USA to Make "Thank You for Smoking" TV Series

BuzzSugar — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 11:25:46 -0700

So, this is weird.
According to Variety, USA has picked up the rights to create a TV series based on the 2006 movie Thank You for Smoking - which was based on the novel by Christopher Buckley. The TV version will have a different title and will pick up where the movie left off: "Nick Naylor, having kicked some of his more evil lobbyist habits, will use his rhetorical skills to help people more deserving of aid." As USA programming chief Jeff Wachtel puts it, "He'll live somewhere between the morally ambiguous character of the movie and Robin Hood."

Apparently, this has been in the works for a long time.
Wachtel and Smoking author Buckley went to college together and originally Wachtel wanted the novel to be a series on USA but "the challenge was how to make that character live successfully in our network." Writer James Dodson who is spearheading the TV script has apparently solved this problem.

I don't get it.
To me, this seems random and pointless. There's already been a movie based on the novel... how much further can they stretch out this story? And why are they continuing to try? I'm casting a wary eye on this project. What do you think?