According to internet reports, NBC has purchased TV rights to author Jacqueline Susann's 1966 novel "Valley of the Dolls", to be produced by 20th Century Fox TV and Chernin Entertainment.The "dolls" term in the title is slang for 'downers' and 'barbiturates'.
The new show will be written and directed by Lee Daniels ("Precious") :
"....'Anne Welles' moves to New York City from Lawrenceville, Massachusetts, and finds employment with a talent agency representing the Broadway musical 'Hit the Sky'. She meets 'Neely O'Hara', a vaudeville star living in her building, and recommends her for a role in the show’s chorus. 'Jennifer North', a beautiful showgirl with limited talent, appears in the play as well. The three women become fast friends. Over the next twenty years, the women embark on careers that bring them to the heights of fame and eventual self-destruction..."
In 1967, the novel was adapted into a dramatic film of the same name, directed by Mark Robson, starring Susan Hayward, Barbara Parkins, Sharon Tate, Patty Duke, and Paul Burke.
The novel was then adapted into the 1981 TV mini-series, "Jacqueline Susann's Valley of the Dolls" and in 1994, as a late-night, syndicated television soap opera, "Valley of the Dolls", starring Sally Kirkland.
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