posted 10-17-2013 07:35 AM               

'Astronaut Wives Club' being developed as ABC TV series

A best-selling book about the women behind America's original astronauts is now being adapted for television by the co-creator of "Gossip Girl."

ABC has given the "go" for producer Stephanie Savage to pen a limited drama series based on author Lily Koppel's "The Astronaut Wives Club," the entertainment news site Deadline Hollywood broke Wednesday (Oct. 16). The TV show is reportedly being fast-tracked, possibly for summer 2014.

...the ABC Studios' limited event series is being helmed by Groundswell Productions ("Milk") and Fake Empire, Josh Schwartz's and Savage's production company best known for developing "Gossip Girl" for The CW network, NBC's "Chuck" action-comedy series and The CW's "Sex and the City" prequel, "The Carrie Diaries."

posted 10-17-2013 01:10 PM               

• "The Astronaut Wives Club" for ABC is based on the book by the same title by Lily Koppel
  
• "Cocoa Beach" (working title) is being developed by the writers of "Mad Men" and is intended to be a fictional series based loosely on Jay Barbree's "Live from Cape Canaveral"
  
• Primeridian Entertainment is developing a space race-themed series, based on Matthew Brzezinski's "Red Moon Rising" and penned by "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan" screenwriter and director Nicholas Meyer

posted 01-25-2014 05:40 AM               

From Stephanie Savage, “Astronaut Wives Club” tells the real story of the women who stood beside some of the biggest heroes in American history during the height of the space race. Fake Empire’s Savage, Josh Schwartz and Len Goldstein along with Groundswell are exec producing the drama.

posted 02-05-2014 07:06 PM               

Astronaut Wives Club promises to tell "the real story of the women who stood beside some of the biggest heroes in American history during the height of the space race." ABC has ordered 10 episodes straight to series.

posted 02-18-2014 04:52 PM               

JoAnna Garcia Swisher is first lead to be announced for "Astronaut Wives Club," a 10-episode series based on Lily Koppel's same-titled 2013 book about the women behind America's first astronauts. Helmed by Stephanie Savage, the co-creator of "Gossip Girl," "Astronaut Wives Club" is set to launch on ABC this summer.

Swisher will trade in her mermaid tail as "Ariel" on ABC's "Once Upon a Time" for the role of Betty Grissom, the real life wife of Mercury astronaut Virgil "Gus" Grissom, whose spacecraft promptly sank to the oceanfloor after splashing down from space.

posted 03-05-2014 09:58 AM               

The homes depicted in the teevee version of The Astronaut Wives Club may turn out to be a bit more landlocked than the actual Space Age family spreads they're modeled after.

Location scouts for the upcoming ABC mini-series, which will be based on the book by Lily Koppel, appear to be steering clear of the actual Clear Lake-area neighborhoods the original 7 astronaut families lived in — and pushing west instead.

Real estate agent Robert Searcy tells Swamplot the location scouts who contacted him were looking for a neighborhood with original-looking mid-fifties-era houses.

posted 03-05-2014 07:20 PM               

The project, from Fake Empire, Groundswell Prods and ABC Studios, tells the real story of the women who stood beside some of the biggest heroes in American history during the height of the space race. Parsons, repped by Sweeney Entertainment and Imperium 7, will play one of them, Annie Glenn, the wife of John Glenn whom she's known since they were toddlers in Ohio.

posted 03-07-2014 01:50 PM               

"It'll all be shot here," says Rick Ferguson, executive director of the Houston Film Commission. "But the book starts elsewhere, so we're also looking for substitutes for Virginia, for Florida motels and other places that lead up to these families moving to the Clear Lake area."

...Nick Cassavetes, the son of actress Gena Rowlands and the late director John Cassavetes, will direct the first episode. The younger Cassavetes directed "The Notebook," "She's So Lovely" and a handful of other films.

posted 03-13-2014 08:08 PM               

Boyle, repped by ICM Partners, Seven Summits and Independent in the UK, will play Jo Schirra, wife of Wally Schirra, who flew missions for the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs.

posted 03-15-2014 08:11 PM               

Annable will play Trudy Cooper, the youngest of the Astro-wives and a licensed pilot herself.

A tomboy with aspirations of her own, her forward thinking challenges not just her husband but the other wives. Annable was an early choice for the role.

posted 03-19-2014 09:25 PM               

Harrington will play Alan Shepard, one of the Mercury Seven astronauts and the first American in space. He's competitive, steely and has a wry sense of humor. Despite his playboy reputation, he and his wife, Louise, have been married for years.

posted 04-03-2014 10:00 PM               

Originally, the series was envisioned to cover only the wives of the astronauts from the Mercury missions. Now ABC is expanding the scope to also include the Gemini and Apollo missions. That will involve reconceiving the arc of the season and expanding the current cast. Additionally, because the series involves the portrayal of real people, it has to go through an extensive clearing process, which has to be done after the scripts have been written.

The core seven wives of the Mercury astronauts that were at the center of the pilot script will remain central characters throughout the 10 episodes, gradually joined by Gemini and Apollo wives.

posted 04-14-2014 09:53 PM               

Following an extensive casting search, ABC has cast the lead for its drama series Astronaut Wives Club.

Hell on Wheels alum Dominique McElligott will topline the drama from Gossip Girl's Stephanie Savage, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.

...McElligott will star as Louise Shepard, a real-life "Sabrina" whose father was the head of maintenance at the Duponts' Longwood Gardens estate. She is intensely private and struggles to maintain her "perfect" image and her complicated marriage once her husband, Alan (Dexter's Desmond Harrington) becomes the first American in space. Louise and Alan had one of the few marriages that survived the space program, staying together for 53 years.

posted 04-17-2014 09:50 PM               

Harrison will play Gordon "Gordo" Cooper, the hotshot, young gun with an all-American swagger. The character's wandering ways pushed his wife, Trudy (Breaking In alum Odette Annable), to the brink of divorce but he's convinced her to come back so he can have his shot at space.

The casting reunites Harrison with Annable, who both co-starred on Fox's Breaking In, which ran for two seasons and on which the duo played one another's love interests.

posted 04-25-2014 08:13 PM               

Johnstone, repped by BRS/Gage and Working Entertainment, will play Gus Grissom, an average student and athlete who may be the least likely astronaut but proves himself to be one of NASA's top men. He’s an extraordinary engineer who flies on the Mercury and Gemini missions, and becomes the first man to go into space twice.

McCusker, repped by UK’s Curtis Brown and Kritzer Levine Wilkins Griffin Nilon Entertainment, will play Wally Schirra, another one of the original astronauts who's also a prankster.

posted 05-05-2014 10:08 PM               

Mitchell is set to play Deke Slayton, a Wisconsin farm boy and World War II flyer and one of the original Mercury Seven astronauts. After a medical condition ends his space career, Slayton becomes one of the most powerful voices in the space program.

posted 10-01-2014 08:53 AM               

Strahovski will play Rene Carpenter, wife of Mercury astronaut Scott Carpenter. The press notes suggest that "Her modern attitudes are source of both conflict and courage for the other Astrowives. Over time, Rene finds her own voice and awakens to a higher calling in politics, civil rights and women's issues."

posted 10-13-2014 07:22 AM               

'Astronaut Wives Club' begins filming for 2015 launch

The first meeting of the Astronaut Wives Club — the made-for-TV-version, that is — has convened in New Orleans.

Filming began Thursday (Oct. 9) on the 10-episode series, which ABC plans to air next spring. "The Astronaut Wives Club" is based on author Lily Koppel's best-selling book by the same title, which tells the real story of the women who stood beside the United States' first spacemen.

posted 11-26-2014 07:16 PM               

Lanter will play Ed White, an athletic Texan who graduated from West Point and was made famous by his Gemini "space walk."

His two-episode story arc will begin with Episode 107.

posted 02-14-2015 02:47 PM               

"In terms of the historical events, we're pretty accurate in terms of what happened and where people were and what their points of view were," Savage said. "In terms of behind-the-scenes conversations with the women and the couples, obviously we don't have historical records of that, so a lot of that needed to be invented. But we're trying to stay very true to the points of view of the characters. There is a responsibility to the history and to the people, many of whom are still alive.

"This does not have a lot of special effects or CGI. Most of our visual effects are stuff like taking satellite dishes off of the roofs of houses and things like that. Because other movies and television series have done that space aspect so well, we're not going to do better building the inside of a space capsule than they did in 'From the Earth to the Moon' or 'Apollo 13.' We really are telling this story from the perspective of the people who were left at home."

posted 04-21-2015 12:20 AM               

'Astronaut Wives Club' TV series to launch in June on ABC

"The Astronaut Wives Club" now has its launch date.

The new ABC docudrama about the spouses of America's first spacemen will premiere on Thursday night, June 18 at 8 p.m. EDT, the television network announced on Monday (April 20). The limited event series, based on author Lily Koppel's bestselling book by the same title, was originally slated to bow last summer, but was delayed to expand the show's scope to include the Gemini and Apollo astronauts.

"As America's astronauts were launched on death-defying missions, the lives of their young wives were transformed, seemingly overnight, from military spouses to American royalty," ABC stated, summarizing the history behind the series. "As their celebrity rose and tragedy began to touch their lives, they rallied together."

posted 04-24-2015 10:18 PM               

'Astronaut Wives Club' trailer: First look at ABC's spacemen spouses series

"Get to know the first ladies of space..."

Just days after releasing the launch date for its spacemen spouses TV series, ABC has revealed its first preview for "The Astronaut Wives Club."

The docudrama, which will premiere on the Disney-owned television network Thursday, June 18, is based on author Lily Koppel's 2013 bestselling book about the real wives of America's Mercury, Gemini and Apollo astronauts.

The limited series' first 30-second spot aired during ABC's Thursday night (April 23) line-up.

posted 06-16-2015 12:00 AM               

'Astronaut Wives Club' co-star talks being spaceman's spouse on ABC series

"The Astronaut Wives Club" blasts off Thursday night (June 18) on ABC, giving viewers a look at the other "right stuff" — the women behind America's first spacemen.

Based on author Lily Koppel's bestseller, the ten-episode docu-drama opens with NASA's Mercury 7 astronauts and, central to this series, their spouses, as they are thrust into the spotlight in the early 1960s.

...at the center of the astronaut wives club, on screen and in real life, was "Mother" Marge Slayton, the wife of Mercury astronaut Donald "Deke" Slayton. On TV, the late Slayton is played by actress Erin Cummings, who is no stranger to period pieces, having previously appeared on ABC's "Pan Am" and AMC's "Mad Men," but took her first stab at the space program's history through this role.

Cummings spoke to collectSPACE about reconvening the astronaut wives club for the small screen.

posted 06-16-2015 11:41 AM               

The Orlando Sentinel somewhat summarizes my own feelings having seen the first three episodes:

Imagine an ABC drama, say "Grey's Anatomy," tackling history, and you'll get an idea of what's ahead.

Even so, the series could prompt viewers to research the astronauts and learn what happened to their marriages and space careers.