2/11/2009

in

Just when it was thought that the FX network couldn't top the success of "The Shield," the cable network delivers yet another one-two punch of serial dramas for 2009.

John Winn

According to the *Hollywood Reporter*, the cable channel, a subsidiary of 20th Century Fox, has ordered up two pilots for 2009: *Lights Out*, based on a story by *Bucket List* writer Justin Zackham and Phillip Noyce, and *Fire in the Hole*, an adaptation of the Elmore Leonard short story of the same name.  
  
*Lights* centers on an aging former boxer sifting through identity crises amid pugilistic dementia, while *Fire in the Hole* deals with a morally ambiguous lawman.  
  
"\[The main character in *Lights*\] is going through late adolescence," Noyce said. "Someone who attempts to leave his family and friends in a better place and to better himself."  
  
In addition to Zackham and Noyce, Hollywood producer Ross Fineman has also signed on to the project. The trio will exec-produce the series.  
  
*Fire in the Hole* will be produced by Graham Yost and Carl Beverly. Michael Dinner will direct.  
  
*Lights* has been in the making since 2007. The idea was originally pitched to Zackham by Fineman earlier that year. Noyce later signed on board after learning of the script. The idea was formally pitched to FX earlier this year.