Desperate Housewives comes to Nigeria, in deal with EbonyLife TV

Posted by: b3rrilyn in Celebrity News Oct 9, 2013

Announced at the ongoing MIPCOM 2013 (the international TV and entertainment market held in Cannes once every year; where content is introduced for co-producing, buying, selling, financing and distributing).

Ben Pyne, president of global distribution at Disney, revealed that an “African version” of Desperate Housewives – the once comedy/drama series created by Marc Cherry, and broadcast by ABC from 2004 until 2012 – is currently in development, for a summer 2014 debut.

The co-production deal is with Nigeria-based EbonyLife TV – a multi-platform broadcaster, and subsidiary of Media and Entertainment City Africa (MEC Africa) in Cross River State, Nigeria.

Desperate Housewives the “African version” will feature a pan-African cast, and will be set in Lagos, Nigeria, where it will also be shot, with a summer 2014 debut date set, airing in 44 countries within the continent.

“We are going to make it relevant, number one, by using local talent – talent that our viewers will know and love; two, we are going to work with local stylists, local fashion designers, local interior designers,” said Mo Abudu, CEO and executive chairman, EbonyLife TV, to Variety. “We are going to give the stories an African flavor. We will localize it, because there’s nothing that the West has that Africa doesn’t have: we love, we fight, we kiss, we make up. We like all the good things in life. There’s good and there’s evil globally. So all those human interests, those things that appeal to you, believe me, appeal to us also.”

The original ABC TV series followed the dramatic lives of a group of women, over a 13-year period, and 8 seasons, as seen through the eyes of a dead neighbor who committed suicide in the very first episode.

The series has seen remakes in Turkey, Colombia, and Brazil, since its debut.

So the obvious question here is, what actresses from the continent will make up the ensemble cast in the Nigeria-set version of Desperate Housewives? Nollywood talents should definitely get some looks here.

Culled from allafricancinemas.com