HOLLYWOOD - The trade paper Variety is reporting that Nobel prize-winning author Alexander Solzhenitsyn, who survived decades as a prisoner in the Soviet Union and chronicled his sufferings, as well as those of thousands of others in “The Gulag Archipelago,” has signed a development deal with ABC television. The deal calls for Solzhenitsyn to star in a half-hour sitcom that will, according to network sources, spin-off from Jim Belushi’s “According to Jim.”
Mr. Belushi’s company, in association with Dissident Pictures, will produce the show. Super-agent Don Buchwald, who represents Mr. Solzhenitsyn, said his client is excited about bringing his quirky sense of humor to an American audience.
“Alexander is more of an ‘observational’ Nobel prize-winner who deals with everyday issues in a gentle, whimsical style.”
Mr. Solzhenitsyn will play the host of a Russian radio program trying to cope with two adolescent children, a long-suffering wife and a troupe of zany neighbors and co-workers. The show is tentatively titled “Wake Up, St. Petersburg.” Mr. Solzhenitsyn will make a guest appearance on “According to Jim” to introduce his character. In the show, he finds himself trapped in an elevator with Mr. Belushi, a pregnant woman, two Chinese nationals and a chimpanzee. “This episode has ‘Emmy’ written all over it,” said Mr. Buchwald. This is the first appearance Mr. Solzhenitsyn has made on American television since a short-lived stint co-hosting the USA network’s “Up All Night” program with comedian Gilbert Gottfried in 1989.
