My Big Fat Greek Life
Encyclopedia
My Big Fat Greek Life is a situation comedy
Situation comedy
A situation comedy, often shortened to sitcom, is a genre of comedy that features characters sharing the same common environment, such as a home or workplace, accompanied with jokes as part of the dialogue...

 series that ran on CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...

 in 2003. The series is a continuation on the 2002 movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding
My Big Fat Greek Wedding
My Big Fat Greek Wedding is a 2002 Canadian and American romantic comedy film written by and starring Nia Vardalos and directed by Joel Zwick. The film is centered on Fotoula "Toula" Portokalos , a middle class Greek American woman who falls in love with a non-Greek upper middle class "White...

and was produced by HBO Television and Tom Hanks
Tom Hanks
Thomas Jeffrey "Tom" Hanks is an American actor, producer, writer, and director. Hanks worked in television and family-friendly comedies, gaining wide notice in 1988's Big, before achieving success as a dramatic actor in several notable roles, including Andrew Beckett in Philadelphia, the title...

' Playtone
Playtone
The Playtone Company is an American film and television production company and record label established in 1996 by actor Tom Hanks and producer Gary Goetzman....

 Productions for Sony Pictures Television
Sony Pictures Television
Sony Pictures Television, Inc. is an American and global television production/distribution subsidiary of Sony Pictures Entertainment. In turn, the latter is part of the Japanese conglomerate Sony.-Background:...

.

In addition to being the series star, Nia Vardalos
Nia Vardalos
Antonia Eugenia "Nia" Vardalos is a Canadian-American actress, screenwriter, director, singer and producer. Her most notable work is the 2002 Academy Award–nominated film My Big Fat Greek Wedding.-Personal life:...

 oversaw the show as one of the co-executive producers, along with Hanks and his wife Rita Wilson
Rita Wilson
-Early life:Wilson was born Margarita Ibrahimoff in Los Angeles, California.Her father, a Bulgarian who worked at a racetrack, was born in Greece. Before immigrating to the US, he had lived in Bulgaria and Turkey....

 (who made a guest appearance in one episode as Nia's cousin).

Premise

The series, which is set in Chicago, follows the main character, Nia Portokalos (originally named Toula in the film), a middle class
Middle class
The middle class is any class of people in the middle of a societal hierarchy. In Weberian socio-economic terms, the middle class is the broad group of people in contemporary society who fall socio-economically between the working class and upper class....

 Greek-American woman, as she tries to deal with both her family and her new upper middle class
Upper middle class
The upper middle class is a sociological concept referring to the social group constituted by higher-status members of the middle class. This is in contrast to the term "lower middle class", which is used for the group at the opposite end of the middle class stratum, and to the broader term "middle...

 WASP
White Anglo-Saxon Protestant
White Anglo-Saxon Protestant or WASP is an informal term, often derogatory or disparaging, for a closed group of high-status Americans mostly of British Protestant ancestry. The group supposedly wields disproportionate financial and social power. When it appears in writing, it is usually used to...

 husband, Thomas Miller (Ian in the film version), an English teacher who still doesn't seem to fit in with her family's Greek traditions. Despite the help and interference from family and her husband, Nia tries her best to stay grounded in various situations.

In addition to her husband, the family members in her "life" include her parents Maria (her mother) and Gus (her father), who are the owners of the Greek restaurant where Nia works, her brother Nick, who is not very bright and has a little bit of a love/hate feeling for Thomas, her wise Aunt Voula and her gossipy cousin Nikki.

Differences to the film version

In the movie version, Vardalos's character is named Toula, but was changed to Nia for the series. In addition Toula's husband's name was changed from Ian to Thomas. Also absent from the series was the travel agency Toula worked in the film; in the series she still worked at her family's restaurant, as she did in the film's early scenes. Also, in the first episode, the main characters were given a house, but they were already given the house as a present in their wedding. In addition, Toula and Ian's daughter that was featured in the film was not present in the series.

Production notes

  • John Corbett was the only cast member from the film who couldn't make the transition from film to TV because of a deal he made to star in the FX
    FX Networks
    FX is the name of a number of related pay television channels owned by News Corporation's Fox Entertainment Group...

     series Lucky
    Lucky (TV series)
    Lucky is an American dark comedy television series which ran for one season on FX Networks in 2003. The show starred John Corbett as Michael "Lucky" Linkletter, a professional poker player and gambling addict. The series was created by Robb Cullen and Mark Cullen...

    . He was scheduled to make an appearance on My Big Fat Greek Life, but it was cancelled before it could happen. Unfortunately, Corbett's Lucky was unlucky as well; FX cancelled it after 13 episodes. Had it continued, Vardalos would have made a guest appearance on that show.
  • Originally, Vardalos pitched the idea of turning My Big Fat Greek Wedding
    My Big Fat Greek Wedding
    My Big Fat Greek Wedding is a 2002 Canadian and American romantic comedy film written by and starring Nia Vardalos and directed by Joel Zwick. The film is centered on Fotoula "Toula" Portokalos , a middle class Greek American woman who falls in love with a non-Greek upper middle class "White...

    into a series for TV but it was turned down. It wasn't until the film's success that CBS
    CBS
    CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...

     gave her the green light to bring it to TV.

Cast

  • Nia Vardalos
    Nia Vardalos
    Antonia Eugenia "Nia" Vardalos is a Canadian-American actress, screenwriter, director, singer and producer. Her most notable work is the 2002 Academy Award–nominated film My Big Fat Greek Wedding.-Personal life:...

     as Nia Miller
  • Steven Eckholdt
    Steven Eckholdt
    Steven Eckholdt is an American actor of German descent.Eckholdt began his screen career in the mid 1980s. Primarily known for television roles, his main screen appearances include L.A. Law, Melrose Place, It's Like, You Know..., Providence, The West Wing and The L Word...

     as Thomas Miller
  • Lainie Kazan
    Lainie Kazan
    Lainie Kazan is an American actress and singer.-Personal life:Kazan was born Lanie Levine in Brooklyn, New York City, the daughter of a Russian Ashkenazi Jewish father who worked as a bookie and a Turkish Sephardic Jewish mother, Carole, whom Kazan has described as "neurotic, fragile and...

     as Maria Portokalos
  • Louis Mandylor
    Louis Mandylor
    Louis Mandylor is an Australian film and television actor.-Life and career:Mandylor was born in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, the son of Greek immigrants Louise and Yannis Theodosopoulos, a taxi driver...

     as Nick Portokalos
  • Michael Constantine
    Michael Constantine
    Michael Constantine is a Greek American actor.He is probably now best known for his portrayal of Gus Portokalos, the Windex bottle-toting Greek father of Toula Portokalos , in the 2002 surprise hit film My Big Fat Greek Wedding.Prior to that, he was well-known for his extensive TV work, especially...

     as Gus Portokalos
  • Andrea Martin
    Andrea Martin
    Andrea Louise Martin is an American and Canadian actress and comedienne. She has appeared in films such as My Big Fat Greek Wedding, on stage in productions such as My Favorite Year, Fiddler on the Roof and Candide, and in the television series, SCTV.-Personal life:Martin, the oldest of three...

     as Aunt Voula
  • Gia Carides
    Gia Carides
    Gia Carides is an Australian actress. She is best known for her portrayals of Liz Holt in Strictly Ballroom, Susy Connor in Brilliant Lies, and Cousin Nikki in My Big Fat Greek Wedding.-Early life:...

    as Nikki
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