The possibilities of a Mad About You revival series are not looking so good at the moment.
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Despite multiple reports that the classic ’90s sitcom was close to being the next big reboot on broadcast television — with Helen Hunt and Paul Reiser signed on to return — Reiser is now painting a grim picture to the revival’s chances.
“It’s kind of stuck in the business end of it now,” the comic, actor and co-creator of NBC’s Emmy-winning sitcom told the Tampa Bay Times. “Sony is trying to figure out from their end; that’s where I just walk away and go, call me when you figure it out. I don’t know what happens at that level. They make their deals with whoever they make their deals with. So we’ll see if it happens. It may not happen. It likely won’t happen. My guess is it won’t happen.”
His comments come a few months since reports surfaced saying CBS might be interested in the reboot, which would see Hunt and Reiser reprise their roles of Jamie and Paul Buchman for new episodes.
Reiser, who has been one of the most vocal advocates for the revival, revealed to the outlet that despite not considering a return to the series in the past, the success of other rebooted shows felt encouraging for their own classic sitcom.
“Helen [Hunt] and I, we’ve been getting together regularly since the show’s off, which is almost 20 years,” he told the outlet. “And we were always very clear, it was absurd to even think — ‘Would you ever go back and do it again?’ It’s like, no, no, never. Why would you do it? We ended it the way we wanted to, we did everything we wanted to do, and we wrapped it up in a nice ribbon.”
Back in April, reports surfaced saying Reiser and Hunt had closed a deal with Sony Pictures Television to return for a revival. Later, that month Peter Tolan signed on to write and act as showrunner.
“We all jumped in and said, ‘Yeah, let’s do it,’” Reiser said.
Reiser said the concept of the revival intrigued him. He revealed the possibility of seeing Paul and Jaime as empty-nesters presented an interesting opportunity.
“People said, ’empty nest,’ and it’s such a cliche word,” he said. “But I started realizing what it actually means, when suddenly, the thing that you’ve kept busy with for the last 20-X years, raising your children — when that’s gone, suddenly you’re back and you have just each other again. In a way, we thought, ‘Oh, that’s actually a pretty cool parallel.’ So we started playing with ideas and we said, ‘Wow, this could be fun.’”
The revival, Reiser said, would probably not land at NBC, revealing that in his dream scenario the show would be on a streaming service.
However, if the revival does not end up coming together, he revealed he would not be heartbroken.
“We signed up, and then it’s gotten stuck in the business end of it,” he said. “It’s like, ‘You know, guys, I was very happy not doing it for 20 years, and then you invited us back. And now if you can’t make it happen, it’s not a big deal.’ Things happen, they don’t happen. There’s so many moving parts when you’re working with a studio or broadcaster.”
If the Mad About You revival were to be picked up at CBS, it would join a number of other reboots the network has already had success with, such as SWAT, MacGyver, and Hawaii Five-0, as well as upcoming remakes Magnum, P.I. and Murphy Brown.
