Editorial Staff
Christmas has come!
A revival of the stupendous ’90s sitcom “Mad About You”, with original leads Paul Reiser and Helen Hunt, is in the works.
The laffer, which ran on NBC from September 23, 1992 to May 24, 1999, told of newlyweds navigating their new roles under the roof of their New York apartment.
TV Line were first with the ‘reboot’ goss, noting that although a network isn’t involved yet (NBC ran the original) Sony has commenced talks with the actors about bringing back the Buckmans – and they’re as keen as Murray around a fire-hydrant.
The plot, of course, would revolve around Paul and Jamie as parents to a now grown Mabel.
According to an insider, the new episodes would likely revolve around Paul and Jamie grappling with empty-nest syndrome in the wake of now-17-year-old daughter Mabel’s admission to college.
Interesting to note that Mabel is playing ’17’, when the series finale – in which she was a bub – aired closer to 25 years ago.
Reiser – who has written books on the topic – seems to want to tackle the subject of being a parent to a youngster though, which is likely why they’ve decided to make Mabel slightly younger.
Earlier this year the “Aliens” actor hinted at a “Mad About You” reunion while doing press for Netflix’s “Stranger Things” – of which he’s a second season cast member – telling People that “If we can find the story to tell, and anybody’s interested, I’d be open to it. To me, it’s interesting when I see my kids are growing and leaving the house. It’s like, ‘Oh.’ It’s like that moment when you get married. It’s like we’re in a new world that we don’t know the rules of.”
The last episode in the original ran ended with a flash-forward 22 years in the future – a future in which Jamie and Paul are no longer together – so the writers have a job on their hands handling that. “Our thinking at the time was, ‘Let’s make sure we never get tempted to come back — let’s tell them what happens,’” Reiser noted.
In a separate interview with IndieWire in October, Reiser explained that he was never interested in bringing the show back – until now.
“People were asking about bringing ‘Mad About You,’ and for years I said no, why would you?” the actor and the show’s co-creator said. “Literally for 18 years I was adamant, no. Why would you go back? We did it, it was done, we had a finale we were very happy with and it seemed final. And then only recently I thought, maybe.”
“[Back then it] was about my new marriage and it was all new to me,” he said. “It was all funny and darkly frustrating and all those things. When I’m out doing standup now it’s all the stuff I’m talking about but instead of being newlyweds, it’s about what it’s like when your kids are grown or teenagers or moving out. And what does that do to a marriage after 25 years. There’s still comedy to be mined in there.”
No word yet if original co-stars Anne Ramsay, Leila Kenzle, John Pankow, and Richard Kind would be back.
