Netflix has had some big successes with reviving classic television shows in the past, such as One Day at a Time, so it's no surprise that chief content officer Ted Sarandos and others are always looking to the past for more shows to bring back. Sarandos recently revealed one show he'd love to see the streaming service bring back, Love, American Style, thus planting the seed for writers and producers to get to work on pitching reboot ideas to the platform. In Sarandos' words:
Someone should do Love, American Style, don't you think? It's an anthology. It's a rom-com. It makes people feel good.
Ted Sarandos mentions two things that are definitely clicking with streaming audiences lately: rom-coms and anthologies. Netflix, of course, already has its share of both, but more could never hurt, especially when it comes to rebooting the popular ABC series Love, American Style, which ran during the late '60s and early '70s. The show's general plot structure mixed its unrelated romances with comedic twists, and it's truly timeless as far as television goes. And as Sarandos hinted to Variety, just such a reboot could be a hit on the platform.
Ted Sarandos isn't the first bigwig to try and spark interest in a Love, American Style reboot, either, as other television networks have tried and failed to bring the show back in the past. ABC tried to re-introduce the show as a daytime series in 1985, but it was canceled just months after its premiere, due losing out in the ratings to The Price Is Right. Another attempt was made by ABC in the late-90s, with Melissa Joan Hart attached to star, but the project never went to series despite its pilot episode airing in 1999. Take a look at that iteration below.
Despite past reboot failures, it isn't hard to see why Ted Sarandos is interested in bringing Love, American Style back. The anthology storylines allowed for a range of different romance-tinged tales to be told, some of which led to their own standalone spinoffs. The most famous example, of course, is Happy Days, which went on to be a far more successful show than Love, American Style ever was.
So beyond just being a winning concept for a Netflix show, Sarandos could use it as a pilot system for series ideas that execs are on the fence about, to eventually grant series orders to the episodes that resonate with viewers the most. Doing so could possibly help Netflix's connection with its subscribers in the long run, especially as the platform marches ever closer to increased competition from original streaming programming from Disney and Apple, among others.
Love, American Style isn't a part of Netflix's upcoming lineup at this time, but physical copies of the original series can be found online and in stores. To see what fresh shows are coming to television in the near future, be sure to visit our fall premiere guide.
