Paging Kirstie Alley. Paging Kirstie Alley. HBO has optioned Liza Palmer's novel Conversations with the Fat Girl for a potential series. The novel deals with a fat girl whose best friend used to be fat, but now not so much. And now she's getting married to a jerk. Paging Steve Martin. Paging Steve Martin. Sure they're a good twenty or so years older than the principals in Palmer's book but that's still good casting! Maybe Nikki Blonsky (Hairspray) would make a good Maggie.I'm not sure that I see long-form series potential on this one, unless they're going to take a full season for the principals Maggie and Olivia to work out their differences. But what do you do after that? Especially considering that many of the insecurities that come with being an overweight woman seem to have evaporated by the end of the novel. Maybe it should be an extended mini-series or a movie instead? And why is HBO the one playing around with it? I'll admit that I haven't read the novel and maybe the characters are delightful enough to keep following around, but I'm seeing it quickly turn into something more like My Big Fat Greek Life.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
7-31-2008 @ 1:58AM
Anita said...
I read the novel and loved it, but I don't exactly see it as filling an entire TV series. It's definitely more suited to a mini-series or TV movie format. Also, while the primary character gets over her weight issues (or appears to) at the novel's close, the 'skinny girl' does not in any way shape or form. While I enjoyed the novel, I don't quite see this as HBO fare (which tends to be 'gritty'). If they want to tap the chick lit market, there are other genre novelists such as Marian Keyes whose characters seem more in line with the grit. I'd suggest Jennifer Weiner, but half of her novels have already been optioned for films -
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