Jana B., Here….

Nothing compares to a truly great mafia novel. Unless it’s watching a great mafia movie written by an excellent novelist. That’s just what Discovery is banking on with the announcement of it’s first scripted drama series. The Five Families will be written by scribe Nicholas Pileggi, the author of both Wise Guys and Casino and the screenplays for Goodfellas. Pileggi is also developing a possible series based on Goodfellas for AMC. Coming on board to produce is a familiar name from Goodfellas, Irwin Winkler. Winkler is coming off an executive producing stint with The Wolf of Wall Street featuring Leonardo  DiCaprio.

The Five Families will tell the stories of the founding families of the Mafia. This is a pioneering effort in two ways. This marks Discovery’s freshman effort into a scripted series, but it also marks the first time anyone has used the real people places and events surrounding the Gambino, Genovese, Lucchese, Bonanno and Colombo families for a series. I can’t imagine a better story to begin with. Astounding and proven writing capability, stellar production background and truly gripping stories to keep drawing your attention week after week.

Discovery is padding its resume for great story telling with miniseries that include North and South, based on John Jakes’ book trilogy and an adaptation of Nigel Tranter’s The Wallace and The Bruce Trilogy. The small screen conversion of Tranter’s trilogy, along with Discovery’s first original miniseries, Klondike, are being originated by Ridley Scott’s company, Scott Free Productions. Klondike will air in December. I, for one, am extremely excited about this news and hope they can keep the level of realism I’ve come to expect from Pileggi’s novels.