The popular sitcom Cheers went off the air in 1993. The 1970’s family series The Brady Bunch had two movie adaptations, the second of which was way back in 1996. Apparently the remake clock just went off on both shows (seriously, 20 years, who can believe they waited that long) as both shows are headed to the stage. No, really.
The RadioTimes is reporting that CBS is working on bringing back both popular series as stage shows, because apparently everything else ever on television has been remade too recently. The theater is as guilty as the screen when it comes to seemingly basing everything on previously created material. We all remember the infamous Spider Man: Take Back That Night, right? Oh, did we all agree to pretend that never happened? Sorry.
If you’re only exposure to The Brady Bunch was the recent Snickers commercial, it’s the story (of a lovely lady...sorry) of two widowed parents, each with three kids of their own, who get married. Shenanigans ensure.
Apparently The Brady Bunch will be a musical, which at least makes a little bit of sense. The show was always overly upbeat (except for constant downer sister Jan). The Brady’s even had their own variety show back in the 70s (excessive cheese warning) so making the show a musical isn’t even a stretch. Also, The Brady Bunch was very much a product of its time so if you want to jump in the way back machine and remember the 70s you can do that.
Cheers on the other hand, this one is a bit more perplexing. The show, for the uninitiated, was an 80s and early 90s sitcom that starred Ted Danson as a retired baseball player who opens a bar, the titular Cheers. The show is mostly known for launching the careers of Danson, Woody Harrelson, Kirstie Alley, and Kelsey Grammer, whose character from the show Frasier Crane, got his own spinoff show after Cheers 11 year run. Frasier went on to run for 11 years on its own, so yeah, popular show.
Cheers Live On Stage is planning to “showcase classic moments” of the show. So it’s going to be a “greatest hits” stage show. The idea isn’t without precedent; Monty Python did something similar, doing a stage tour after Flying Circus went off the air, but like Python, the only way that works is if they bring the original cast together to do the tour. Is anybody going to want to see new actors doing old scenes from Cheers? If you loved the show that much, then you’ve already got the DVDs. At the same time, Flying Circus was sketch comedy, designed as individual scenes done one after another--does a sitcom even lend itself to a format like this?
If these shows actually make it to the stage and are successful, be prepared for an onslaught of copycats. The Who’s The Boss? greatest hits show and the Blossom musical should be announced soon.
