Netflix to Adapt Dolly Parton Songs for Series

Netflix is at work on an anthology series for which Dolly Parton songs supply the plot. Eight Parton songs will be adapted into standalone episodes, The New York Times reported.

The series will debut in 2019. Parton will executive produce.

Parton’s songs have been adapted to screens big and small. “Coat of Many Colors” was the inspiration for NBC’s Dolly Parton’s Coat of Many Colors, which aired in December 2015 and focused on Parton’s childhood in Tennessee’s Great Smoky Mountains. Parton took the stage at the NBC upfront presentation in 2015, playing “I Will Always Love You” with Robert Greenblatt, NBC Entertainment chair, on the piano.

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NBC later acquired Dolly Parton’s Christmas of Many Colors, representing the next chapter in the life of a young Parton. That aired in late November 2016.

“Jolene” was a 2008 feature film, with Jessica Chastain playing the title character, a teen who busts out of foster care. Dan Ireland directed.

In a statement, Parton said she enjoys telling stories in her music.

Michael Malone

Michael Malone is content director at B+C and Multichannel News. He joined B+C in 2005 and has covered network programming, including entertainment, news and sports on broadcast, cable and streaming; and local broadcast television, including writing the "Local News Close-Up" market profiles. He also hosted the podcasts "Busted Pilot" and "Series Business." His journalism has also appeared in The New York Times, The L.A. Times, The Boston Globe and New York magazine.