To quote Tom Petty, “The waiting is the hardest part.”
But it’s paid off for Steve Schirripa.
“The Secret Life of the American Teenager” co-star is currently up in Montreal filming “Nicky Deuce,” a Nickelodeon movie based on his 2005 book of the same name (co-written with Charles Fleming).
Schirripa, who stars in the movie alongside Noah Munck (“iCarly”), Rita Moreno and several of his former “Sopranos” colleagues — Vince Curatola, Tony Sirico and Michael Imperioli — saw his project go through several script iterations before shooting finally began.
“It’s been five-and-a-half years,” Schirripa told me yesterday. “We first met [about the movie] in March 2007 and it’s been a long haul. We went through a bunch of scripts before we got it to where we wanted it to be.
“I’m kind of a grumpy guy and I gotta tell you, this was something I really wanted,” he said. “Of all the stuff I’ve done, this was something I really wanted to see get made.”
Like his book, “Nicky Deuce” will tell the fish-out-of-water story of Nicholas Borelli (Munck), who transitions from the suburbs to the Bensonhurst section of Brooklyn, where he spends the summer with an uncle (Schirripa) he never knew he had. Cristine Prosperi (“Degrassi”) and Cassius Crieghtney also co-star.
“It’s a little different than the book, but certainly the heart of it is [in the movie],” Schirripa said. “We’ve got Rita Moreno playing Nicky’s mother. It’s going great and it’s a very funny movie. Montreal is doubling for Bensonhurst, but amazingly a lot of [the city] looks like Brooklyn.”
And, of course, there’s also the semi-“Sopranos” reunion.
“We’ve got some of the guys with possibly more to come,” Schirripa said. “It was like old home week. Tony [Sirico] was here for a day and Vince has been here. Michael’s coming at the end of the month.
“We haven’t worked together since around 2006. I keep in touch with Tony and Vince but to have them on the set again was great.”
“Nicky Deuce” is slated to air next year on Nickelodeon and also on YTV in Canada.
Schirripa, meanwhile, will have another book coming out next spring called “Big Daddy’s Rules: How Raising a Daughter is Tougher than I Look.”
* * *
Well, that’s a relief.
Walter White is no longer a fugitive from justice.
White, an accused meth manufacturer — who shares a name with the menacing meth-maestro played by Bryan Cranston on “Breaking Bad” — was located at an in-patient facility last Friday after making the Tuscaloosa County (Alabama) Sheriff’s “Most Wanted” list for violating his probation.
The scales of justice are balanced. America exhales.
* * *
I guess they figured Jeff Kent survived the Mets and Shea Stadium, so why not a CBS reality show?
Kent, the former Amazin’s second baseman, will compete on “Survivor: Philippines,” the 25th installment of “Survivor” premiering Sept. 19.
Kent, now 44, played for mostly bad Mets teams from 1992-96 before being traded to Cleveland and then on to San Francisco — where, naturally, he blossomed into a perennial All-Star and a feared slugger, winning the 2000 MVP Award.
He’ll join former “Facts of Life” co-star Lisa Whelchel on “Philippines” as the resident celebs.
Whelchel, 49, played preppy Blair Warner for the entire run of NBC’s “Facts of Life” (1979-88) and is a born-again Christian who founded Momtime Ministries.
She lives in Dallas and is married to Steve Cauble, the associate pastor of her church.
This season of “Survivor” will also feature three former contestants who were forced to leave the show due to injuries — and whose identities will be revealed later this week.
* * *
Ratings: “Married to Jonas,” snared 1.8 million viewers in its Sunday-night series premiere on E! — the network’s most-watched series debut in over a year. Still, it lost nearly 1 million viewers from its lead-in, “Keeping Up With the Kardashians,” which averaged 2.7 million viewers at 9 p.m.
Over at Discovery, the network’s annual “Shark Week” programming aggregated 21.4 million viewers last week for premiere telecasts of all 10 “Shark Week” shows — compared to 18.4 million (combined) viewers last summer.
And, finally, Disney Channel’s “Shake It Up: Made in Japan,” which aired last Friday, scored season highs in total viewers (4.5 million) and across several demos (including kids 2-11, kids 6-11 and tweens 9-14). It was also the second-most watched telecast in the sitcom’s history.
* * *
Last, but not least:
* Sundance has renewed “Push Girls” for a second season . . . Season 2 of “Iron Men” premieres on The Weather Channel next Thursday, Aug. 30 (9 p.m.). This season the workers are toiling on 4 World Trade Center and the Barclays Center in Brooklyn . . . Inside baseball: John Pascarella has been named co-executive producer of “Maury,” reporting to Paul Faulhaber, while Courtney White is the new VP of program development for HGTV and DIY Network . . . Gene Corman (“A Woman Called Golda”) has acquired the rights to Ira Fistell’s “Mark Twain: Three Encounters” for a miniseries to be bankrolled by Hong Kong-based River Run Ltd.