‘Jericho’ writer sells ‘Beauty and the Beast’ remake to ABC

Beauty and the Beast could be returning to TV. ABC is developing a new version of the classic fairy tale romance from Human Target and Jericho writer-producer Jonathan E. Steinberg. The one-hour fantasy drama is described as an “epic re-imagining” of the tale.

Beauty and the Beast joins a host of name-brand projects in the running for broadcast’s next pilot season, including a Frankenstein, Romancing the Stone and Munsters project at NBC and a Bewitched remake at CBS. Of course, Beast would follow not one but two fairy tale inspired dramas hitting the air this fall — NBC’s Grimm and ABC’s Once Upon a Time. Hmm, if only ABC could get the 1980s CBS version’s original staff writer George R.R. Martin back … (but then he’d probably kill off the Beast at the end of the first season).