Kimberly Williams-Paisley (According to Jim), Brad Paisley and Shaun Cassidy (Roar, Invasion) are also developing a comedy/drama set in Tennessee.

Jay Cocks (Gangs of New York) and Bill Haber’s Ostar Productions (Rizzoli & Isles) are also working on a drama about a news reporter who becomes a private eye; and Eric Garcia (Matchstick Men), McG (Terminator Salvation) and Peter Johnson (Supernatural) are developing a detective drama via Warner Horizon.

In 2011/12, TNT is bringing back a total of seven series: Rizzoli & Isles, The Closer, Men of a Certain Age, Leverage, Hawthorne, Memphis Beat and Southland.

This summer, the channel is also lining up Falling Skies, the sci-fi series from DreamWorks Television and Steven Spielberg; and Franklin & Bash, a legal drama from Sony Pictures Television.