Dorothy Zbornak Goes to Istanbul
The Golden Girls go global, Jennifer Jason Leigh takes another interesting role, old timers get reality shows, and Jenny Lumet probably won't be teaching next semester.
Jenny Lumet, who opened up her pen and bled some ink onto a piece of paper and called it Rachel Getting Married, is set to write another screenplay. The Manhattan-based drama teacher will adapt a New York Times story called This Strange Thing Called Prom, about a bunch of New York City immigrants organizing the rite of passage dance. No word yet on whether Anne Hathaway will show up mugging as an adorably troubled guidance counselor. [Variety]
What happens to four old Turkish women when the years have done their battering and hope begins to recede into the dusty hills? They move into a fab condo and talk about sex a lot! Yes, Turkey is set, some twenty years later, to get their own version of The Golden Girls. ABC has licensed the title to Play Productions, which will create a new series for a Turkish satellite broadcaster. This old broad is lined up to play sass-talkin' Sophia. [Variety] Also in fantastic television news, Tori Spelling and her business husband Dean McDermott will get a spin-off of their Oxygen channel show, this one about make overs. So that's fun. The net will further mine your childhood memories and turn them into small piles of money with the show Keshia and Kaseem, a reality series following former Cosby Show charmer Keshia Knight-Pulliam as she navigates the troubled waters of being a normal goddamned person. [Variety]
Hm... interesting. Jennifer Jason Leigh, she of the really strange career ranging from Fast Times to eXistenZ, will recur on Weeds as Mary Louise Parker's estranged sister. Nancy tries to shuttle Shane off to stay with her while all the drug madness goes down close to the border, but the sister ends up wanting to talk turkey with Nancy and shows up and, you know, drama ensues or whatever. [THR] Also in the Hm Department, scary naturalist Catherine Keener has joined the cast of Percy Jackson, about the modern-day teenage son of Poseidon. Keener will play Mrs. Sea in the movie, which also features Pierce Brosnan, Sean Bean, Kevin McKidd, and that kid from Hoot. [THR]
Can you read this news? American Idol winner and Curler Purple star Fantasia Barrino is getting her own reality series on Vh1. Show will follow the mouthy lady as she raises her child and makes various musics. The show will be called Life Is Not a Scripted Series. [THR]