Posted on 08/03/2018 2:57:32 PM PDT by EdnaMode
Sony Pictures Television, which owns distribution rights to the sitcom, is in early talks to reboot the Diff'rent Strokes spinoff that originally aired on NBC for nine seasons and more than 200 episodes. A network is not yet attached and a search for a writer is underway.
Sources say Leonardo DiCaprio and Jessica Biel are in early talks to exec the reboot via their respective Appian Way and Ocean Films production companies. Sony TV declined comment.
The series, which starred Charlotte Rae, Lisa Whelchel, Kim Fields, Mandy Cohn and Nancy McKeon, is one of the longest-running comedies of the '80s and revolved around a housemother and her students at the all-female Eastland School in New York. The multicamera comedy was created by Dick Clair and Jenna McMahon.
The Facts of Life re-do arrives as reboots continue to be in high demand as broadcast, cable and streaming services alike look for proven brands in a bid to cut through a cluttered landscape expected to top 520 in 2018 alone. Key to the reboots and revivals is having the original producers involved, which Facts of Life has with Sony TV. Reboots are not just easier — and inexpensive — to market given their built-in brand awareness but in many cases, they also help the studio further monetize library content. (Will and Grace producers Universal TV, for example, were able to sell the comedy's entire library as part of its reboot deal with Hulu.)
The Facts of Life arrives days after news broke that Warner Bros. TV is looking to revive ALF, though a network is not yet attached. Both ALF and Facts of Life are multicamera comedies and arrive at the genre is seeing a resurgence following the breakout success of ABC's Roseanne. Broadcasters have increased the number of multicams this season as the format is faster and cheaper to produce.
Sheesh what's next? Small Wonder? Saved by the Bell: the Retirement Years? Dinosaurs?
How pathetic. And then they’ll cry the blues when their network ratings go down. I never watched any of those shows when they were on the first time, and I’m certainly not going to watch them now.
Why not a reboot of Cannon? With Louie Anderson.
Porter Wagoner’s ‘Cold hard facts of Life’. Love it!
Blair will be a dyke, and hostile to rich people.
It will be a reboot all left: With 6x homosexuals doing the naked nightie pillow fights.
Bull. Very few of the reboots ever work.
My wife had enjoyed Lethal Weapon on Fox, one of the few that has been successful, but Wayans saw fit to get the main actor removed who helped made that reboot work. That show's ratings are going to crater going forward. My wife has already sworn off next season, removing the show from our DVR.
LOL. That’s hilarious.
LOL. Yep you wonder what they will do.
Weren’t they just normal teenage girls in that school.all those years ago? What are the odds that they just let them be normal teenagers this time around? In this politically correct era?
Exactly. Only a couple of the reboots have succeeded. Most of them had mediocre low ratings, and even those that did well at the beginning faded (Will & Grace, X-Files).
“one of the longest-running comedies of the ‘80s ”
Pathetic is right! This type of crap is about as dated as it gets. Won’t be funny; never was.
Another reboot?
They might have better luck remastering the originals for digital TV, but then they would run into PC problems.
But, when they dilute the rebooted series with PC, it likely won’t stay on very long.
Most reboots seem to be ‘forced’ on us for 2 seasons of 10-12 episodes and then die. Occasionally, a reboot will resonate, however, but those are few and far between.
Tootie will be a BLM activist kneeling during the Pledge of Allegiance.
What’s the point? Things like dope and six and homosexuality or no big whoop for teens these days. What’s the point
I believe Charlotte Rae has cancer(She had been in remission for a long time but the cancer returned) so I doubt she could take part in this..but PLEASE, enough of the reboots OK..read yesterday they were bringing back ALF, oh heck no!
Lisa Whelchel is a Conservative Christian, she wanted no part of a story line where she would have had an abortion, she won’t be a lesbo that’s for sure
I used to love this show as a little boy in elementary school.
I think they are actively lookkng for accounting write-offs.
Seriously.
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