Hey guys, Jana here,
The current trend in TV is to take a fairly successful film from the 80’s, update it, re-boot it to a series that will pull on the reminiscent heart-strings of kids from the decade that are now parents. Parents share the show with their kids and – BOOM! – successful TV show that was carefully piggy-backed onto a known, and beloved, film. The characters are there, the antagonizing circumstances are peppered throughout the source film and doled out one episode at a time.
It’s incredibly lazy, but it seems to pan out for nostalgia TV. The newest film to be butchered to the TV gods is ‘Uncle Buck‘. This makes the second film from 1989 that is going to script. Last night, ‘Say Anything‘ was announced to move to script commitment, but has come across some snags with the plan, read the updated story here.
ABC is prepping the comedy for a half-hour project based on the events and characters from the film. Unlike the ‘Say Anything‘ vehicle, writer director John Hughes passed away 5 years ago and won’t be taking to Twitter to voice his objection with the venture. The proposition is for a script written by Steven Cragg (‘Saturday Night Live‘, ‘MadTV‘) and Brian Bradley (‘Weekend Warriors‘).Cragg, Bradley and Will Packer will executive produce.
Of course the story will be based on the man-child that is ‘Uncle Buck‘. He is very unprepared for his next task in the grown up world when he is required to take care of his brother’s kids. The big screen ‘Uncle Buck‘ was played expertly by John Candy. Candy passed away in 1994, but left a remarkable legacy of comedy, and I defy anyone else to attempt to replicate that. He’s crude, he’s crass, he’s family was the by-line for the family comedy and the funny-man played it like he was born for it. Besides Candy, Amy Madigan, Macaulay Culkin, Jean Louisa Hoffman and Gaby Hoffman filled out the cast as the Russell clan left in Buck’s care, Madigan’s character was the love interest for Candy’s Buck. This was the first time most of America cast their eyes on the angelic-faced Culkin, ‘Home Alone‘ premiered the following year.
This is not the only series to be adapted from the hit film. In 1990 Kevin Meaney filmed 18 episodes of the only season the show aired. ‘Say Anything‘ and ‘Uncle Buck‘ join ‘Real Genius‘, ‘Problem Child‘, ‘Big‘ and ‘Greatest American Hero‘ that are all set for the small-screen revamp. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I was pleased to leave the 80’s behind. Don’t make me go back.