The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, February 19, 2003, Page 8, Image 8
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
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and a
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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?
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BALANCE OE GREAT PRODUCTS
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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