Media Murder for Monday

MOVIES

The same film company behind the Scandinavian version of Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is developing a U.S. adaptation of crime novelist Jo Nesbø's novel Headhunters. There is already a Norwegian version in the works headed for European screens this summer, but apparently the American version will be a "ground-up adaptation of the source material," whatever that means. As an aside, Nesbø has begun penning original screen stories, one of which, a dark comedy titled Jackpot, is also in the works.

Actor Giovanni Ribisi will co-star in the period crime drama The Gangster Squad, based on a series of true-story articles in the Los Angeles Times. The film follows a secret 1940s police task force that pursued notorious gangster Meyer Harris. Ribisi joins fellow cast members Sean Penn, Ryan Gosling, Josh Brolin, Anthony Mackie and Michael Pena.

TV

HBO is developing author Carl Hiaasen's caper novel Skinny Dip set in South Florida, which follows a woman who takes revenge on her unscrupulous husband after he attempts to murder her. Executive producers for the project are Michael Oates Palmer (The West Wing, Rubicon) and Michael Keaton.

USA Network has picked up the pilot Common Law, with an order for eleven episodes in addition to the pilot. Although filming takes place in New Orleans, it's about two LAPD homicide cops  (played by Michael Ealy and Warren Kole) who don't get along, prompting their captain (Jack McGee) to send them to "couples counseling."

And actresses Stephanie March and Diane Neal are returning to NBC's Law & Order: Special Victims Unit for the show's 13th season. They join newly-hired former Cold Case star Danny Pino and Chase actress Kelli Giddish

A&E has renewed the drama series Breakout Kings for a second season that could begin in the first quarter of 2012. It stars Laz Alonso and Domenick Lombardozzi as U.S. Marshals who use former fugitives to catch fugitives. The premiere in March set a record with the highest 18-49 demo rating for a drama on the network, drawing 1.5 million adults 18-49 and 2.8 million total viewers.

Masterpiece Mystery! has added Case Histories to its lineup, based on the books by Kate Atkinson and featuring detective Jackson Brodie (Jason Isaacs). It will air over three consecutive weeks beginning on October 16th.

The psychological thriller The Booth at the End premieres tonight on Hulu and its subscription service Hulu Plus. Originally airing in the UK, the series involves the mysterious figure "The Man," who can solve any problem—for a price. It's described as being in the same style as Lost, Fringe, 24, Lie to Me and The X-Files.

Also tonight, the TNT summer crime dramas The Closer and Rizzoli and Isles premiere their new seasons. (Hat tip to Omnimystery.)

Spike TV has picked up a pilot about the NYPD bomb squad, developed by a team including producer Richard Esposito, who wrote a 2007 book about the squad with co-author Ted Gerstein. The network is also considering a pilot called F.T.W., which revolves around an Atlanta police officer who goes undercover to infiltrate a militia organization in his hometown.

THEATER

Silence of the Lambs: the musical? Yup. Sort of. Brothers jon and Al Kaplan have created a 90-minute unauthorized off-Broadway musical parody, complete with a chorus of dancing lambs running across the stage. It follows the movie plot, but "We push elements that are there further, says Jon Kaplan. And Al Kaplan added, "It's all about exaggerating certain things — like accents and lisps."

RADIO

NPR's Weekend Edition Sunday chatted with suspense writer Michael Koryta about his latest novel The Ridge, set in an isolated community in the mountains of eastern Kentucky.

Morning Edition today (July 11) spoke to authors behind the author behind The Hypnotist: the Swedish husband-and-wife writing team of Alexander Ahndoril and Alexandra Coelho Ahndoril, known as Lars Kepler.