With reboots and revival series becoming a growing trend in Hollywood, it was only a matter of time before someone wanted to start developing some of the classic TV comedies. That time has come, as Variety is reporting that Sony is looking to reboot some of the comedies that prolific TV producer Norman Lear has worked on.
Lear seemed to hint at the possibility of a reboot of a show, saying “There is some talk about doing some of the original shows, redoing them with today’s stars. There is a possibility that we’ll do All in the Family, Maude, The Jeffersons, Good Times.”
If the shows are rebooted, the original scripts of the shows would be used with different actors and would be packaged as an anthology series. Each show would have six episodes in the anthology.
“We’re exploring it. It’s sort of tricky to figure out what the business of that is and what that would be and how it would work. But its something we’re trying to figure out,” Glenn Adilman, executive vice president of comedy development for Sony, said.
One of Lear’s shows, One Day at a Time, has already been rebooted for Netflix. The new One Day at a Time will focus on a Latino cast, with Rita Moreno being one of the stars of the show. It premieres on Netflix on Friday, Jan. 6, 2017.
All in the Family focused on the Bunker family, particularly Archie Bunker (Carroll O’Connor). The show depicted a working class family in America and showed the political differences of the conservative, narrow-minded Archie Bunker and his more liberal son-in-law, Michael Stivic (Bob Reiner). The show ran on CBS from 1971 to 1979, with many considering the show to be one of the best TV shows of all time.
Maude was a spinoff of All in the Family and starred Beatrice Arthur as Maude, the cousin of Edith Bunker (Jean Stapleton) from All in the Family. Unlike the conservative Archie, Maude is very liberal and supported the more liberal causes and brought attention to them on the air. Maude was broadcast on CBS and ran from 1972 to 1978.
Good Times was a spinoff of Maude, making it an indirect spinoff of All in the Family. The show focuses on the Evans family as they try to give their children a better life and leave the projects. The show ran on CBS from 1974 to 1979.
The Jeffersons was the second spinoff of All in the Family and focused on the Jefferson family as they moved from Queens to Manhattan. The Jeffersons were originally the neighbors of the Bunker family. The show was abruptly canceled, but the cast appeared in the series finale of The Fresh Prince of Bel Air in 1996. The Jeffersons originally aired from 1975 to 1985 on CBS.