US TV comedy taken off air

The American version of the hit British comedy Coupling has been taken off the air because of low ratings.

The series, which used much of the material from the British scripts, had a cast of unknown Americans and had generated a lot of ignterest because of its sexual themes and the success of the British original.

But while critics loved the British series, seen in the US on the BBC America network, they largely slammed the American version, on NBC.

The 1950 British comedy Last Holiday is to be remade with Queen Latifah in the role originated by Alec Guinness.

The original Last Holiday starred Guinness as a man who learns he will die shortly and uses all his money to book into a smart resort where he is treated as an eccentric multi-millionaire.

The new version, according to sources at Paramount Pictures, will star Latifah as a shy saleswoman who checks into a European resort upon learning of her diagnosis. Thinking she has nothing to lose, she becomes increasingly outrageous and irreverent.

Latifah, whose latest film is Scary Movie 3, became a star through her Oscar-nominated performance in Chicago and then followed it with the hit comedy Bringing Down The House.