Sony Pictures Television is in the early stages of rebooting several iconic sitcoms from TV legend Norman Lear, including “All in the Family,” “The Jeffersons,” and “Good Times,” Variety has exclusively learned.
Lear and Sony executives are contemplating a fresh take: casting new actors to recreate classic episodes, using the original scripts, and packaging them into short, six-episode anthologies. These reimagined scripts would be treated much like plays being revived with new productions.
“There is some talk about doing some of the original shows, redoing them with today’s stars,” Lear told Variety. “There is a possibility that we’ll do ‘All in the Family,’ ‘Maude,’ ‘The Jeffersons,’ and ‘Good Times.’”
This renewed interest in Lear’s catalog coincides with Sony’s upcoming release of the revamped “One Day at a Time.” This new version, premiering on Netflix on January 6, reimagines the ’80s sitcom to focus on a Latino family, centering around a female Army veteran raising two children. Lear serves as executive producer, with the original scripts adapted by showrunners Gloria Calderon-Kellett and Mike Royce, alongside contributions from Lear himself.
Discussions about the miniseries reboot concept began even before the development of the new “One Day at a Time.” Unlike the Netflix-exclusive “One Day at a Time,” no network or streaming service is currently attached to these potential miniseries projects.
This miniseries concept differs from an earlier idea Lear mentioned two years ago at a Paley Center event. That concept involved reviving “All in the Family” with new characters, possibly from a Latino background. That idea was ultimately set aside in favor of the new “One Day at a Time.”
“We’re exploring it,” Glenn Adilman, Sony’s executive vice president of comedy development, told Variety. “It’s sort of tricky to figure out what the business of that is and what that would be and how it would work. But it’s something we’re trying to figure out.”
Adilman added, “It’s tricky for a lot of reasons, and it’s something we’re exploring.”
Sony holds the rights to most of Lear’s TV library, thanks to its 1985 acquisition of Lear’s Embassy Communications. The potential reboot of these classic sitcoms represents an exciting opportunity to bring Lear’s timeless social commentary and humor to a new generation of viewers.
