The eighties are still very much in style with HBO Max rebooting the 1980s sitcom Head of The Class, this time starring Isabella Gomez (One Day at a Time). It was announced on Wednesday that Gomez would take on the role of teacher Alicia Adams, a newcomer teaching gifted high school students, via Deadline.
There are many changes from the original series that the reboot made, the most obvious one being that Alicia Adams was originally Charles Moore. The gender swap in the lead role reflects a new, updated take on the series. The news of Gomez being cast in the lead role comes only a day after One Day at Time was cancelled, a sitcom Gomez had been starring in for four seasons.
Head of The Class was originally an American sitcom that ran on ABC from 1986 to 1991. It was created by Rich Eustis (Scrubs) and Michael Elias (Billy). The roster for the original cast included Howard Hessemen (This is Spinal Tap) as Moores, a brand new history teacher at a Manhattan high school who taught students in the Individualized Honors Program. William G. Schilling (Glory Road) starred as the school principal and Jeanetta Arnette (Heathers) starred as the vice principal.
In the updated remake, Gomez will portray Adams as a new teacher who encourages students to stop obsessing over getting A’s and instead tries to get them to enjoy life. Deadline described the synopsis: “Gomez’s Alicia Adams is a whip-smart, funny, blunt high school teacher we all wish we had. A former GPA junkie, Alicia thought she had the world all figured out when she was in school. Teaching for the first time, Alicia’s is figuring out what she really wants in life.”
The reboot series is created and written by Amy Pocha (American Vandal) and Seth Cohen (American Vandal). They will be co-executive producers and showrunners alongside Steven Gragg (Uncle Buck) and Brian Bradley (Scrubs). Jeff Ingold (Community), Bill Lawrence (Scrubs), and Liza Katzer (Ted Lasso) will executive produce as well. HBO Max has ordered a pilot in addition to five scripts for the upcoming series.