It’s not every day that one of your favorite books becomes a television sitcom.  This, of course, is probably a good thing.

When word got out that NBC was developing Nick Hornby’s About a Boy into a television show, I was pleasantly surprised.  The novel was solid, and the movie held its own as a romantic comedy back when rom-coms were plentiful and pleasant.  The show makes sense, really, and I’m looking forward to it.  It’s NBC’s development of a show based on Douglas Coupland’s Girlfriend in a Coma that I’m worried about.

The part of Coupland’s apocalyptic novel that is TV-friendly is obvious: a young girl (Karen) gets pregnant and ends up in a coma.  She wakes up seventeen years later to find that she has an almost-grown daughter (Evie).  I’m guessing that they plan on leaving out all of the apocalyptic, which is a shame.  You leave out the drug-addicted friends, the angelic friend-figure, the quest for “the noble and the holy.”

I hope that I’m surprised.  Christina Ricci is a good choice to play Karen.  I haven’t heard of Miranda Cosgrove, who has been cast as Evie.  I guess we’ll see if Rick gets to be around at all.  I’m guessing there will be no scenes on the dam at the twilight of the world.

You always hope that the things you love will cross mediums, become a bigger part of the broader culture.  I didn’t see this one coming.  Regardless of how the show turns out, I can’ recommend the source material highly enough.  It’s brilliant.  You can check out more on Douglas Coupland at coupland.com.