"Fantasy Island" Reboot Premiers on Fox Broadcast TV Tues, Aug 10, 2021

When it comes to TV from the mid-1970's to the mid-1980's, for those who weren't yet old enough to be out tearing up the disco floors a la "Saturday Night Fever",  Saturday nights usually meant spending the evening at home watching ABC television from 9:00 PM to 11:00 PM. ABC aired two of Aaron Spelling and former Screen Gems' top TV execs Leonard Goldberg's big TV hits: "The Love Boat" which ran from 9:00 PM to 10:00 PM, followed by another hit known as "Fantasy Island". My recollections of those days are fond; an older cousin introduced me to the shows as a way of living out their own fantasies — sort of.

Both shows were also known as big work opportunities for many out-of-work actors, or those who simply wanted extra paid work. Both shows were similar in that they each ran for an hour time-slot, which is quite rare for non-movies or live sporting events. However, they both were quite popular. That's partially because there were only 3 broadcast TV networks plus PBS television and perhaps some independent stations which showed old re-runs from the fifties and sixties. Cable as we now know it did not exist, and streaming or on-demand content was an even more far-fetched idea.

The original "Fantasy Island" ran for seven seasons from 1978 to 1984 which is pretty impressive. As noted, the show was co-produced by the late Aaron Spelling. These days, the old show doesn't air very much on the re-run circuit (a few networks still run the show, but often very late at night, so its possible to set your DVR's) because the show originally fit into an hour time slot and the shows are simply too long to squeeze into a rerun circuit. Alternatively, it can be streamed on one (or more) of the free, ad-supported video on demand (AVOD) stations including the Roku channel, IMDB (now FreeVee), Tubi, Crackle or PlutoTV. I know I've seen it on one or more of them.

Still, the basic premise was that wealthy and/or well-connected island guests could visit the island and have one fantasy they'd always dreamed about fulfilled. But the guests' fantasies seldom turned out quite the way the guests envisioned. Usually, the fantasies taught some kind of lesson.

To be sure, the original "Fantasy Island" was revered for its cast, most notably the late Ricardo Montalbán and the late Hervé Villechaize (perhaps better known for his starring role as a villain in the 1974 James Bond film "The Man with the Golden Gun" which starred the late Roger Moore as James Bond). The actors were also known for their distinctive accents which lent some mystery to their presence on screen. Mr. Montalbán had a Spanish accent, whereas Villechaize had a distinctive French accent (even though his ethnicity was Filipino, he was raised in France, hence his French accent).

While both series have been released on DVD, unless one borrows the discs from their public library, that's an option which is rather costly for someone merely seeking a walk down memory lane. But for those people, today, free streaming is indeed a viable option.

Of the ABC Saturday night line-up during the late seventies to mid-eighties, today, viewers have the option to watch an entire subchannel dedicated to "The Love Boat" on the free ad-supported streaming network/app known as Pluto TV https://pluto.tv/en/live-tv/the-love-boat which is owned by Viacom CBS. There, dozens of episodes of that long-running show run back-to-back all day, every day. Episodes are also available for viewing on-demand.

But reruns of "Fantasy Island" are not available on Pluto TV. The reason is because the ownership rights were not Viacom's (which owns Pluto TV). However, streaming viewers can now watch reruns of "Fantasy Island" on the rival commercial-sponsored free streaming network (which competes with Viacom's Pluto TV) known as Tubi TV https://tubitv.com/series/300006868/fantasy-island-1977-series which means if you wish to watch the two shows back-to-back as you did back in the late seventies, simply switch from Pluto TV to Tubi TV on your Roku device. Selected episodes from the first, second and third seasons of the original version of "Fantasy Island" are also available free at Hulu. 

Readers may recall that I previously blogged about "The Love Boat" — or at least the outcome of the boat itself — (see HERE) and that isn't the subject of today's post. 

But "Fantasy Island" (which I previously covered HERE) to address that after years, the series had finally made it to DVD, hence the content had therefore been digitized) warrants mention because the old show is now being rebooted and will air on Fox broadcast television.  The first episode of the rebooted "Fantasy Island" will air tonight (Tuesday, August 10, 2021) on Fox broadcast TV at 10:00 PM.

Of relevant note is that in 2018, Fox sold its entire entertainment division (which included broadcast television) to Walt Disney Corp. Disney was not at all interested in buying Fox's bogus cable "news" division. Part of the reason is those channels no longer earn money from advertising generally, but instead relies on revenues from cable carrier fees. With the acquisition of Fox Entertainment, Disney solidified itself as a true media giant (it already owns ABC), competing with the likes of Viacom CBS and NBC Universal. That effectively left Rupert Murdoch and his kids cash-rich (reportedly more than $52 billion) but are now media poor. Few Americans even care what the fossilized old Australian immigrant got from the deal. But the change in ownership brought newfound creativity and thinking to programming decisions for Fox.

Still, if I had to speculate on which of the ABC Saturday night line-up from the mid-seventies to mid-eighties would get a reboot, I didn't envision it would be  Fantasy Island". Part of the reason is because the original "Fantasy Island" was a little far-fetched. 

The original "Fantasy Island" was a fantasy drama television series which was created by Gene Levitt. As noted, it aired on ABC from 1977 to 1984. The series starred Ricardo Montalbán as the mysterious Mr. Roarke and Hervé Villechaize as his assistant, Tattoo. Guests were granted so-called "fantasies" on the island ... for a price. In other words, the guests all received whatever their lifelong fantasies were, but the fantasies that the guests envisioned seldom turned out quite the way they had expected.

There had been discussions of rebooting the old show over the years, but few materialized. In 1998, there was one ill-fated attempt to use "Fantasy Island" as the basis for a horror movie, but it bombed because it wasn't a good concept.

"Fantasy Island" Reboot Is Unique: Women Are Behind It

However, a "Fantasy Island" series reboot was greenlit on December 2020, slated for a 2021 release on Fox broadcast television. The series will be a co-production between Sony Pictures Television and Fox Entertainment. In April 2021, it was announced that Kiara Barnes and John Gabriel Rodriguez had joined the main cast of the series. That same month, it was also announced that Roselyn Sánchez had joined the cast of the series as Elena Roarke, who plays the granddaughter of the late Mr. Roarke, and as already noted, the rebooted "Fantasy Island" series is scheduled to premiere on August 10, 2021 — which is tonight!

The series, which is not necessarily anticipated to be a permanent addition, rather it serves as a fill-in during a period in which new TV content is largely absent from the airwaves other than the horrible and tired "reality" shows such as "Big Brother". The "Fantasy Island" reboot might be a compelling addition with a creative, intelligent reboot attempt. 

More than 37 years after Ricardo Montalbán finished his run as Mr. Roarke, the debonair concierge of an enigmatic, wish-fulfilling beach resort in the Pacific Ocean, "Fantasy Island" is returning once more to network television. But this time, the latest iteration arrives on Fox with women on both sides of the camera.

The "Fantasy Island" reboot was created by Elizabeth Craft and Sarah Fain, and the new "Fantasy Island" premieres on Tuesday. It centers on Elena Roarke played by Roselyn Sánchez, who is a grandniece of Montalbán's Mr. Roarke who has left her life in New York behind to become the sophisticated steward of the island, where she sates her guests' greatest desires but teaches them that what they want isn't necessarily what they need.

The show reportedly "delves into the 'what if' questions, both big and small, that keep us awake at night," per its official logline. "Each episode will tell emotional, provocative stories about people who walk in with a desire, but end up reborn to themselves through the magical realism of Fantasy Island."

Roselyn Sánchez told the New York Times (see https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/09/arts/television/fantasy-island-returns-roselyn-sanchez.html for the article) "We did watch 'Fantasy Island' as kids and we have such strong memories of sitting in our respective houses and watching Mr. Roarke and his sidekick, Tattoo [played by Hervé Villechaize]," said Sarah Fain, who serves as a showrunner along with Craft. "But we loved the show so much that it very quickly felt like a really incredible opportunity."

In Sánchez, Elizabeth Craft said the creators had found someone who they believe has the perfect combination of "humor, warmth, compassion and natural authority." For the Puerto Rican actress, the show, which was shot on the island, offered a chance to reunite with relatives and many of the same crew members she had worked with at the start of her career.

The production also gave Puerto Rico a much-needed financial boost. "It's really important to the island, to them and to me," said Ms. Sánchez, who opted to postpone her directorial feature debut in favor of shooting the 10-episode first season of "Fantasy Island" in her homeland.

In a phone interview from Puerto Rico, Sánchez talked with the New York Times about the pressure that comes with stepping into the shoes — and iconic white suit — of Ricardo Montalbán, and Latino representation in Hollywood. But she said that the premise of the show is pretty much the same as the original. 

"It's about wish fulfillment; it's about growing as a human being; it's about making dreams come true. Guests come to the island — they have a desire, they have a dream, whatever it is — then the island helps them navigate through a journey that has magic and can fulfill them.

But the fact that the lead role is a female, that's a testament to how the showrunners wanted to do something that is a little more current. Directors, a lot of heads of departments, showrunners — they're all female, behind the camera and in front of the camera. They took some creative liberties that are going to elevate the material, especially the fact that you have minorities in charge as leads. It's keeping up with the current times."

The New York Times asked Ms. Sánchez: "In promotional videos you mentioned that you were a fan of the original. What are your most vivid memories of watching the show as a girl in Puerto Rico?"

Her response was: "We had [the original "Fantasy Island"] in Spanish here. I was born in 1973, and the show was in the '70s, so I was very young. But that moment of the Tattoo character ringing the bell and saying, "El avión, el avión" ["The plane, the plane"] is very vivid.

You have to understand that Ricardo Montalbán, for Latinos, he was like royalty. Just the fact that he was a leading man carrying his own show, and he did it so well, and it was so successful. Having the opportunity to portray pretty much that character and continue the Roarke legacy, it’s a dream, and I do recognize it's a  responsibility. But it's one that I'm embracing with all my heart, and I hope people enjoy me as much as they enjoy him."

Fox has a website for the series (for the time-being, anyway) at https://www.fox.com/fantasy-island/. Over the past few weeks, Roselyn Sánchez been on the promotional circuit for the reboot of "Fantasy Island". However, Fox television has produced a short commercial, followed by a half-hour deep dive into the reboot. You can watch those below, or on YouTube by visiting https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfSNYYNU6TvEPe5VuJ23fimwDy92WSJCz 

 

Sequel to "The Flintstones" to be Called "Bedrock" Coming Soon (Maybe...)

Many  recall the original Hanna-Barbera animated TV show known as "The Flintstones". One element which made "The Flintstones" so unique (at the time) was that it was the first-ever animated series to hold a prime-time slot on broadcast television. "The Flintstones" also proved to be the most financially successful and longest-running animated show on network TV for more than three decades, until "The Simpsons" which debuted in 1989 and eventually outlasted "The Flintstones". "The Flintstones" was also one of the most successful cartoons to run in syndication.

The short description of "The Flintstones" is that it was about the misadventures of two modern-day Stone Age families, the Flintstones and the Rubbles. "The Flintstones" originally ran for six seasons and over 150 episodes on ABC between 1960 and 1966. The series followed the misadventures of the titular modern Stone Age family, comprised of Fred, Wilma, Pebbles, and family pet Dino. The show also heavily featured the Flintstones’ neighbors, the Rubbles — Fred’s best friend Barney, Wilma’s best friend Betty, and their son, Bamm-Bamm.

In fact, the show had basically the same plot as several successful TV sitcoms which preceded it, including "The Honeymooners" which ran from 1955 to 1956, except that it was animated and set in the stone age. But it was about two couples, the wives were friends by virtue of them being neighbors, and the husbands both worked in working-class, blue-collar professions typical of many ordinary Americans at the time the show aired, and the couples eventually started families at the same time, too.

According to the entertainment industry news outlet Variety (see https://variety.com/2021/tv/news/flintstones-sequel-series-fox-elizabeth-banks-pebbles-1234961373/ for the original article), a sequel series to "The Flintstones" is now planned and set to begin production. Animation is officially in development at Fox with Elizabeth Banks attached to star and executive produce the new show. The project will be written and co-executive produced by Lindsay Kerns, and Max Handelman will executive produce via Ms. Banks' Brownstone Productions, with the company's Dannah Shinder co-executive producing. Warner Bros. Animation and Fox Entertainment will produce the show. Brownstone is currently under a TV overall deal at Warner Bros. The new animated series, to be titled "Bedrock," is supposedly set some 20 years after the events of the original series. Elizabeth Banks will voice an adult Pebbles Flintstone in addition to executive producing the new animated show. 

Variety reported "In the show, Fred Flintstone is on the brink of retirement and 20-something Pebbles is embarking on her own career. As the Stone Age gives way to a shiny and enlightened new Bronze Age, the residents of Bedrock will find this evolution harder than a swing from Bamm-Bamm's club."

In fact, the timing of "Bedrock" being set 20 years from the original series does take some creative license. The reason is because the final first-run episode of the original series known as "The Flintstones" aired more then 55 years ago (as of 2021), which means that Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble should have retired long ago. In fact, all of the original vocal talents of the original show passed away more than a few years ago. Perhaps the most famous of the vocal talent on "The Flintstones" was Mel Blanc, who died in 1989 (he voiced the character of Barney Rubble on "The Flintstones," although he had a long history in animation, including for the original cast of Bugs Bunny of "Looney Tunes" fame which preceded "The Flintstones"). Mr. Blanc died in 1989 and was buried in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. The epitaph on his headstone reads "That's all, folks!" (which was the tag line of every one of his Warner Brothers cartoons) with a subheading of "Man of 1000 Voices".

While original episodes of "The Flintstones" ended more than a half-century ago, for years after the show's original run ended, there were more than a dozen spinoffs of "The Flintstones" under the production company Hanna-Barbera (14 in total), which even included one called "The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show" which ran as a first-run, Saturday morning show on CBS from 1971-1972 and followed the characters of Pebbles Flintstone and Bamm-Bamm Rubble as they faced problems growing up in the boring little town of Bedrock. No longer toddlers, the two were supposedly then teenagers in 1972 attending Bedrock High School and also getting their first jobs.

As noted, that means in theory, the lead characters of "The Flintstones" should arguably have retired years ago (presuming retirement ages generally accepted in the U.S.). But stranger and more creative things have been done in television shows.

Since the deaths of the legendary animators William Hanna and Joseph Barbera (Hanna died in 2001, and Barbera died in 2006), a company which remained active (at least as consultants) until 2001, although I believe the archived productions of the successful cartoon shop are currently now officially in the hands of Warner Brothers as the owners. Ms. Banks was originally in discussions to produce a new series called "Bedrock" at WB Animation in 2019, but no network for the show had been identified to carry the show at the time.

Since then, the options to get shows to audiences have expanded well beyond the original broadcast networks and cable to include a steadily-growing number of viable streaming outlets. Now, the latest news is that "Bedrock" is officially in development at Fox, not Warner Brothers, although Banks is under contract with Warner Brothers, so its officially being produced by both entertainment companies. The presence of so many new streaming outlets practically guarantees there will be some type of audience for the new show because the traditional network gatekeepers now have far less control to kill a project as the traditional broadcast and cable networks once did. That said, the underlying economics for many streaming outlets is different, which also impacts the outcome of success and the ability to produce a new show.

Variety reports that Fox Entertainment's free streaming platform Tubi https://tubitv.com/ has acquired the AVOD (the acronym for Advertising Video on Demand) rights to all six seasons of the original series "The Flintstones," which will begin streaming on the Tubi platform starting May 1, 2021. That also increases the odds that "Bedrock" could ultimately find a home on that particular streaming outlet, although the producers do have a right to shop the property around to see if they can find outlets willing to broadcast (and pay for it) it to a much wider audience. Tubi has not seen quite as much original content as rivals, but is functionally similar to the Viacom CBS Pluto TV https://pluto.tv/ streaming outlet, mainly for Fox entertainment properties and some licensed content. Among Tubi's licensed content includes Total TeleVision productions' (and that WAS the way it was written), which is currently owned by DreamWorks Classics, but was responsible for such sixties cartoons (produced on behalf of General Mills cereals) such as Underdog, Tennessee Tuxedo, Klondike Kat and Commander McBragg, among others, all of which ran heavily in syndication during the seventies since TV stations needed kid-friendly content to run in the early mornings and after school). So far, Fox has not yet been able to capitalize on its Tubi platform (plus it has little name-recognition), and its possible that having a high-profile recognized entertainment property such as "The Flintstones" and a reboot called "Bedrock" could help Fox's struggling free streaming platform attract audiences. Currently, Tubi has access to some of Total Television's cartoon properties such as "Underdog," but isn't really seen as a go-to destination for most streaming viewers, whereas Pluto TV and NBC Universal's Peacock TV https://www.peacocktv.com/ have much more name-recognition ... and viewership.

As the guys in the following YouTube video rightly observe (or visit at https://youtu.be/AWqnlc99IZ4), "Bedrock" could still end up being a trainwreck, but its got some credible talent working on it, plus the basis for the show is unique enough and credible enough that it has potential to work.

The good news is we shall soon see a new animated series starring the cast of "The Flintstones" (except that new vocal talent had to be found since all of the original vocal talent have died). Its in production now. If I had to guess, I'd say the odds are good that we may see "Bedrock" on the Tubi streaming outlet unless they can find a more deep-pocketed media outlet to pick the show up.

Author P.S., July 17, 2024: TV Line reported that the animated sequel series to Hanna-Barbera's successful prime-time cartoon series from the 1960's known as "The Flintstones" which was to be called "Bedrock" is no longer in development at Fox, although Fox is reportedly open to redeveloping the project at a later date. Stephen Root and Amy Sedaris were reportedly slated to voice Fred and Wilma, with Nicole Byer as Betty, Joe Lo Truglio as Barney and Manny Jacinto as Bamm-Bamm.  

Queer Eye: Why A Show From 2003 Is Getting A Reboot in 2018

The focus of this blog is mainly retro pop culture from the 1970's to the 1980's, but it's worth acknowledging that those are generalities.  Perhaps the most notable is because the start dates and end dates are not always clear-cut, and with television, reruns have made moderately-successful network TV shows far bigger hits in syndication.  For example, the TV sitcom "The Brady Bunch" is generally considered to be a 1970's show (as was "Gilligan's Island").  But both Sherwood Schwartz sitcoms were actually much, much bigger in syndication than they were in their first-runs.  Also, both shows first premiered in the late 1960's, hence both shows could technically be considered sixties pop culture and therefore irrelevant to this blog using the original year of broadcast as a cutoff.

I refuse to do that.

Without getting too tied up in specifics on start and finish dates, although the 1990's and 2000's aren't a central focus for this blog, again, because some pop culture (television, movies, music, etc.) carries over from the 1960's or the 1980's, it occasionally does find a place here, too.  This is one such post.

One early 2000's cable program that is enjoying a renaissance (resurrection or reboot) is one of cable-network Bravo's earlier success stories from 2003.  The show was initially known as "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" (later renamed simply "Queer Eye").  The premise of the show relied upon the stereotype of gay ("queer") men as experts in matters of fashion, style, personal grooming, interior design, and culture.

It's worth acknowledging that Bravo's own history as a cable network is relevant to this discussion.  Bravo began in 1980, and its original focus was on performing arts, drama, and independent films (indeed, Bravo originally claimed to be "the first television service dedicated to film and the performing arts" and a 1985 profile of Bravo in the New York Times observed that most of its programming at the time consisted of international, classic, and independent films).  The Bravo network was acquired in the early 2000's, and it switched its format from focusing on performing arts, drama, and independent films to being mainly focused on popular culture including reality shows, fashion/makeover shows and celebrities.  In those days, Bravo quite literally was throwing things against the proverbial wall to see what stuck, much as the Fox broadcast TV network had done just a few years earlier.  The main difference is that Bravo was done on cable, rather than on broadcast TV.

The concept for "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" was created by the show's executive producers David Collins and Michael Williams along with David Metzler through their company, Scout Productions and, as noted, turned out to be a surprise hit for Bravo.

There were a variety of reasons for its success.

One reason for its success was that "Queer Eye" very much stuck to the 22-minute format (which amounted to a half-hour show with commercials) and ran at many different times throughout the day.  Given that there were no story arcs (also called a narrative arc), which are extended or continuing storylines in episodic storytelling in media such as television, with each episode following a dramatic arc.  On a TV program, for example, a story arc would unfold over a number of different episodes.  Without any arcs, there were no expiration or sequence required for airing, making it well-suited for cable.  Arcs were missing from "Queer Eye", lending it to repeated play throughout the day whenever the network needed half-hour content to run.

The original "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" series starred five openly-gay men from New York who conducted a "make-over" (or "make-better") of another person, usually a hapless straight man at the request of his wife or girlfriend, with the cast helping to revamp wardrobe, redecorating, and offering advice on grooming, lifestyle, and food/wine.

Original Fab Five cast from Bravo's version of "Queer Eye"

The opening sequence introduced the gay "Fab Five", outlining each of their particular "specialties" on Manhattan's "Gay Street": Fashion Savant (Carson Kressley), Food and Wine Connoisseur (Ted Allen), Grooming Guru (Kyan Douglas), Design Doctor (Thom Filicia) and Culture Vulture (Jai Rodriguez).  The five men armed themselves with their tool of choice (including Thom Filicia holding a paintbrush, Ted Allen holding a whisk, Carson Kressley holding a shopping bag, Kyan Douglas holding a blow-dryer, and Jai Rodriguez holding a set of music headphones), all in-line with their particular specialty, then put on their sunglasses before we saw the camera turn the corner of "Gay Street" to enter "Straight St."  The opening sequence closed as the Fab Five "power walked" straight toward the camera.

The show also enabled the newly-nascent Bravo cable network to successfully transition to a completely different focus for content (and audience), and established it as a cable network willing to break away from traditional cable network dogma about what was necessary to succeed, as well as having a willingness to break from traditionally-taboo topics, including featuring genuine gay individuals on television.

The original "Queer Eye" series ran perpetually on Bravo in 2003, as it sought to fill 24-hours with new content that was anything but its original content, which was much more like what ran on PBS in those days, and also had a much more limited audience.

The series also quickly attained pretty good ratings for Bravo, peaking during September of that year with 3.34 million viewers per episode according to Nielsen.  The popularity of the series also established the original Fab Five as media celebrities in their own right, with high-profile appearances at the Emmys and a "make-better" of Jay Leno and his The Tonight Show set in August of that year.  Fab Five members parlayed their celebrity into endorsement deals, perhaps most notably Thom Filicia's becoming the spokesperson for Pier 1 Imports, and Ted Allen would later endorse cooking utensils (skillets, for example) sold at retailers.

The American press also generally complimented the series and the Fab Five.   The gay Out magazine listed the Fab Five in its "Out 100", the "greatest gay success stories" of 2003, while Instinct magazine declared Mr. Kressley one of the "Leading Men" of 2004.  The series also won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Reality Program in 2004.

Mr. Kressley knows it's impossible to disentangle his sexuality from "Queer Eye" and he made zero effort to try and do so.  2003 America was not especially kind to the LGBTQ community.  At the time, "Don't ask, don't tell" banned openly gay people from serving openly in the military, and only a few months earlier, 13 U.S. states had homosexual sodomy laws on the books while heterosexual sodomy was legal (the U.S. Supreme Court invalidated those in the Lawrence v. Texas decision in 2003).  Kressley says that by introducing America to real queer people, it allowed them to get to know members of a demographic long shut out of most other media, and he is of the opinion that was the show's real power.  His co-star Jai Rodriguez agreed, telling The Hollywood Reporter that the number one thing people told him about "Queer Eye" was that the show helped them come out to their families. "The houses and the fashion, that has never been a takeaway," he said. Though "Queer Eye" didn't have an explicit political message, that didn't matter: "In 2003, being out was political."

Mr. Rodriguez also says that "Queer Eye" also made space for friendships between straight and gay men, a bond that at the time "wasn't OK to be formed" because of homophobic fears of romantic attraction.  On the show, gay and straight men could exist, work and laugh together without strings attached.

Since 2003, the Bravo cable network has changed ownership a few times, and is now firmly in the hands of cable television giant Comcast's NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment business.  But Bravo's days in 2003 were more freewheeling, as already noted, marked by its willingness to try and see what drew in viewers.  The "Queer Eye" gamble paid off for Bravo, drawing a diverse audience far beyond a gay-only viewership, to a more mass-market success.  That also made the show relevant for a broader, American culture perspective.  The cast discusses the impact in the video playlist below.

In January 2017, internet streaming service Netflix announced that it was reviving the series with a brand new Fab Five in a season of eight episodes.  It's part of Netflix's desire to move into the unscripted space, including talk-shows hosted by Chelsea Handler, David Letterman, and soon, former President Barack Obama.

NPR's popular radio show "All Things Considered" covered the "Queer Eye" reboot which can be listened to below, or by visiting https://n.pr/2H5fMnV.

The new "Queer Eye" show is based in the southern city of Atlanta rather than New York.  Netflix does not disclose traditional Nielsen ratings performance indicators as broadcast and cable television do, but on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, as of March 2018, the season held an approval rating of 100% based upon 13 reviews, and an average rating of 7.35/10.  The website's critical consensus read, "Queer Eye adapts for a different era without losing its style, charm, or sense of fun, proving that the show's formula remains just as sweetly addictive even after a change in location and a new group of hosts." On Metacritic, the season had a weighted average score of 73 out of 100, based on seven critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

The new Fab Five cast on the Netflix version of "Queer Eye"

As noted, the new version of "Queer Eye" does change the locale from New York to Atlanta, and although there is no news (yet) on another season, co-creator and producer Collins said that if Netflix does order more, he hopes to find a new location for the show — and he's thinking specifically of returning to his roots.  He said "I'm from Cincinnati, Ohio, born and raised. I would like to go the tri-state region: Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky, because you can base in Cincinnati and go across the bridge to Kentucky and go up the interstate to Indiana. The corn-fed midwestern folk are where I'm from — and I love actually being from Ohio, it's a great place to be from."

Similar to the cast chemistry of the original, the new Fab Five cast for the new version of "Queer Eye" seemingly has pretty good on-screen chemistry, although some important yet relevant changes have been made.

Notably, unlike the show's first iteration, where four of the five stars were white, and all were cisgender.  But it helped open the doors to wider and more diverse queer representation, bringing the Fab Five into millions of homes around the world. That counts for something. Jai Rodriguez, a New Yorker of Puerto Rican descent, notes that his successor in the reboot, Karamo Brown, told him: "One of the biggest things for me watching the show was finally seeing a queer person of color."  Another evolution is that much of this cast comes from lower-income backgrounds, and some even have little mouths (children) to feed.

The new "Fab Five" consists of Bobby Berk (Design Expert), Antoni Porowski (Food Expert), Jonathan Van Ness (Grooming Expert), Tan France (Fashion Expert) and Karamo Brown (Culture Expert).  Of them, Tan is a gay, British-Pakistani Muslim (who happens to be married to an American Mormon cowboy), and Karamo is a gay, African-American man from the South who is also a father of two children, while cast member Bobby has been married to another man for almost fifteen years.  None of that could have been accepted, let alone watched on television, back in 2003.

Updating the original 2003 series to reflect the current social and political climate of today's America was important for Mr. Collins, given how much things have changed. For starters, it feels possible to be a bit more open about the Fab Five's personal lives: "We've evolved in a big way," Collins said. "If you think about the fact that our original Fab Five [didn't use] word 'my husband' or 'my boyfriend' or 'my kids' — America was not ready to handle that. [Now], we get to see that Karamo is a father of two, Tan's a Muslim man married to a Mormon cowboy. And Bobby's been married for almost fifteen years now."

To view a playlist consisting of the original show's intro, the new Fab Five meeting with the original Fab Five, the new show's intro and an interview with the new cast conducted by co-creator and producer David Collins which can be seen below, or by visiting the playlist I created at https://goo.gl/wV4hms:



Author P.S., March 26, 2018:  Entertainment newspaper Variety reports that the Netflix version of "Queer Eye" has been renewed for a second season.  Although a renewal for Season 2 is now confirmed, there is no word yet as to whether it will relocate from Atlanta to Cincinnati as co-creator and producer David Collins said he hoped to do. Subsequently, on March 15, 2019, after being announced in July 2018 that a third-season for the Netflix reboot of "Queer Eye" had been ordered, the third season of the reboot was released. Season three saw the cast move from Atlanta, Georgia to Kansas City, Missouri to help its citizens learn how to be the best versions of themselves.

2018 Sitcom Revival Craze Isn't New But Criticism of Whitewashing Is

On February 22, 2018, Marketplace featured a show segment entitled "Explaining the craze in TV reboots".  Reboot is perhaps an inappropriate term; rather "revival" is likely a more accurate term.  You may listen to that segment HERE, or below.

Also be sure to read the Hollywood Reporter article written by Michael O'Connell who was interviewed in the Marketplace clip.  That story can be viewed at https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/features/new-economics-tvs-reboot-craze-1086797.

The Marketplace story discusses a recent (as of early 2018) wave of TV revivals either already on the air, or scheduled to be headed to the airwaves very soon.  For example, think of successful reboots already on the air, including "Fuller House" and "Will & Grace."  Indeed, "Will & Grace" currently ranks as NBC's No. 1 comedy of the season, and it trails only CBS' "Big Bang Theory" and "Young Sheldon" on the list of top comedies across TV.  Others, including "Roseanne" and "Murphy Brown," with the original casts still in place, are scheduled to air soon.

"Fuller House" was a revival of ABC's "Full House" with the original child cast now adults rather than children.  That show picks up with most of the original cast, only it was Netflix that took the risk of producing it rather than network television.  Now entering its fourth season, the numbers were solid enough for the streaming giant to continue.  The original trailer was available at the following link, but has since been removed from YouTube https://youtu.be/CXuGLswn2l0.

"Will & Grace" Cast Reunion as PSA for 2016 Election

"Will & Grace's" TV revival actually began as kind of a public service announcement (PSA) on YouTube encouraging viewers to vote in the 2016 election.  A mini-episode, if you will, featuring the original cast.  That video was originally on YouTube at https://youtu.be/dQZkt7SKtKk but has since been disabled. However, Hollywood Reporter has its own copy found at https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/will-grace-reunion-debra-messing-932915 if you wish to watch it.

That 10-minute PSA clip generated more than 7 million viewers in the first few weeks after it went on YouTube (and subsequently went viral on Facebook and other social platforms), suggesting the U.S.audience was still very much interested in seeing the original characters 11 years after the series finale in 2006.  The cast also seemed ready for a revival, and luckily the original set was still in storage (which was used for the 2016 YouTube #VoteHoney PSA), plus the creators Max Mutchnick and David Kohan were also ready to revive the original series.

Eleven years after the finale of the original series required a little bit of creative license to revive the show in a believable manner.  The original series finale ended with Will and Grace partnered — Will with Vince, Grace with Leo — all raising children.  Grace had a daughter named Laila with husband Leo (Harry Connick Jr.) while Will was raising a son, Ben, with spouse Vincent (Bobby Cannavale).  But the revival began by acknowledging both Will's and Grace's separations, and Karen (who is known on the show for having substance abuse issues anyway) having and explaining what was a drug-induced hallucination.  The exact dialogue went as follows:


"I had the craziest dream," Karen says, describing the finale scenes. "Will was living with a swarthy man in uniform and Grace was married to a Jew doctor."

"Well, we were, but we're single now," Will replies.

"What happened to the children that you had that grew up and got married to each other?" Karen then asks, to which Will replies that it "never happened".

"Oh, what a relief," she replied, speaking for fans everywhere. "Nobody wants to see you two raise kids."


The revised "Will & Grace" sitcom was originally ordered by NBC for a limited, 16-episode run, but was subsequently renewed for another, 13-episode season.  NBC was evidently pleased enough with the ratings to renew it for another season.

Roseanne Revival Coming to ABC

The 1990's ABC sitcom Roseanne is another revival that will appear on ABC television starting on March 27, 2018.  Like the others, it will feature virtually all of the original cast.  A trailer is available by visiting https://youtu.be/X32lP33kyOs.

[Author P.S., May 29, 2018: ABC abruptly cancelled the Roseanne revival after the show's namesake star went on a racist Twitter rant.  While the show's performance was acceptable, ABC Entertainment president Channing Dungey said in a statement: "Roseanne's Twitter statement is abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values, and we have decided to cancel her show".  Disney CEO Bob Iger added on Twitter that "there was only one thing to do here, and that was the right thing."  Barr's talent agency also dropped her.]

Meanwhile, rival network CBS is going full steam ahead (at least for the 13 episodes which have been ordered and produced) with its revival of Murphy Brown, which is planned to run on Thursday evenings at 9:30 PM.  The trailer for that show was found at https://youtu.be/pGn-OXaBV68 but has also since been removed.

2018 Casts of Several Sitcom Revivals

Mixed Track Record of Success and Failure on Previous Reboots/Revivals

Reboots/revivals of one form or another have enjoyed periods of popularity with networks and producers.  There were numerous reboots/revivals of "The Brady Bunch" for example, including 1981's sitcom "The Brady Brides" which focused on Marsha's and Jan's newly-wed lives.  That was followed by several made-for-TV movies including 1988's "A Very Brady Christmas," 1995's "The Brady Bunch Movie" and 1996's "A Very Brady Sequel".  The latter two were movies shown in theaters, and although the characters were identical (played by new actors/actresses and caught in a time-warp), they succeeded because they were intended to be parodies of the original.  Not all revivals are parodies.

In 1980, "The Nude Bomb" (also known as The Return of Maxwell Smart) was a reboot of the late-sixties sitcom created by Mel Brooks "Get Smart" that starred Don Adams, though it was released in theaters initially, and didn't air on TV until 1982.  But another made-for-television revival in 1999 starring Don Adams as Maxwell Smart, and Barbara Feldon as Agent 99 entitled "Get Smart, Again!" was popular enough to prompt a new (but short-lived) TV series, which starred the two original cast members as well as actor Andy Dick.  A 2008 reboot film version starring actor Steve Carrell as Maxwell Smart and Anne Hathaway as Agent 99 hit the theaters, and received mixed reviews from film critics, but did reasonably well at the box office.  But the inescapable fact is that many of the popular gadgets featured in the original series no longer seem so revolutionary today.  For example, the shoe-telephone is now an antique relative to smartphones today, and the "cone of silence" seems like its from another era -- which it was.

Similarly, "I Dream of Jeannie... Fifteen Years Later" aired as a made-for-TV movie in 1985 and another named "I Still Dream of Jeannie" ran in 1991.  Actress Barbara Eden starred in both, but Tony Nelson initially played by actor Larry Hagman (who was under contract to star in the prime-time soap "Dallas") was played by different actors.  As a result, neither the "Get Smart" of "I Dream of Jeannie" revivals were huge ratings successes.

Finally, how many revivals of Gilligan's Island can realistically be remembered?  Most of the original cast (excluding actress Tina Louise who played the character/actress Ginger Grant on the original series, but was notably absent from virtually all of the reunions) were in each of the made-for-TV movies including "Rescue from Gilligan's Island", "The Castaways on Gilligan's Island" and even "The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan's Island" not to mention a couple of animated cartoon versions of the sitcom which was more popular in syndication than it ever was in its initial broadcast run.  Each ended pretty much as they began: rescued only to be lost again on an uncharted island - again.

For television, revivals/reboots usually rely on bringing much of the original audiences, although not always with the same casts.  Some featured original actor/actress cameos (for example, Ann B. Davis, who played housekeeper Alice Nelson in the original sitcom made cameo appearances, as did actress Florence Henderson who played Carol Brady in the originals (both actresses have since passed away), while others only briefly reunite the original casts (or many of them; some had to be replaced since the original talent are deceased).  For example, 2012's first-episode reboot of "Dallas" featured many of the original cast members, even featuring actor Larry Hagman who played J.R. Ewing, although he passed away shortly after the first episode of the reboot aired.

Other prior revivals/reboots have been re-imagined with completely new casts and story lines.  One famous reboot flop was 2007's unsuccessful reboot of "The Bionic Woman" which (briefly) ran on NBC.  That featured actress Michelle Ryan as the main character Jamie Somers.  But instead of Jamie being a schoolteacher and former professional tennis player, the new Jamie was a bartender raising her younger sister on her own, and her bionic powers were not implemented by secretive Government researchers, but her boyfriend.  Only 8 episodes of the reboot aired on TV, as a strike by the Writers Guild of America interrupted production.  The series suffered from poor ratings after an initially-promising premier episode, likely attributed to audience curiosity who ended up very disappointed at how dark the new series was compared to the original.

Actress Lindsay Wagner, the original actress who starred as Jamie Somers in 'The Bionic Woman' back in the 1970's, also played no part in the new, rebooted series.  Ms. Wagner said, "On a technical level, it was very good, but I don't think they understood the show. It was steeped in that old-school thinking. It was like a lot of things today, angry and dark."

More recent revivals (distinct from reboots) are using all or much of the original casts that made the initial shows successful.  Although a complicated rights and remuneration can bedevil many revivals or reboots (such as the soaps noted in a previous post, see http://hgm.sstrumello.com/2013/04/can-soaps-left-for-dead-see-new-life.html for that), when original producers are involved, those issues may be slightly less complicated if the producers are onboard with the idea of reviving the show and they own content rights for the original programs.

The TV revival/reboot craze currently going on is not without criticism, although not because the revivals or the shows aren't any good, but because they claim it is whitewashing.  Though they may make us feel nostalgic, they also come at a cost, because diversity is often nixed in favor of the all-white casts of the past.  From the 1980's to 2017, the number of characters of color with speaking roles has nearly quadrupled, up from about 8% in the 1980's to about 30% today.  According to U.S. Census Bureau statistics, non-whites are still under-represented on television, although they are better represented in 2018 than at any point in the past.

Are Current Reboots/Revivals Whitewashing?

On February 12, 2018, the New York City NPR station WNYC and Public Radio International (PRI)'s program "The Takeaway" addressed this not-too-minor issue in an episode entitled "TV Reboots and Revivals Bring Nostalgia — And Whitewashing" and it discussed the implications of that.  That was worth listening to below, or by visiting https://www.wnyc.org/story/tv-reboots-and-revivals-bring-nostalgia-and-whitewashing/.


Of course, all-white casts have long dominated U.S. popular culture in spite of growing diversity, and recent gains made by non-white players recently won't necessarily erase generations of U.S. pop culture.  As noted by Michael O'Connell in the Marketplace interview above, the current reboot wave has much more to do with the fact that not much else seems to be working right now from an entertainment business perspective, rather than any sort of systematic effort to erase the gains of non-white programming.  Indeed, although white supremacy has gained visibility since the electoral college victory by Donald J. Trump, as trackers of hate groups note, those groups still remain relatively small in spite of their recent increased visibility (see the Anti-Defamation League's write-up HERE and Southern Poverty Law Center's write-up HERE for more background) lately.  The entertainment industry has no motivation other than profit.

Whether the current popularity of reboots and revivals enables all to succeed remains to be seen; so far, the revivals' success features an unconventional family involving three white men as heads of household and another featuring gay white men with female companions.  Soon, another will star a female investigative journalist and news anchor for a fictional TV news magazine and recovered alcoholic who speaks her mind freely, and finally a blue-collar, working class white family living in rural America.  Only the latter series is even remotely consistent with the Alt-Right.

However, if trips down memory lane work out financially, TV history certainly has a lot to mine, although not necessarily with the same casts and producers.  In the end, Hollywood will be watching how financially successful the latest reboots turn out to be.  If history provides any clues, there will likely be a mixture of success and failure, just as did prior periods of sitcom reboots/revivals.

Sequel to Muppet Reboot Now Filming

It's hard to believe more than a year has passed since since the successful Muppet movie reboot known as "The Muppets" was released in November 2011.  I was able to see the Jim Henson exhibit at New York's Museum of the Moving Image in 2011 (see http://nyti.ms/qUZq9p for details on that) which was very interesting.  In any event, "The Muppets" 2011 movie grossed $158 million worldwide for Disney becoming the highest-grossing film in the Muppets series and was also the first of the series to gross over $100 million (unadjusted for inflation), effectively re-launching a movie franchise that the company had left to die with almost no investment since Disney acquired the Jim Henson Company back in 2004. The Hollywood Reporter (visit http://goo.gl/cTW4j) has already disclosed that Ricky Gervais (who appeared in "The Muppets") will be featured in a new Muppet sequel movie and Mr. Gervais himself acknowledged it via a Tweet, along with (potentially) Tina Fey.  Shooting for the new sequel is scheduled to take place starting January 2013 in London (the story will be about the Muppets going to Europe, hence the filming location).

Ideally, Disney should have been a great strategic fit for the Muppets, especially since the Muppets are characters traditionally aimed at children, but Disney had been on an acquisition binge over the past decade, snapping up several big media companies, ranging from Pixar (acquired 2006), Marvel Comics (acquired in 2009) to it's most recent acquisition of Lucasfilms (acquisition announced in 2012, see my post at http://goo.gl/YLhVm for details on that).  Frankly, without Jim Henson or Frank Oz (who's still around but now retired) to advocate for the Muppets, the franchise seemed destined to become a relic of a bygone era.  After all, today's kids are really enamored with the computer animation from Pixar and rivals like Dreamworks, whereas old-fashioned puppets or animation seems so last century, right?  Of course, the Muppets were fully-developed character personalities, giving them an edge over newly-created characters.

Jim Henson and his Muppet characters

Without getting too far off track, readers should know that Muppets is the formal name and legal trademark now owned by the Walt Disney Co. in reference to the original puppet characters created by Jim Henson.  Although Mr. Henson would sometimes tell people the term had been created by combining the words "marionette" and "puppet", he was also on record as saying that it was really just a made-up word.  Regardless, the franchise was already well-established, but poorly-managed (or maybe not managed at all?) since Disney took ownership in 2004.

Disney Acquisition Binge Left Muppets Franchise Unattended for 7 Years

In 1990, Jim Henson himself was in negotiations to sell his company to The Walt Disney Company, but Mr. Henson died rather unexpectedly during the week he was supposed to sign the contract, and his family then decided to have the company keep the rights to the characters.  Disney bought the distribution rights to Jim Henson Co. library (up to that time) in December 1991, but the company did not own the characters, merely the distribution rights to them.

In 2000, Jim Henson's children sold the entire Jim Henson Company to a German media company named EM.TV, but in early 2001, EM.TV experienced major financial problems, so the Jim Henson Company was again put up for sale.  Then, on February 17, 2004 Disney actually bought full ownership rights to the Muppet characters (excluding the Sesame Street and Fraggle Rock characters) for $75 million.  However, as I noted before, Disney did almost nothing with the franchise for the next seven years as it worked to transform itself into a media giant capable of competing with rivals Time Warner and Viacom.

Jason Segel: A Fan Steps In To Resurrect Muppets of His Youth

The entire Muppet reboot really happened because of Jason Segel, who admits he was was a big fan of the original Jim Henson series which most Gen Xers grew up watching on TV.  Jason Segel didn't just star in November 2011's movie "The Muppets", he was also a co-writer, having written the script with his "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" partner Nick Stoller.

Shortly after "The Muppets" 2011 reboot premiered, NPR's "Fresh Air" program spoke with Jason Segel about the reboot.  That interview may be listened to below, or by visiting  http://n.pr/rEjbWs:


2009 Muppet Rendition of "Bohemian Rhapsody" As A Preview

We saw an early hint of how a renewed Muppets franchise was likely to look when the Muppet Studio, back in late November 2009 (which had been pretty dormant), quietly brought the Muppets back to the small screen (the REALLY small screen, meaning YouTube) with a video of the Muppet gang doing a video rendition of Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody", which was clearly aimed at the Gen Xers who grew up watching the Muppets on television back in the 1970s.  The video was released virally, and received over 10 million hits within its first 2 weeks online.  The official version of that can be viewed below, or by visiting http://youtu.be/tgbNymZ7vqY:

Frank Oz Less-Than-Impressed With Muppet Reboot?

To be sure, some purists weren't exactly thrilled with the reboot.  For example, Frank Oz (who was the original puppeteer for Miss Piggy among others), told the British website Metro (see http://bit.ly/UHUBZm):

"I wasn't happy with the script", Oz explained. "I don't think they respected the characters. But I don't want to go on about it like a sourpuss and hurt the movie."

Diva Miss Piggy on the cover of "People"
Sep. 3, 1979 (click on photo to see issue)

Mr. Oz seemed to overlook the fact that Mr. Segel was really throwing the Muppet franchise a lifeline.  For example, The Hollywood Reporter noted (see http://goo.gl/XVwLv) the Muppets hadn't been in theaters since "Muppets From Space" tanked for Sony in 1999.  It also reported:

"According to a Muppets veteran, toward the end of his life, Muppets creator Jim Henson was finding it a challenge to keep his creatures in the public eye. He was operating independently in an era of media concentration, which helps explain his decision to sell to Disney."

"It was difficult  even before Jim Henson died [in 1990], and it became very, very difficult after Jim died," said [one] insider ruefully. "We had the characters still doing things, but without a constant, in-your-face exposure that something like The Simpsons has ... They lost a generation."

Author Judy Blume's Thoughts On Revisions To Original Works

A while back I wrote about an NPR interview with 1970s kids' author Judy Blume (see that post at http://goo.gl/t4pcp), and she spoke on how over 25 years ago, her British editor talked to her about how her original edition of the book "Are You There God, It's Me Margaret" referred to sanitary napkins and pads that had belts and pins (not the sticky pads used now), so the author said she had no problem updating those things, and she's also updated books in the "Fudge" series to remove references to the smell of mimeograph machines which aren't used in schools anymore today, and she also changed some of the electronics cited in order to keep the books relevant to today's readers.

Her most telling comment was:

"You know, I don't think it has anything to do with the story and the characters. It just — it doesn't. Those are just little details that don't mean anything."

Now, I should note that Frank Oz was trying not to be overly critical (it was more of a side comment that seems to have been blown out of proportion), and my sense is he really didn't want to stand in the way of the new Muppet movie's success.  After all, he won't be around to do Miss Piggy forever, so getting new people to do it is key to the Muppets' survival into the future.

Jason Segel Reboots Muppets Franchise For Disney

Anyway, back to Jason Segel.  He was really the force behind getting the Muppet resurrection, and it was a bit more difficult than he'd anticipated.

According to Segel, putting the script together was kind of a logistical nightmare. "It was oddly a lot more complicated than I thought," Segel said in an interview during the CBS after-party during the Teen Choice Awards. "All of a sudden, you realize when you write a scene like, 'The Muppets run away from the building,' the set has to be elevated and there's puppeteers operating all four limbs. It's as creative as you want it to be in your brain."

However, Mr. Segel found that actually writing for puppets wasn't the most gut-wrenching part of the job, admitting "I cried the first time Kermit said a line I'd written.  It's not even 'awww' worthy. It just happened. I'd been writing the script for about four years, literally since 'Sarah Marshall.' We did a table reading, and they'd brought the puppets for the first time. We're all just sitting at the table, and all of a sudden they brought out Kermit and he said the first line that I had written. And I just lost my shit a little bit. I started crying at the table read and I had to awkwardly ask them to stop filming. It was emotional. He's been my favorite since I was a little kid." Despite the tears, Segel added, "It was a good day."

Check out the official trailer for "The Muppets" below, or by visiting http://youtu.be/C4YhbpuGdwQ:

To be sure, "The Muppets" reboot succeeded, although Mr. Segel won't be back for the new sequel.

It's also unclear if the new Muppet character Walter in "The Muppets" will be featured in the new movie, either (by the way, his human alter-ego in "The Muppets" was played by none other than "Big Bang Theory's" Jim Parsons).  Although the Walter character was well-received by Los Angeles Times film critic Betsy Sharkey (see her review at http://lat.ms/RGsVqY), the character served more of a role in building "The Muppets" story, rather than much else.  Whether that character is needed in the new sequel remains to be seen.  With other such already well-developed characters like Kermit the Frog, Fozzie Bear, Swedish Chef, Rowlf the Dog, Statler and Waldorf, or Miss Piggy, it's unclear whether Walter will even make an appearance without Mr. Segel in the sequel.

In the meantime, Jason Segel has plenty of work in Hollywood to keep himself busy as an actor  who plays Marshall Eriksen in the current CBS sitcom "How I Met Your Mother".

For the record, Disney has released three seasons of "The Muppet Show" on DVD, and all of the Muppet movies have also been released on DVD.

As for the Muppets, they're all headed back to the studio in London this month, and we'll see if lightning really does strike twice for the newly-revived Disney Muppets franchise.

Author P.S., April 3, 2013:  The New York Times reports (see http://nyti.ms/ZaDvv6) Jane Henson, widow of (and original collaborator with) Jim Henson, the creator of the Muppets, died on Tuesday, April 2, 2013 at her home in Greenwich, Conn. She was 78.  The cause was of death cancer, said a spokesman for the Jim Henson Co., the production company still owned by the couple's five children.  Ms. Henson was legally separated from Jim Henson in 1986, but they remained friends until his death in 1990.

Author P.S.,  June 10, 2015:  Entertainment Weekly, Variety and various others are reporting (see http://bit.ly/19Tqwny for one article) that ABC will reboot The Muppet Show as a primetime series for the network.  As the media has reported, the rebooted version of Muppet Show will be "more adult" shot in a mockumentary style à la The Office.  This makes sense given that the two Muppets films were heavily watched by adults who watched the movies with their own children (and were the original audience for the Muppets) and may find this type of entertainment appropriate for family viewing at home, plus the more adult humor may keep them coming back.  "The Big Bang Theory" co-creator Bill Prady, who spent his early days writing for the Muppets and received an Emmy nomination for co-writing a tribute to Muppets creator Jim Henson, will be exec producing the project.  The reboot will premier on Tuesday, September 22, 2015 on ABC television (ABC is owned by Disney, which also owns the Muppets).  A preview can be seen on YouTube at https://youtu.be/x2B5d-8H588.  The original, syndicated Muppet Show aired from 1976 to 1981.  ABC revived the franchise in 1996 with "Muppets Tonight", but the series was cancelled after 10 episodes.

Author P.S., August 5, 2015: In early August 2015, social media and traditional media were abuzz with the story (communicated by the celebrities themselves) that Miss Piggy And Kermit the Frog were calling it quits in terms of their relationship.  NPR covered the story briefly at http://n.pr/1TqptAW - the couple was careful to note that they'd be working together professionally in the Muppet Show reboot set to air on ABC (Disney owns both the Muppets and ABC) on September 22, 2015.  Some saw the news as little more than a publicity stunt for the rebooted show.

Datsun to Get Brand Reboot After 30 Years

In early October 2012, Japanese auto giant Nissan announced plans to resurrect a brand it stopped selling nearly 30 years ago: Datsun.

Baby Boomers and Gen Xers may remember the Datsun brand because the "Nissan" brand didn't even exist in the U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand or elsewhere until the early 1980s. Officially, the decision to change the name Datsun to Nissan in the U.S. was announced in the autumn of 1981. The rationale was that the name change would "help the company pursue a global strategy", and the Nissan brand was a key component of that strategy. Datsun was rebranded to Nissan (at considerable expense to the company) in many markets in spite of having already built considerable brand equity in the "Datsun" brand over the years.

The name change campaign actually lasted for several years between 1982 to 1984, and was quite costly for the company. Among the costs incurred were changing the signs at over 1,100 Datsun dealerships to Nissan, as well as a costly ad campaign to introduce the Nissan brand to American consumers, and an awkward period where both the Nissan and Datsun logos appeared on automobiles (at one point, cars had logos with "Datsun by Nissan", part of the effort to familiarize American consumers with the "new" Nissan brand name (in fact, Nissan was always the company's name in Japan).

Below is a 1979 television commercial for what was arguably one the company's last campaigns for the Datsun brand in the United States (alternatively, it can be seen at http://youtu.be/5YuV1hHzISI).



Why reboot a brand that has been part of the history books for 30 years?

The Datsun brand is being reintroduced in hopes of attracting "aspirational customers" in high-growth, emerging markets. The company CEO Carlos Ghosn claimed it will rely on Datsun's reputation for small, sporty, inexpensive cars to attract young consumers in the world's developing economies.  The Wall Street Journal reported (see the article at http://on.wsj.com/Ul9aqt, note that a Wall Street Journal online subscription may be required to access the article) that "Datsun is scheduled to hit the road in India, Indonesia and Russia in 2014."

But Mr. Ghosn said he wanted to announce the long-rumored revival in Indonesia to underline the growing importance of the Southeast Asian market."  Consumers in the announced markets can expect Datsuns to be a decidedly bare-bones vehicle compared to what U.S. and Japanese consumers buy, but a car that's intended to compete with low-cost automakers such as China's Chery Automobile or India's Tata Motors, which are now exporting their own low-cost vehicles to many developing markets around the world.  Those car brands actually look kind of like the 1979 Datsun in the commercial above did!

Nissan believes that it, as a global automaker, can effectively compete in this rapidly-growing segment of the automobile market.  The company plans to sell Datsuns for around $5,000, which is less than half the price of Nissan's least-expensive vehicles sold in the U.S.  However, the company's much-vaunted quality could actually put the Chinese brands at a very big competitive disadvantage.

Don't expect to see any new Datsuns in the U.S. anytime soon.

To sell a car for prices that low, many of the standard features that are required (such as airbags) will not be included in the new Datsuns, and the cut-rate priced cars wouldn't be allowed in the U.S. because the cars couldn't pass U.S. safety, emissions or fuel-efficiency requirements. But, the next time you visit India, Indonesia or Russia in 2014, you might just see Datsuns in those markets.

Time magazine suggests Americans may soon see some ultra-cheap cars in the U.S., even if they aren't Datsuns (see that article by visiting http://ti.me/TBByC6), writing "Within three years, though, we may finally get to see whether American drivers will be interested in a 'luxury' version of the bare-bones [Tata] car".  However, the outlook for success remains unclear.  Who remembers the Yugo?!

Author P.S., October 20, 2014:  Businessweek reports (see http://buswk.co/1vKjtoU) Datsun's second life, in India, isn't doing very well.  Apparently, low prices alone aren't sufficient for success even in the developing world.

Is There A Brady Bunch Family Feud?

America loves a family feud, so much so that "Family Feud" has remained a popular TV game show for the past 36 years (it was introduced back in 1976 by serial gameshow producers Mark Goodson and Bill Todman, but has since been exported to venues such as MGM casinos). So what if the "family" is entirely fictional, as in a television family?

For a number of years, there have been rumors of a family feud brewing between the two actresses that played the two oldest Brady sisters, notably Maureen McCormick who played Marcia Brady and Eve Plumb who played younger sister Jan Brady. I don't have to tell anyone who watched "The Brady Bunch" that Jan Brady had more than a few episodes featuring her trying to get out of Marcia Brady's shadow. One line describes that: "Marcia, Marcia, Marcia". In fact, the line was so memorable to Gen X viewers that in the 1996 feature film "A Very Brady Sequel" which creator and producer Sherwood Schwartz was involved in, featured a line from the daughter of Jan Brady's guidance counselor (played by drag queen RuPaul Charles) in which the African-American middle girl who was arguing with her sister said "Moesha, Moesha, Moesha" as a parody of Jan Brady's own line. That clip can be viewed below, or by visiting http://youtu.be/vhdXsPfweR8:



The rumors of the Brady girls' family feud are just that: rumors. Indeed, back in 1981, Maureen McCormick and Eve Plumb did co-star one of several sequels to "The Brady Bunch" entitled "The Brady Girls Get Married", which began as a 3-part made for television movie, but was later picked up as a sitcom entitled "The Brady Brides" which ran on NBC for one season. However, that was the last time the two co-starred together. In subsequent reunions produced by Sherwood Schwartz, the character of Jan Brady was either not featured, or recast with a different actress, hence the rumors began.

Sure, Eve Plumb appeared in an episode of "Fantasy Island", in much the same way as fellow cast members Florence Henderson, Maureen McCormick and others appeared on episodes of "The Love Boat", which were known as places where out-of-work actors, actresses, comedians and musicians could find temporary work. There were also occasional opportunities such as appearances on celebrity editions on gameshows or ABC's "Battle of the Network Stars", and there was an ill-fated variety show produced by Sid and Marty Krofft (best known for their wierd puppet-characters "H.R. Pufnstuf") but more permanent or serious work offers simply didn't really materialize for Eve or many of the other cast members. In spite of childhood celebrity, life as adults wasn't paved with riches for most of them.

By the 1990s, the rumor was presumed by many to be true, in large part, because Eve Plumb did not appear in many of the various Brady sequels. Then, in 1995, Eve Plumb appeared on the now-defunct UPN's (UPN was merged with the WB network to become the CW network) daytime talkshow Jenny Jones' in an episode on the subject of "Child Stars: Where Are They Now?". Not surprisingly, that clip can be found on YouTube, which I'm including below, or you may find it at http://youtu.be/t58bVuos3Hk:



Then, there was an effort to reunite the cast on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" to commemorate the 40th Anniversary for "The Brady Bunch" in 2009 (we sometimes forget that "The Brady Bunch" actually began in 1969). Indeed, on August 31, 2009 Brady castmember Susan Olsen (who played Cindy Brady) appeared on NBC's Today Show to discuss "The Brady Bunch Variety Hour" which she called in a book she co-authored with Ted Nichelson entitled "Love to Love You Bradys" calling it "history's worst show". The book also discusses some of what took place behind the scenes, including drug abuse among cast members (although she tells the Today Show that she wouldn't mention it unless fellow castmember Maureen McCormick had already discussed that). It should also be noted that Eve Plumb did not appear on "The Brady Munch Variety Hour".

However, in fairness to Eve Plumb, she's carried Jan Brady around with her for a lifetime, and as all of her fellow Brady Bunch cast members have agreed, they did find themselves pretty much typecast thanks to Sherwood Schwartz's aggressive sales of the show in syndication back in the 1970s. They also didn't receive residual payments (as actors/actresses do today), or anything from home video/DVD sales. True, every child star deals with growing up as a child star and more than a few have "turned bad"). For the most part, the cast of "The Brady Bunch" have turned out pretty well in spite of the drug culture that existed in the entertainment business at that time.

Then, in 2008, following in the footsteps of fellow castmembers Barry Williams (who played Greg Brady) who published a book entitled "Growing Up Brady" in 2000, and then Christopher Knight (who played Peter Brady on "The Brady Bunch", and starred in a reality television show on VH1 known as "My Fair Brady" in 2009). Maureen McCormick released her own autobiography entitled "Here's the Story" in 2011 to some fanfare. In the book, she admits to many of her own issues, including her own drug abuse and an abortion. But, she also made joking references to a lesbian kiss with Eve Plumb on a television appearance (she claims on a late-night talkshow, see the clip below) which she discussed repeatedly promoting her own autobiography, which may have helped sell books, but didn't exactly make fellow castmate Eve Plumb happy. Maureen McCormick (Marcia Brady) appeared on WGN in Chicago discussing her book, which can be seen below or at http://youtu.be/65WTPU1bUlQ:



Clearly, Maureen was joking about it, but in fairness to Eve Plumb, she wasn't benefitting from "Here's the Story" bestseller status. What's more, she's carried Jan Brady around for a lifetime, and as all of her fellow Brady castmembers have agreed, they did find themselves pretty much typecast thanks to Sherwood Schwartz's aggressive sales of the show in syndication back in the 1970s. Fellow castmember Susan Olsen (a.k.a. Cindy Brady) put things in appropriate perspective in the following video which can be seen below, or at http://youtu.be/FdnMKzZICbA:



Basically, we have Cindy Brady putting the entire Brady Girls' family feud in perspective: Maureen made jokes that weren't very considerate of Eve, hence the "feud" is more about using another fellow castmember to push a book than it is about ill feelings of Jan Brady who was forever in older sister Marcia's shadow. In reality, the two worked together in the past and worked well together. However, if there is anyone to "blame" for the fact that the two no longer regularly talk, it's not Eve Plumb, but Maureen McCormick, whose bestselling autobiography was heavily promoted.  However, as Susan Olsen states, Eve Plumb isn't really mad at Maureen McCormick, she's just indifferent about their friendship.

I have already written about a potential Brady Bunch reboot in 2014 (see http://goo.gl/tE0ur for that post), but the reboot is focused mainly around Bobby Brady.  Is there a possibility for the two oldest Brady sisters to patch things up? Certainly, but obviously, some things will need to be addressed before that happens. Perhaps that can happen in time for the 50th anniversary for "The Brady Bunch" in 2019?  Stay tuned!

Preservation and Resurrection of Classic Handheld Electronic Games

Kids that grew up in the 1970s witnessed first-hand the birth of the digital revolution, and one of the first places that emerged was in our toy boxes.  While electronic toys had been around for a while (for example, Robots were probably among the first toys to require batteries, but perhaps one of the most prominent examples was the Milton-Bradley game known as "Operation" which emerged in the 1960s), electronic games sold to the masses really emerged during the 1970s.

Early electronic game iterations were, at best, pretty crude.  In the words of Peter Hirschberg, a prominent Silicon Valley personality who runs an initiative to preserve some of those early electronic games (mostly those from Mattel Electronics) on his website which he's dubbed (appropriately enough) "LEDHead" (see HERE), explains the reason for "preserving" these electronic toy relics in new formats:

"Why simulate these 20+ year old games that had, at best, only the crudest of graphics and sounds? Without an effort to preserve these memorable games, most or all of them would eventually fade into obscurity. Many already have. It is my endeavor to ensure these games are remembered into the future as the culturally significant icons I believe they represent."

Thanks at least in part to his efforts, in recent years, we've seen some of the classic Mattel handheld electronic game library that was sold from 1978 to 1980 being translated into various other operating system platforms.  For example, his own site offers free downloads for LEDhead on various iterations of Windows, PocketPC, and PalmOS handheld devices, iOS (iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad).  Indeed, his efforts to chronicle a part of toy history has inspired third-party developers to pursue the same thing, which seemed to be Mr. Hirschberg's intent all along, mainly to ensure these vestiges of the Gen X childhood didn't disappear completely.  So-called emulators exist for many early video games on PCs, but the handhelds didn't seem to hold as much appeal to developers, so Mr. Hirschberg's initiative seems to have hit an appropriate nerve.

Several nice ports of some of these early eletronic distractions we called games are already on the market, most notably from a San Diego-area (La Jolla, home to UCSD) firm called touchGrove, LLC which already markets a big part of the Mattel LED handheld games collection on iTunes, but has since ported the beststelling Football app over to Android.  The pricetags are decent, as I write this in September 2012, at just $0.99 on iTunes. although the Android version is priced at $1.99 and must be purchased from the Amazon.com App Store, not via the Google Play marketplace.  I wouldn't mind that if Amazon didn't also require the Amazon marketplace to remain on the phone in order to use the downloaded app; I consider that bloatware.  Although the port into Android is decent enough, it does require the device to be held sideways and does not automatically rotate with the device itself.

Mattel's Original Electronic Basketball

LEDHead's Mattel Electronic Basketball

Beyond Mattel Electronics' extensive collection, we must not forget its competitors.  At the time, Parker Brothers' (now part of Rhode Island-based toy conglomerate Hasbro) had a few electronic games, one of which was "Merlin: The Electronic Wizard".  Again, a full replication of that is now sold on iTunes from Tewti Development (see HERE).  Coleco was another player at the time (the company went out of business many years ago) which had a stable of electronic handheld games, but I haven't seen any preservations of those.

Finally, aside from these mobile phone ports, reproductions of the originals have since been reintroduced.  In 2009, for example, Mattel began selling lookalike versions of the originals dubbed "Mattel Classic Football/Basketball/Baseball Handheld".  That was also around the same time we saw versions of the Atari 2600 and Intellivision with about 30 games built-in marketed in small, plug-in devices for your TV.

For the record, Time magazine has dubbed the original Mattel Electronic Football as one of the greatest 100 toys (technically, #69, see HERE), writing: "Simplicity served Mattel well in this ancestor of the handheld games of today."

Some of Mattel's TV commercials for these games can be seen below, or by visiting https://goo.gl/Zpfzs4.



For the moment, these devices remain widely available in new formats, but the extent they are updated for new operating systems which have yet-to-emerge may ultimately depend on how accessible those platforms are for developers.  However, for Gen Xers wanting to return to the simple electronic handheld games of their childhoods, they remain widely available on something you're likely to be holding anyway: your smartphone.

For the record, be sure to visit Peter Hirschberg's site "LEDHead" at http://www.peterhirschberg.com/handheld/ledhead, there, you'll find some early ports of these old games as well as links to such sites as HandheldMuseum.com, both of which are worth visiting.  Keep in mind that new ports for Android may be sold via third-party marketplaces, such as the Amazon App Store, so just because you don't find it on the Google Play Market doesn't mean an app doesn't exist.

Author P.S., March 18, 2018: There was news today that Internet Archive will be offering  a new series of emulators for handheld toys and games which are designed to mimic some of gaming's more obscure artifacts — the handheld games, such as those sold by Mattel Electronics, Parker Brothers, Coleco, Tiger Electronics and others (including Texas Instruments' Speak & Spell highlighted in the film "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial") of the sort that were highlighted in this post.  It attempts to make portable, digital versions of the LCD, VFD and LED-based machines that were sold, often cheaply, at toy stores and booths over the decades.  Aside from the archival and nostalgia value provided by the emulators themselves, this effort also documents some relevant computer coding and manufacturing detail, as well as instruction booklets that frequently accompanied the original handheld games which have long since become artifacts of history.  This is consistent with Peter Hirschberg's objective to try and preserve these relics of the past.  The collection at Internet Archive can be found at https://archive.org/details/handheldhistory.