Here’s your head-scratcher of the day: The CW will adapt “Little Women” as a “gritty” and “hyper-stylized” dystopian survivalist tale that sounds nothing at all like Louisa May Alcott’s beloved 1868 novel.
It’s not that adaptations can’t depart drastically from the source material, but “brand recognition” is a pretty dumb reason to give the title “Little Women” to this show, which, according to Deadline, is about “disparate half-sisters Jo, Meg, Beth and Amy band[ing] together in
order to survive the dystopic streets of Philadelphia and unravel a
conspiracy that stretches far beyond anything they have ever imagined —
all while trying not to kill each other in the proces.” The title “Little Women” and the four sisters’ names, really, seem to be the only thing the book and this series have in common.
Not surprisingly, a dude named Alexis C. Jolly, described as a “rising writer” (good for him), came up with this dubious idea and will be the showrunner. So, uh, best of luck with this project, which honestly sounds like every other thriller-y drama on CW in recent years.
As you may recall, “Little Women” followed the lives of four sisters who scraped a living together and comforted and entertained each other while their father was off fighting in the Civil War.
Meanwhile, we’ll cross our fingers for more promising-sounding news coming out of Amy Pascal’s planned adaptation of the novel.
[via Deadline]
