Football Wives!
ABC has ordered a pilot, which has apparently finished filming, for “Football Wives.” The show is based on the BBC soap “Footballers’ Wive$.” The BBC soap followed a group of women who were married to pro soccer players. The US version will follow a group of women who are married to pro football players. The football team is a fictional Florida team called “The Stingrays.” The pilot has been written by “Ugly Betty” writer Marco Pennette and is being directed by Brian Singer (Xmen and Superman Returns fame).
So far several well known stars are signed up to appear in the pilot. The following is a list of the known actors attached to the project.
Lucy Lawless (“Xena” fame) will play the lead Tanya Austin (Turner in the BBC version).
Eddie Cibrian (“Sunset Beach” fame) is playing Jason Austin (Turner in the BBC version).
Ving Rhames as Frank, the team owner.
Kiele Sanchez (currently Nikki on “Lost”) will be playing one of the wives. Arielle Kebbel is said to be playing Sanchez’s little sister. Should this follow the BBC version, they could be Donna and her sister Marie.
Holly Pete-Robinson (“Hanging With Mr. Cooper” and “21 Jump Street”) has been cast as one of the wives. She plays the mother-in-law to Gabrielle Union/Chardonay. This would make her Jackie Pascoe from the BBC version.
Gabriel Union as Chardonay Lane/Johnson (Pascoe in the BBC version)
Brian J White as Kyle Johnson (Pascoe in the BBC version)
James Van Der Beek (“Dawnson’s Creek” fame) will play a young rookie on the team named Brian. No other information known.
Spencer Garrett will play Bobby. No information known.
Christopher McDaniel as Sal Biagi (only known confirmation is IMDB at this time, so may not be accurate).
Sources: WhatsOnTV, Reuters, Zap2It, IMDB
Okay so now do you want some possible spoilers? Continue to read on to learn what their BBC counterparts were up to! There is of course no knowing how closely the American version will follow the BBC version
Tanya Austin (Turner) is the queen bitch of the show, a true diva out for herself and as much money as she can get. Her best friends were Donna and Chardonay. In the BBC version she was a drug addict and married to Jason Austin (Turner), the over the top star of the team (ie the Quarterback) and a total womanizer. Their marriage was rocky due to his sleeping around and her drug and spending habit. In later seasons she married the team owner Frank to get at his money, but had an affair with another player. She also killed Frank with a lethal dose of viagra, only to find out he had pulled one last trick on her . . . . he poked holes in his condoms and she ended up pregnant! Tanya’s list of dirty deeds go on and on and on and are too numerous to go into!
In the BBC version Jason Austin (Turner) considered himself the star of the team, they could not get on without him. His mouth got him into a lot of trouble, as did his lower anatomy. He had several affairs, including one with his best friend Kyle’s mother Jackie. This produced a baby, which Kyle and his wife adopted, only to find out it was a hermaphrodite. Jason was ultimately killed in season 2 by Chardonay.
In the BBC version Frank, the team owner, was one of the shows villians. He was almost killed by Jason and Tayna in the first season, only to end up with amnesia and a nurse who had her way with him while he was in a coma. In later shows he married Tanya, though she was only after his money. Frank had cash problems, as well as heath problems. Tanya offed him with a deadly dose of viagra, but not before he got her pregnant by poking holes in his condoms.
Donna was one of the wives whose children were kidnapped and held hostage. Donna ended up having an affair with a Sal Biagi, who came to the team as a hot shot trasnfer player. Sal did not get along with anyone else on the team. In the BBC version he was Italian whereas everyone else was British. Marie was Donna’s troublesome little sister who had an affair with Jason Turner in the original. Marrie and Donna were both written out in the 2nd season of the show.
Chardonay Lane was a model in the BBC version who married Kyle, one of the team members. She was Tanya’s best friend. Her over the top stories in the BBC version included her fake breasts being set on fire at her bacherlotette party, adopting Kyle’s mother’s hermaphrodite child and killing off Jason Turner! Chardonay died in season 3 from anorexia, which was said to be because of her guilt over murdering Jason.
Kyle Johnson (Pasco) was Jason Austin’s (Turners) best friend and the number two player on the team. In the BBC verson Kyle and Jason’s friendship was strained when he found out Jason knocked up his mom. Kyle and his wife Chardonay adopted the baby, which turned out to be a hermaphrodite. In later seasons Kyle’s character self destructed and had a huge gambling problem costing him almost everything. He left by season 3.
Jackie Brisco was Kyles mom. She had an affair with Jason, have birth to a hermaphrodite baby, which she tried to give to Kyle and Chardonay to raise. She eventually couldn’t give the baby up and took it back. She also later marries the team coach, only to end up being taken advantage by the coach’s son, who joins the team.
James Van Der Beek, should the plot follow the BBC version, then he will most likely be an affair for Tanya’s character.
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