Jordan Ogihara April 1st, 2021 - 10:45 AM
HBO Max has given a ten-episode series order to a reboot of the ’80s sitcom Head of the Class, as reported by Variety. The high school-set comedy represents the streamer’s first scripted multi-cam original series, Variety reports. In the year since its initial launch, the WarnerMedia streaming platform has produced content in practically every other existing television format, from hour-long dramas (Raised By Wolves, The Flight Attendant) to quarter-hour animated programming (Tig n’ Seek, Infinity Train).
Head of the Class reportedly fits into the mold of critically hailed works about educators inspiring their pupils to unleash their full potential as people, such as School of Rock and Dead Poets Society: “Teacher Alicia Adams (Isabella Gomez, One Day at a Time)… wants her group of overachieving high school students to focus less on grades and more on experiencing life,” via Deadline. This twenty-first century reinterpretation of the show is spearheaded by executive producer Bill Lawrence (Scrubs, Cougar Town), who was recently nominated for a Golden Globe for his work as the co-creator of the similarly uplifting transatlantic Apple TV Plus comedy Ted Lasso, Deadline reports.
The pilot is allegedly authored by Amy Pocha (Bad Teacher, Whiskey Cavalier) and Seth Cohen (Paradise PD, TripTank), who executive produce Head of the Class alongside Lawrence, according to Variety. Both Pocha and Cohen previously worked in the writer’s room on the Netflix comedy series American Vandal. Directorial duties for the first episode were handled by Phill Lewis, a veteran of the multi-camera world both on-screen as an actor (The Suite Life of Zack & Cody) and behind the camera as a director (Mr. Iglesias). Lewis also directed episodes from all four seasons of the One Day at a Time reboot starring Gomez, including the show’s series finale.
Gomez reportedly shares her screen time in Head of the Class with a diverse group of young actors who portray her students. Variety has confirmed the involvement of Brandon Severs (#FreeRayshawn), Jolie Hoang-Rappaport (Watchmen), Gavin Lewis (Prince of Peoria), Katie Beth Hall (Happy!), Sean Philip Glasgow (Diary of a Future President), Dior Goodjohn (Raven’s Home) and Broadway import Adrian Matthew Escalona (Waitress). While no official photo of the entire cast exists, Severs posted a collage on his Instagram that features the faces of every regular cast member as the second half of a photo carousel on March 31.
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Production on HBO Max’s Head of the Class reboot is scheduled to commence in Los Angeles during the summer of 2021, Deadline reports. Additionally, all five seasons of the original ABC show are available to stream now on HBO Max.
