Desperate Housewives, an American soap drama series that instantly became a global hit is set to begin its production of an African version of the soap. The series would be co-produced by Disney & Mo’ Abudu’s EbonyLife TV and would be filmed in Lagos. The producers ascertained that the production of the African version would follow the format and storyline of the original US version, but it would be with a Nigerian flavour with cast drawn across Africa.
According to the General Manager, Disney Media Distribution, Emerging Markets, Giovanni Mastrangelo, the purpose for bringing Desperate Housewives to Africa is ‘to engage African audiences through locally relevant and entertaining storytelling.’
Mo Abudu, the CEO and executive chairman of EbonyLife, also affirmed this, saying the series spoke universally “to women and to men, about relationships, marriage and bringing up children. All those stories are there. And Africans are the original storytellers. Your grandparents would sit you down at night and tell you tales. We love a good story.” She further said “We are going to give the stories an African flavour,”
The Desperate Housewives series apart from its original US version already has five different versions produced for EMEA and Latin American audiences, including: a Turkish version,’Umutsuz Ev Kadinlari’, the Argentinean version, ‘Amas de Casa Desesperadas’, the Colombian/Ecuadorian version, the U.S. Hispanic version, ‘Donas de Casa Desesperadas‘, and the Brazilian version.