FX Picks Up Terriers And Lights Out To Series

FX has given 13-episode orders to Terriers and Lights Out for summer and late 2010 launch, respectively. With the pickups, coming on the heels of FX’s series orders to Western drama Lawman and comedies The League, Archer and Louie, FX went 6-for-6 this year, picking up to series all six pilots it shot. Overall, FX will have 11 original scripted series on the air in the next year, more than any other basic cable network.

Terriers, from Fox21, creator-executive producer Ted Griffin and exec producer Shawn Ryan, is a comedic drama starring Donal Logue as an ex-cop who partners with his best friend (Michael Raymond-James) to launch an unlicensed private investigation business. The pilot was directed by Craig Brewer.

Lights Out, from Fox TV Studios, FX Productions, executive producer/showrunner Warren Leight and creator/executive producer Justin Zackham, stars Holt McCallany as an aging former heavyweight boxing champion who struggles to find his identity and support his wife and three daughters after retiring from the ring. Phillip Noyce and Ross Fineman also are exec producers on the series, whose pilot was directed by Clark Johnson.

While the pickup for Terriers came shortly after the pilot was delivered to the network, the one for Lights Out came after producer/showrunner Warren Leight was brought in to tweak the pilot and pen two more scripts with Zackham. The project is expected to undergo significant recasting of the supporting players.