The seemingly never ending stream of movie actors heading to TV increases by one this week, as LL Cool J signs a deal to appear in a drama for the US network CBS.
Anthony Zuiker, the man who dreamt up the CSI franchise, has finally sprung free of the forensic world – though his new show is still partly a police series. LL plays a swanky undercover cop who runs stings on massive criminal rings by pretending to be “the man” – a fixer who can obtain everything from entry to the most exclusive nightclubs to top notch sporting tickets. But by day, he’s a father struggling to raise three adopted kids who all have troubles ranging from aggression issues to drug addiction.
He’s joining the likes of Ray Liotta, James Woods and Anne Heche, who are all headlining big new shows in the States this autumn. Liotta plays a bank robber who juggles complicated heists and family life in Smith, Woods is Shark, a former celebrity defence attorney who brings his showboating skills to criminal prosecutions and Heche is toplining the comedy drama Men In Trees, about a relationship expert stranded in a small Alaskan town.
The Man has been given the go-ahead to shoot a pilot and the network will decide whether to pick the show up once executives get a chance to see it.
