The “will they, won’t they” of television is no longer about the attractive leads of a sitcom or drama, and can now be better used in discussions about networks and their desires to remake Hollywood hits of years past. ABC apparently will be moving forward in their attempt to transition the story of Uncle Buck to the small screen, despite its mildly troubled path to adaptation. This is precisely the kind of thing that happens when parents leave town.
ABC has granted a pilot order to Uncle Buck, which will be based on the hit 1989 John Hughes comedy starring John Candy as the babysitter from heaven or hell, depending on where you stand. There was a bit of a backlash when the project was first proposed, and both Hughes and Candy’s families came out and expressed their disapproval of this reimagining, particularly because ABC reportedly never contacted them about it.
You may recall this same kind of thing happened when NBC tried to get a TV version of Say Anything off the ground, only to have both director Cameron Crowe and star John Cusack rail on the project via social media. NBC immediately killed their plans, and I actually thought ABC’s silence about Uncle Buck in recent months meant they’d also backed off. I guess it just goes to show no one can keep a good man like Buck Russell down.
That’s the same approach CBS took shortly after the film became a success, bringing the story to TV audiences with Kevin Meaney taking over for John Candy. It was a critical flop, and also attracted the ire of Hughes at the time, who was against it from the start. But it’s 25 years later. Maybe ABC found the perfect way to handle this remake. That can happen, right?
Uncle Buck will once again tell the story of an immature, but still practically intelligent man who finds his entrance to adulthood by taking care of his brother’s children. (Too bad there are no Culkins left to play any of the kids.) It’s unclear how the show will extend this childcare experience across an entire season, but we’ll surely find out as casting for the pilot happens.
This has been an extremely busy pilot season already when it comes to orders for feature film adaptations. CBS is working with the brain-bending madness of Limitless and the culture-clashing crimefighting of Rush Hour, while Fox has a new version of Minority Report giving the network the futuristic edge it lost when Almost Human got canceled.
According to Deadline, ABC also ordered a pilot for Family Fortune, a comedy from Tina Fey, Matt Hubbard and Robert Carlock that will center on the stand-up comedian Fortune Feimster and her experiences coming out of the closet in her hometown. I see this one faring better than Uncle Buck for some reason. What do you guys think?
