Boxwish Blog

10 Things I Hate About You set for TV

Posted by Team Boxwish on 10 October 2008 at 11.55AM

After the long list of films getting the jazz hands treatment and heading to theatres, I was beginning to think that Broadway was the only location for a movie spin-off. Thankfully, in a let-up from the screen to stage saga, comes news that American network ABC is making a show based on 1999’s teen comedy 10 Things I Hate About You – remember that one? Well for those of you that have forgotten or missed it altogether, 10 Things is a modern re-telling of the Bard classic The Taming of the Shrew relocated to high school and starring the then fresh-faced Heath Ledger and Julia Stiles. But what can we expect from a TV version?

ABC Family has announced that it will make a half-hour pilot of the show which will focus on the high school shenanigans of sisters Kate and Bianca Stratford. The movie’s director Gil Junger has been signed to work the magic behind the camera, but no news as yet on who’ll star as the onscreen sisters, roles formerly played by Stiles and Larisa Oleynik. Kate Juergens, the station’s executive vice president for original series programming and development (wow – imagine fitting that on your business card!) expects big things from the experimental pilot believing it will “resonate with our millennial viewers.” But what do you think Boxwishers?

Is nine years too long to wait for a spin-off? Maybe the audience has grown-up too much or the angle that once seemed so original back in 1999 will seem dated now. Or does the mixture of Shakespeare’s timeless tale and the ever-popular high school setting guarantee a modern relevance? And can any new young bucks spark up the chemistry of Stiles and Ledger? We’ll just have to wait and see….

[via Ace Showbiz]