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Carrying a tune _Directions: Just across the Gervaii St. Bridge - Left at Second Light_ n ‘My Big Fat Greek Wedding’ spins off to CBS TV comedy “We’ve been together for two and a half years. We used to have lunches together, and then suddenly I disappeared to Europe and Australia for seven months to promote the film, writing the series by e mail.” NIAVARDALOS ACTRESS PHOTO COURTESY OF KRT CAMPUS Actress Nfa Vardalos attends the world premiere of Shanghai Knights at El Capitan Theatre In Hollywood, Calif., on Jan. 30. BY BOB THOMAS THE ASSOCIATED PIIESS LOS ANGELES — They pour out of Nia Vardalos’ compact dressing room like a crowd leav ing an ocean liner stateroom in a Marx Brothers comedy. They are her big fat Greek family. Truthfully, none of the actors are fat, few are Greek and none are related to Vardalos. They form the cast of the new CBS sit com “My Big Fat Greek Life,” premiering 9:30 p.m. EST Monday, before settling into its regular time slot at 8 p.m. EST Sunday, March 2. The actors had reported to Vardalos’ dressing room at CBS Studio Center at 9 o’clock Monday morning for what she planned as a weekly ritual to ce ment the familial feeling. “We’re like a family,” Vardalos said, after the cast had filed out. “We’ve been together for two and a half years. We used to have lunches together, and then suddenly I disappeared to Europe and Australia for seven months to promote the film, writing the series by e-mail.” “I decided every week we would have|i cast meeting where I could tell them about their story lines and find out their concerns. We just taped our first episode, and I said, ‘What do we change?’ They said, ‘Let’s have music be tween the scenes,’ ‘Let’s feed our (studio) audience.’ Just stuff like that.” The Monday meeting adds an other responsibility for Vardalos, who serves as co-executive pro ducer of “My Big Fat Greek Life” and sits in on script conferences with the seven staff writers. Vardalos remembers watching the pilot of “The Drew Carey Show,” on which her husband, Ian Gomez, appears. She was im pressed by how nicely Carey treat ed the actors and the audience and decided that if she ever had a se ries, she would do the same. By now “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” has become legendary as the little feature that could. As every movie maven now knows, Vardalos started with a one-wom an show and converted it into a sponsorship of Tom Hanks and his wife, Greek-American actress Rita Wilson; it was filmed for $5 million, then grossed a stunning $240 million-plus. The lighthearted film focused on Toula’s (Vardalos) courtship and her family’s response to her suitor, a non-Greek teacher. The half-hour sitcom picks up after the couple’s wedding, as they re turn from their honeymoon, and will expand the film’s focus. “You can’t just carbon-copy something. We have to be cre atively interested in what we’re doing,” Vardalos says. There are a few obvious changes: Vardalos’ character has a new (but still familiar) name, Nia, and a new husband. Steven Eckholdt has replaced the film’s John Corbett, who was commit ted to another TV series, the up coming “Lucky” on FX. PHOTO COURTESY OF KRT CAMPUS “Joe Millionaire” Evan Marriott attends one of Tommy Hilflger’s fashion shows. 'Joe Millionaire’ « finale outshines Michael Jackson BY FRAZIER MOORE THE ASSOCIATED PRESS NEW YORK - Unknown to the world just a few weeks ago, Evan Marriott has overthrown the King of Pop — at least, on net work television. Marriott, of course, was the make-believe moneybags of Fox’s “Joe Millionaire” who, on the fi nale of this unscripted-but-staged mating dance, chose Zora over Sarah as his lady love. Meanwhile, viewers roundly chose Marriott over Michael Jackson, the subject of rival spe cials on ABC and NBC. According to Nielsen numbers, the “Joe Millionaire” finale, which aired 8 to 10 p.m. EST Monday, drew an average 34.6 mil lion viewers. The audience soared to 40 million in the second hour. This figure approaches that of last year’s Academy Awards broadcast of 41.8 million. It was the highest series telecast on any network since CBS’ premiere of “Survivor II” in January 2001 — in the post-Super Bowl slot — ac cording to Fox, which also said it was Fox’s highest-rated enter tainment program ever. The enormous number dwarfed the 11.9 million audience for the 9-to-10-p.m. hour of a “Dateline NBC” special, “Michael Jackson Unmasked,” airing head to-head against “Joe Millionaire.” The “Dateline” 10-to-ll-p.m. hour rose to 17.2 million viewers. “Joe Millionaire” also sub stantially outdrew ABC’s Feb. 6 broadcast of a two-hour Jackson special produced by British tele vision; its audience averaged 27.1 million viewers, making it the most-watched show for that week. ABC repeated that special Monday night from 9 to 11 p.m., drawing an audience of 9.5 mil lion viewers. From 8 to 9 p.m., ABC aired a “PrimeTime" spe cial, “The Many Faces of Michael Jackson,” which drew 10 million viewers. Fox, not to miss out on Michael-mania, plans to air an al ternative, more sympathetic ver- ^ sion of the ABC special, called * “Michael Jackson Take 2: The Interview They Wouldn’t Show You,” on Thursday. For the moment, however, Fox can savor its triumph by “Joe Millionaire.” The 28-year-old Marriott is pre sumably happy, too. On the finale — taped last Thanksgiving — he and Zora Andrich, the dark haired, New Jersey schoolteach er, were presented with a $1 mil lion check from the show. Although such a windfall would be chump change to the $50 million heir Marriott was pre tending to be on the show, in re ality he was a construction work- - er making $19,000 a year. 4 But Zora, who beat out blond Sarah Kozer, didn’t care that he had lied to her, along with the oth er 19 women who had vied for his affections through the competi tion. “I really was turned off by the fact that you inherited all that money,” she told him after di gesting his confession. One of several among the net works’ latest crop of so-called re ality series, “Millionaire” began its run Jan. 6 — and instantly proved a hit with its blend of dat ing game and practical joke. It at tracted 18.6 million viewers for its premiere. And Monday’s smash conclu sion isn’t exactly a conclusion. A Next week, millionaire lovebirds ^ Evan and Zora will be back for a Fox special, “Joe Millionaire: The Aftermath.” PHOTO BY TRISHA SHADWELL/THE GAMECOCK Naama Levitz, left, a student In the School for Jewish Education in Jerusalem, sings alongside Heral Feningstein, an informal educator at the Jewish Agency for Israel. Both are in the Bnei Akiva singing group. APOLLO NIGHT ■Cl Be I Shepard Sandman Sam and a Master of Ceremonies I4F Interested please come to the Russell House Suite ass at 6:OOpm Pels. 17th and 18th Apollo Night will too held In ertoo Russell House Ballroom ? Tuesday, Feb as 2003 Eat/mg health/er th/s SEMESTER? Th/s /s the place to e/ho a BALANCE OE GREAT PRODUCTS AND KNOWLEDGEABLE AND __ _. EXPER/EHCED STAEE TO www.rosewoodmarket.com ASSfST you. GREAT FOOD n0M TUt ecu /-JTjjTTN BREAK THE CHALK AMD SUPPORT Crt> YOUR LOCAL BUSfMESSESf I i ^ > Stop in for fresh food and a warm sti you soon! friendly family feeling. We are*your _|_ neighborhood natural foods store. Assembly street Today w me out S South Harden COOtflffl fn/EO SfflM Deli: 25&6410 I ‘_ m Tow on tmm Store: 765-1083 || South Maple Street Gumbo M-sat:9-9 * Jr , wmw gun; 10-6 ’ 2803 Rosewood Dr. Carolina Unity we Mfei. 17-22,2003 A Celebration of the Connections We Share as Members of the Carolina Community Monday, February 17 Open Celebration Sponsored bv Carolina Unity Week Committee 12 PM to 2 PM, Greene Street Bamboozled - Film Forum Sponsored by Carolina Productions 7 PM, Russell House Theater f *WRHA jf/fine, The Color Purple, 8 PM * Tuesday, February 18 Unity Through Safety Sponsored by RAD and Carolina Unity Week Committee ^ 7:30 PM, Golden Spur •WRHA Movie, Finding Forrester, 8 PM * Wednesday, February 19 Open House - Campus Style Sponsored bv Carolina Unity Week Committee 6 PM to 8 PM % Meet in front of Russell House at 6 PM Brown Sugar Sponsored by Carolina Productions 8 PM, Russell House Theater *WRHA Movie, The Color Purple, 8 PM * Thursday, February 20 Black History Quiz Bowl Sponsored by Office of Multicultural Affairs 6 PM, Russell House Theater Arts Festival Sponsored by Carolina Unity Week Committee 7 PM, Russell House 2nd Floor lobby A Choral Tapestry Sponsored by USC Concert Choir 7:30 PM, School of Music/Room 206 *WRHA Movie, Finding Forrester, 8 PM * Friday, February 21 /Mural Dedication Sponsored by CarolinaJtfnity Week Committee/SpeakaFCarl Wells 12:30 PMCkRne Street DanofcMarathon Sponsored by Dance Marathon Executive Committee 6 PM, Russell House Ballroom XL . « Sponsored by Carolina Productions 8 PM, Russell House Theater “WRHA Movie, Save The Last l Monsters BaU, 8 PM Saturday, Febi Dance Marathon Sponsored by Dance Marathon Executive Committee Ends V 10 PM, Russell House Ballroom 'WRHA Movie, Save The Last Dance, 3 PM, Monster's Ball 8 PM * Join Hands in Unify Sponsored by Student Governipent ' University Housing,, * and the Division of Student j*0#Klumni Services , For more information, please call 777-1407