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'Marley and Me' could be coming to the small screen

'Marley,' a memoir by John Grogan about owning an ill-behaved but lovable dog, was adapted into a movie starring Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston.

'Marley and Me' is by John Grogan.
  • By Molly Driscoll Staff Writer

The book “Marley and Me” by John Grogan that also served as the basis for the movie of the same name could be coming to TV. 

According to Deadline, a TV pilot based on the book is being created at NBC. David Frankel, who directed the 2008 movie “Marley” and is also behind such work as the 2012 movie “Hope Springs” and the 2006 film “The Devil Wears Prada,” is set to direct the pilot. Jenny Bicks, who wrote for the HBO series “The Big C” and “Sex and the City,” is penning the pilot. 

The TV show will take place after the events of the movie, according to Deadline. Married couple John and Jenny Grogan and their children bring a dog into their home and call it Marley because they use the tags and leash of their first dog on the new puppy. 

The book by Grogan, which was first published in 2005, is a memoir based on his time owning the dog Marley, who failed obedience school and frequently created disasters but who Grogan, his wife, and his children learned to love. Monitor Books editor Marjorie Kehe wrote of the memoir, “What Grogan beautifully conveys in this book is the way a dog works himself into the texture of our lives, to the point that – for better or for worse – we can no longer imagine the day dawning without him. If you are already a dog person, you will smile (and weep) in sympathy as you read. If you are not, you may marvel that anyone puts up with stuff like this, but perhaps you too will be awed by the final pages… Grogan, who is a columnist for The Philadelphia Inquirer, has a fluid, readable style that easily and humorously takes the reader through the memories.” 

The 2008 movie starred “The Grand Budapest Hotel” actor Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston of “We’re the Millers” as John and Jenny. 

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