This is a blast from the past. Late 80s/early 90s sitcom Head of The Class is getting a reboot on HBO Max. Probably the clearest sign yet that HBO Max is more about feeling like traditional TV than the HBO brand had previously represented.
Head of The Class was essentially a more conservative, middle-class version of 70s sitcom Welcome Back Kotter and focused on a class of advanced students and their unorthodox teacher who challenges them. Howard Hesseman starred as teacher Charlie for the first four seasons of the show before leaving the show to be replaced by comedian Billy Connolly. When the show was cancelled, Connolly’s character was spun-off into his own show Billy.
The new HBO Max version is being produced by Scrubs creator Bill Lawrence. American Vandal’s Amy Pocha and Seth Cohen will co-write the pilot and serve as co-showrunners alongside Scrubs writers Steven Cragg and Brian Bradley.
As far as reboots go, why not do this one - the format is evergreen. I very much doubt there’s a loyal Head of The Class fan following who will be overly invested, but people of a certain age will (kind-of) remember the previous version. Sometimes that’s enough.
Source: THR
Yesterday in the ABW newsletter I mentioned that a number of shows on streaming platforms will start to be repurposed for use on broadcast and cable channels in the US. Well, here’s another one - LA’s Finest, a Bad Boys spin-off being unwatched on Spectrum, will air on Fox.
This has me wondering if we’ll soon hear about an airdate for the season of Mad About You that was also produced for Spectrum that nobody saw.
Source: Variety
The filmed production of Hamilton, expected in cinemas in Oct 2021 will be brought forward by a year to debut on Disney+ this coming July. The show was recorded in 2016 at the Richard Rodgers theatre in New York with the original Broadway cast.
Source: The Guardian
Speaking of theatre, the cast of 2012 one season wonder Smash will reunite online to support the streaming of the stage show Bombshell in Concert. The cast will include all of your Smash favourites Debra Messing, Katharine McPhee, Christian Borle, Megan Hilty, and more.
No, I don’t quite understand why either.
Source: Deadline
This is incredible news this morning - Netflix are making a series based on Sweet Tooth, a really fantastic limited comic book series from Vertigo/DC Comics.
Sweet Tooth is essentially a take on Cormac McCarthy’s book The Road. A virus has wiped out most people across the US leaving small pockets of communities and gangs left. The twist with Sweet Tooth is that in the years following the virus, a number of children were born with genetic anomalies - they’re kind of human animal hybrids. We follow the journey of a young deer boy named Sweet Tooth who is left on his own after his father dies.
It’s a dark, gripping, and at times horrifying comic series that will translate very well to television.
The show had been previously picked up as a pilot by Hulu, but they opted not to move ahead with it.
Read more: TV Line
Back when Full House debuted in the olden days, local Australian broadcaster Channel 7 advertised it as being like Three Men and a Baby only with THREE BABIES.
That wasn’t quite true, but as a kid I do remember watching.
Now the series Fuller House is set to end with a wedding. but not just one wedding. THREE WEDDINGS!
That, I’ve got to see…
What’s next?
