Question: TVGuide.com's Entertainment News reported that "Nia Vardalos is penning Talk of the Town, a big fat star vehicle for Tom Hanks." Is this a remake of the Cary Grant/Jean Arthur movie The Talk of the Town, or is it a different story with the same title?Answer: I'm thinking totally different story with the same title. All I've heard about the plot of the new Talk of the Town, which My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002) writer and star Nia Vardalos is writing from an idea by Tom Hanks, is that it involves a man (presumably Hanks) who's suddenly forced to make an unexpected career change. This doesn't sound at all to me like the vintage dark comedy
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Question: It seems like every other movie I see advertised is based on a TV show, like The Dukes of Hazzard. But what about the other way around? I know there was a series based on My Big Fat Greek Wedding, but what other TV series have been based on a movie, and were any of them good?
Answer: There have been a handful of top-notch TV shows based on movies. The flop Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992) was revived as Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003); Robert Altman's acerbic M*A*S*H* (1970) became the long-running M*A*S*H (1972-1983); Neil Simon
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After My Big Fat Greek Wedding hit the $100-million mark, Nia Vardalos went from no-name indie-film actress to full-fledged star. Like another Greek icon, King Midas, she thought everything she touched would turn to gold. This wasn't true of the CBS sitcom version of her film — My Big Fat Greek Life — which was axed last year amid low ratings and rumors of the star's diva-terror behavior. What did she learn from the experience?
At a press conference for her current movie, Connie and Carla, Vardalos was asked that very question. Her answer was vague, yet telling. "That experience was just, um..." she hesitated. "I feel like I've lived a lifetime since it happened, so it's hard for me to kind of put that into words. I loved my cast, and we see each other at lunches and dinner now. And that's the great thing about that."
Sadly, it looks like Vardalos will get more practice sweeping failure under the rug. This past weeken
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Looks like the next Peloponesian War is to be waged on American TV! The tube version of My Big Fat Greek Wedding — which has grossed over $228 million domestically — debuts Feb. 24 on CBS. Star Nia Vardalos has tweaked the title to My Big Fat Greek Life, and that's not the only change she and executive producer Rita Wilson are making. Still, the indie movie's feisty family feuding remains the same. "I really do have 27 first cousins and a loud, always-eating Greek family that loved me to the point of suffocation," Vardalos joked to reporters at the Television Critics Press Tour in Hollywood. "On a scale of one to 10, let's say I just kind of turn it up to 11." Here's the rest of the scoop on these souvlaki servers ...
First off, Nia Vardalo
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