By Gregory Kirshling | Entertainment Weekly
Sub in a power-line munching
rabbit, a killer parakeet
and a sexually
confused parrot for Ray Romano,
Brad Garrett and Peter
Boyle, but keep Patricia
Heaton, and you've got
"Enslaved by Ducks, the 2003
memoir by Bob Tart that the
"Everybody Loves Raymond"
den mother has just optioned
to turn into either a movie
or a TV show. It's about how
Tarte and the missus ran a
crazy zoo of sorts ?ring
necked doves, turkeys, and
gees, too- out of their
Michigan home. Now, who
doesn't love animals?
"Up until a year ago, I loathed
animals, and the people who
loved them," Heaton laughs.
What happed? "We bought a
beagle. And now I'm one of
them." The pup's name is
Skip, and Heaton tells a
great story about having to
hose down the diarrhea-covered
mutt on her front lawn one
recent morning: "I thought,
I can't believe it, I got my
last kid out of diapers,
we've thrown the binkys
away, and we go and get this
dog!?
US Weekly is right: Stars,
they're just like us!
Date:: July 1,
2004
Author:: Sarah Nelson
Source:: New York
Post
When "Everybody Loves Raymond"
wraps after next season, its
star, Patricia Heaton, may
be primed to start up
another TV vehicle.
The actress has optioned Bob
Tarte's "Enslaved by Ducks,"
a memoir about a Michigander
whose new wife was such an
animal lover that she
insisted he buy a veritable
menagerie of parrots, ducks,
doves, rabbits and more.
The book, originally
published by Algonquin in
November 2003, will be
republished as a paperback
this fall.
Heaton, who would play
Tarte's animal-loving wife
in the sitcom, was
introduced to the book by
her agent, Howard Sanders,
who'd heard about it from
Tarte's Algonquin editor,
Kathy Pories, at a movie
premiere.
The option is for 18 months,
with an option to renew for
another 18 months.
Books are frequently bought
to be made into movies, but
- "Sex and the City"
notwithstanding - successful
network TV series made from
books are rare.
