Many TV Academy members, like the culture at large, are grappling with the show’s success and the divisive personal politics of its star.
That’s according to Bob Greenblatt. But a Friends or Seinfeld revival will never happen, the NBC Entertainment chairman said Wednesday at THR’s Power Lawyers breakfast, during which he noted the network is toying with direct-to-consumer content.
Exclusives
The new totals for the March 27 premiere have the comedy totaling 25 million viewers and a massive 7.3 rating among adults 18-49. Looking at just the audience, the 6.6 million add-on from the premiere night is a time-shifting record. And that doesn’t even include the additional 4.3 million viewers who tuned into an encore telecast on Sunday night — or the growth it will see from Hulu and ABC streaming.
Following the massive ratings for the premiere of the Roseanne revival on ABC, the network has renewed the series for next season, which will be the classic sitcom’s 11th overall. The order is for 13 episodes, up from nine in the current first installment of the revival.
Following Donald Trump’s election, the network realized it was leaving some viewers behind — and put into effect a plan that brought back a working-class sitcom.
Deal or No Deal, the briefcase-based game show that had audiences yelling at their TVs in the mid-00s, is coming back for new episodes on CNBC later this year, the cable network announced today. Host Howie Mandel will return for the reboot.
The new revival features the entire family, including Roseanne as the titular matriarch and Dan Conner (John Goodman), as well as Laurie Metcalf as Aunt Jackie, Alicia Goranson as Becky, Sara Gilbert as Darlene and Michael Fishman as D.J. Also making an appearance is the familiar couch that appeared in the original series for nine seasons.
The wave of classic sitcoms overtaking TV — including Roseanne, Will & Grace and the recently announced Murphy Brown — has less to do with nostalgia or creative bankruptcy than networks eager to monetize any advantage in a crowded landscape. For creators, it’s about more than just the money: “The question always has to be ‘Why now?’ “
What Is Reboot Trend Doing To Diversity?
The creators of these original shows were white (and mostly male). The top-billed actors on these shows were white as well. It’s not hard to see the potential downsides to this in terms of who are getting opportunities now.
TV has long loved recycling its past glories. But even for a medium known for its nostalgia fetish, 2018 seems destined to test audiences’ affection for throwback TV. Within the space of 48 hours last week, CBS — no doubt mindful of NBC’s successful relaunch of Will & Grace and ABC’s buzz-generating Roseanne return — green-lit a revival of its classic Candice Bergen comedy Murphy Brown and announced plans to reinvent 1980s detective dramas Magnum, P.I. and Cagney & Lacey.
The network has ordered a 13-episode revival of the classic sitcom Murphy Brown with star Candice Bergen. Other casting wasn’t announced. Series creator and writer Diane English is also returning.
Multiple sources reveal to TVLine that Sony, which produced the beloved NBC sitcom, has begun informal talks with leads Paul Reiser and Helen Hunt about bringing the series back for a limited run. Reiser, who also co-created Mad About You with Danny Jacobson, is allegedly leading the charge to resurrect the show.
Sources confirm that the Peacock network is eyeing a continuation of the beloved workplace comedy for the 2018-2019 season. The revival would once again be set at Dunder Mifflin’s Scranton, Pa., branch, and feature a mix of new and old cast members. Steve Carell, who starred as the branch’s regional manager, Michael Scott, for seven of the comedy’s nine seasons, will not be involved in the new series. The search for a new RM/boss is said to be already underway.
