Someone’s been reading her Thorstein Veblen!Deadline reports that Shonda Rhimes, creator of Grey’s Anatomy, is working on a TV series about 1895 New York and a luxury hotel therein. Ms. Rhimes is known for creating series for ABC, including the successful Private Practice, the forthcoming (in 2012) Scandal, and the canceled Off the Map–all of which take place in the present day, albeit in an alternate universe where everyone is gorgeous and promiscuous. Historical TV dramas are risky, in terms of tone and accuracy: for every Doctor Quinn, Medicine Woman, there’s a Secret Diary of Desmond Pfeiffer. May we suggest Steven Millhauser’s novel Martin Dressler for research about the turn-of-the-century hotel industry?
ddaddario@observer.com :: @DPD_
