Mad About you in Talks for revival

[Dale Key]

The rumored Mad About You revival is moving closer to becoming the CONFIRMED Mad About You revival.

Multiple sources reveal to TVLine exclusively 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. A Sony rep declined to comment for this story.

http://tvline.com/2017/12/26/mad-abo...er-helen-hunt/

[TV Guy]

Oh my god. The reboot nobody wanted.

[Chocolate Moose]

I can't view that link but hey, maybe.

[icecream]

Originally Posted by TV Guy

The reboot nobody wanted.

I would watch a Mad About You revival. Roseanne and Will and Grace are the revivals I did not want at all.

[Jamey Greek]

Isn't Mabel like 20 now

[Smartboy]

Originally Posted by Jamey Greek

Isn't Mabel like 20 now

That is about how old she would be. I wonder what she would look like.

[TMC]

http://www.pajiba.com/tv_reviews/wha...algia-boom.php

This week, it was revealed that Helen Hunt and Paul Reiser were interested in reviving their hit 90s sitcom, Mad About You. The show, which aired between 1992 - 1999, was one of NBC’s most reliable hits of the era, garnering upwards of 20m viewers. At its height, it was watched more than Friends and its stars were paid $1m an episode for the final season. Nowadays, the show is not remembered as fondly as its network counterparts, with Friends being the perpetual nostalgia favorite and Frasier the more critically favored show. The notion of reviving it seems laughable, especially given how both Hunt and Reiser are doing rather well without it (Hunt is directing shows like Feud as well as recently starring in the acclaimed mini-series Shots Fired, while Reiser has been a reliable supporting player in everything from Whiplash to Stranger Things). Yet in the current era of network TV, the notion of doing so seems par for the course.

Check the upcoming network schedules and you’ll see a ton of familiar faces: Will and Grace made a comeback, garnering a bunch of Golden Globe nominations along the way; Roseanne is returning to our screens; NBC are apparently scrambling to convince everyone who isn’t Steve Carell that a reboot of The Office, a show that ended a mere 4 years ago, is a good idea; and then of course there is Netflix’s Fuller House, a concept that seems like its own walking parody. It seems disappointing that the elements of the 90s being revived aren’t the more optimistic politics or sturdier economic circumstances but the schlocky comedies.

Even talking about this craze feels like a pointless endeavour. We know perfectly well that nostalgia sells, and even the most hardened cynics have a soft spot for the stuff that made them happy when they were younger. We can all laugh at the absurdity of Fuller House even existing but those viewership numbers and the fact that it keeps getting renewed suggests it still has the power to tap into some desire of the general TV-watching audience. This particular brand of reboot doesn’t do much to the tried and tested formula, they still repeat the same catchphrases and very special episode lessons of the week. Indeed, their sheer predictability seems to be a selling point.

The return of these shows signals bigger desires too. Will and Grace back on our screens feels like a throwback to a time when we didn’t talk as openly about LGBTQ+ experiences on TV, and having such stories on air at a time when our rights are threatened by the highest office has its own distinctive appeal. It can also offer a chance to go back and fix those unfortunate mistakes, or at least atone for them. Go back and visit even the best episodes of the show and you’ll hear more than a few incredibly callous jokes about trans people, and this in a supposedly progressive ally show. Bringing Roseanne back wouldn’t be the worst idea - at its peak, it was one of the most empathetic and well-written comedies on television, as well as the best take on working class life - but it’s hard to view it as anything beyond an ego trip and possible redemption vehicle for its leading lady, who has worn out her welcome several times over.

Still, Roseanne was an undeniable juggernaut in its day, as was Mad About You and everything in that NBC comedy bloc. They’re remnants of a time when the big three networks held an iron grip over audiences and commanded 20m+ viewers a night with ease. This was water cooler TV, the very definition of must-see programming that everyone would talk about the next day. Now, such things no longer exist. Outside of Game of Thrones, there really aren’t many shows on any channel that can command that sort of loyalty. Must-See TV doesn’t exist because there are way more choices nowadays and audiences’ attentions are splintered across a variety of arenas. The most talked about TV often isn’t broadcast in the traditional manner of an episode a week: Think of how Stranger Things became the most talked about show of the year, but that build-up took time because everyone watched at a different pace.

The big networks want to return to those days, but the model to do so simply doesn’t exist. Why settle for that one show you’ve seen a million times before when you can have the world at your fingertips via Netflix or Amazon? Even though streaming services are, according to Nielsen, more likely to be used to watch familiar programming than anything new, there’s no guarantee that nostalgic hunger or aching for comfort will translate to a return to 90s sensibilities. Maybe they’ll record the episodes and just wait until the season is over to catch up, as they do with other shows. Even if this model works, it’s one that has a short shelf life by design. What happens when you need to tap into the nostalgia of the next generation, but you offered no new programming to accommodate that because you were too busy rebooting the 90s? Can you really be surprised when viewers go elsewhere?

That’s not to say that such reboots can’t offer something new or transgressive to viewers. CBS are once again bringing back The Twilight Zone, but with Jordan Peele as one of the showrunners, it has immense potential to be as daring and culturally cutting as it was during its heyday, commenting on modern attitudes and fears through a genre lens in a way that’s a lot less male and a lot less white. Netflix’s reboot of One Day at a Time is a rare example of a show that’s as good and as necessary as its predecessor, taking the family comedy mold and using it to explore the kinds of social issues most shows wouldn’t touch, from immigration and sexuality to trauma and post-military life, and all centered on a Cuban-American family. Remakes are as inevitable as death, taxes and complaining Star Wars fans, and a hunger for the sureness of the past is hardly something we can knock during times of such startling uncertainty. We can never go back - and frankly, isn’t that a good thing? - but maybe we can learn from the mistakes of our past.

[principehomura]

I hope it will happen!

[TMC]

Originally Posted by TV Guy

Oh my god. The reboot nobody wanted.

Shows that depending on your point of view, had self-destructive finales like Roseanne and Will & Grace still had cutting humor that allowed them survive a reboot. I'm guessing that in comparison to Mad About You, it isn't really looked back so fondly because it was ultimately a show about a pair of smug '80s yuppies who were managing marriage in the '90s. These days, I don't think that anybody would recognize these characters (i.e. Baby Boomers born in the late 1950s who as I said, had been yuppies in the '80s and were then getting married in the early '90s) or be able to relate to them.

When they finally had a child (which was likely the moment that MAY jumped the shark because it was unnecessary), they became the most boring self obsessed parents. Wasn't there even an entire hour-long commercial-free episode about Mabel crying while Paul and Jamie stopped outside her door agonizing? One theory that I've come across is that if MAY was on the air today, Mabel would be this fourth wave university student feminist/SJW type. That would be fine if the father were somebody like Al Bundy or Archie Bunker (instead of parents like Paul and Jamie Buchman, who would likely indulge her and support her theories regarding inequalities and sexism), thus you'd be able to get conflict.

And even worst, by the later seasons (like around Season 4), it got too earnest, shrill and very overly-aware of itself. Just about every episode was "very special", in that it was light on wit and heavy on somber. And there had to be painful discussions about Paul and Jamie's relationship to boot.

[TMC]

Paul Reiser on a Mad About You revival: "We don’t know that it’s coming back”
“Somebody jumped the gun with the Mad About You,” Reiser said on the SAG Awards red carpet of the report of a revival that came out the day after Christmas. “Somebody went a little crazy. Helen Hunt and I were talking about it and somebody said, 'Oh look, they're talking, I guess they’re doing a re-boot.'” He added: “We’re thinking about it. We ended it very well and we were proud of how we ended it, and we wrapped it up nicely, so if you open up that box again, you want to make sure you do it well. We’ll let you know as soon as we decide.”

[TMC]

Helen Hunt on a Mad About You revival: "Depending on some pieces falling into place, it could happen"
Hunt says Paul Reiser was at her house earlier this week discussing the potential revival. "(He was) at my kitchen table yesterday and, after a lot of conversations between us about how we were very proud of the work we did, and we left it with a lot of care, (we agreed) we just didn't want to come in and wreck it," Hunt said Tuesday. "That was our number one goal and remains our number one goal."

Helen Hunt lunches with Paul Reiser once a month, and says it would be a "dream" to revive Mad About You
“The dream is to get to do it,” she tells People, adding that she's been a big fan of the TV revival craze. “I’ve been watching Will & Grace and laughing so hard out loud, they’re just crushing it," she says. Hunt adds that her daughter has never seen an episode of Mad About You, but she has seen Reiser on Stranger Things.

[JamesG]

Helen Hunt on "Mad About You" Revival: "We're Talking About How to Make It"
by Hilary Lewis
April 12, 2018


Appearing on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" to promote her new film, The Miracle Season, Helen Hunt said she and onscreen husband Paul Reiser were talking about how to make a "Mad About You" revival a reality.

"It's not for sure yet," she said. "I will say that Paul Reiser is in my kitchen a good amount because we're talking about how to make it and not wreck it, because we're proud of what we did."

She was cautiously optimistic that she'd be able to reprise her role as Jamie Buchman, saying, "I hope so. It would be fun."

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/li...ake-it-1102085

[opus]

Moving closer...

http://ew.com/tv/2018/04/12/mad-abou...-hunt-revival/

[Smartboy]

I really hope that this idea will materialize. "Mad About You" was my favorite show during its full 7-year run! Helen Hunt is my favorite actress in the whole world! I just wish she was in more stuff these days.

[80sTrivia]

I read online that both Helen and Paul have signed on for the reboot, now they just have to find a home for the series!