'Love Monkey' comes to television

By Natasha Clark

Reminder Assistant Editor

EAST LONGMEADOW "The name is Tom Farrell. I'm from That generation. You know the one I'm talking about. The one after the one that discovered the Beatles and nonbinding sex, the one before the one where seventeen year-olds asked to be excused from Phys. Ed. so they could launch their IPOs. Yeah, that'd be us: the Lamest Generation."

Author Kyle Smith skillfully crafted the words and character above in his hilarious novel Love Monkey. The genius behind the charming character, Tom Farrell, spoke with Reminder Publications about his book's continued success. Thanks to CBS, Love Monkey isn't just a hit novel, but a new Tuesday night hour-long dramedy.

CBS describes Love Monkey as a show that "revolves around Tom Farrell, a 30-something up and coming single record executive who's navigating the tumultuous and highly amusing waters of work and dating in New York City with the help of his buddies."

Premiering Jan. 17 on CBS at 10 p.m., Love Monkey stars Tom Cavanagh (best known for his starring role in NBC's Ed) as Tom Farrell; Jason Priestley (best known for his breakout role in Beverly Hills, 90210) as Mike Freed; Larenz Tate (most recently seen in the critically acclaimed film Crash) as Shooter Cooper; Christopher Wiehl (best known for his leading role in television's Playmakers) as Jake Dunne; Judy Greer (most recently seen in the motion picture Elizabethtown) as Brandy "Bran" Lowenstein; Ivana Milicevic (soon to be seen in the 2006 film Running Scared) as Julia Hixon; and Katherine LaNasa (seen most recently guest starring in the television series Grey's Anatomy) as Karen Freed.

Smith is currently living out the dreams of many writers simultaneously. Working as a movie reviewer for the NY Post (requires spending most days watching movies), his best-selling novel is still going strong in book stores and now its television pilot has been picked up by CBS without too much effort from his end.

"It was strange, I did not have anything to do with it. Mark Johnson (producer behind hit films such as The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and Rain Man) called me up out of the blue," Smith explained. "At the time I didn't even have an agent."

So Smith went out to Los Angeles and met with producer Bryan Seabury.

"And these two guys see it as an hour-long dramedy, an Ally McBeal for the guys," Smith said, adding that one in a 1,000 ideas like this usually make it to fruition.

With a few tweaks for television -- for example the star character going from a newspaper editor to record executive -- Smith insists that the show pretty much stays true to the book.

"It was sort of the idea of the network that newspapers have been done too many times and the public doesn't find [writers] as interesting as we find ourselves," he joked.

"It's a great idea. It opens a whole lot of possibilities. There will be a lot of appearances from mainstream pop artists," Smith said. "They did retain the spirit and the voice of the book. I really like the way they created Tom's character instead of covering up his insecurities."

Born in Springfield but raised in East Longmeadow, Smith shared that Love Monkey incorporates a piece of his hometown history.

The character's name, Tom Farrell, is derived from two of his East Longmeadow High School buddies, by combining one's first and the other's last name.

As with many television shows, besides good actors and writing, placement is usually key to getting a series off the ground. Premiering mid-season, Love Monkey will be going head to head with NBC's Law & Order: SVU and ABC's Boston Legal. But Smith sees the Tuesday night timeslot as an opportunity to draw music lovers over from Fox.

"After people watch American Idol and they're still in that music state of mind they can turn it over to Love Monkey," he said.

In addition to offering wit, heart and charm, Smith assured Love Monkey has an amazing soundtrack.

"They have songs by The Killers and The Rolling Stones, all kinds of great music. It has more music than any other network show has ever had," he said.

And if that's not enough to pull the viewers in, the author hopes the good content will keep them tuning in every week. Pleased with a pre-viewing of the pilot episode, Smith said "it's got a lot of heart to it."

Viewers can catch the premiere of Love Monkey on CBS, Jan. 17 at 10 p.m. (ET).