It Won't Stop! Find Out the Latest WTF Remakes Heading to TV

New shows based on a variety of properties from comic books to old shows are in development

By Chris Harnick Oct 23, 2014 8:30 PMTags
TV RemakesABC/Columbia Pictures/Universal/Archie Comics

Because you demanded it, we might get a TV show sequel to the classic series Bewitched! Wait, you didn't demand it? What about a drama based on Archie comics? A modern-day retelling of Phantom of the Opera? A TV version of Will Smith's Hitch? A modern Frankenstein?

What do you mean, "No"? You weren't clamoring for these shows?

Well, they're all in the works in what is quite possibly the strangest TV development cycle…ever. If you're into comic book adaptations and TV shows based on movies, next season could be your year. Granted, these shows could very well (and some will probably) be good, but the flurry of remakes, adaptations and sequel series is dizzying. Here's what's happened in just the last two days. Yes, two.

Riverdale
Network: Fox
Hails from: Greg Berlanti and Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa
About: The series will be a "subversive take" on Archie, Betty, Veronica and the rest of the Riverdale crew, "exploring the surreality of small-town life—the darkness and weirdness bubbling beneath Riverdale's wholesome façade," according to Deadline.

Phantom of the Opera
Network: ABC
Hails from: Marc Cherry, Alan Zachary and Michael Weiner
About: A modern-day take on the classic story by Gaston Leroux, the new series will be a musical drama, like Nashville, set in the "sexy and cutthroat world of modern-day music business," according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Bewitched
Network: NBC
Hails from: Abby Kohn and Marc Silverstein
About: Daphne, the daughter of Tabatha Stevens and granddaughter of Samantha (played by Elizabeth Montgomery in the original 1960s series), is a single witch living it up, but she can't magically create the one thing she wants the most…love. It has nothing to do with the 2005 flick starring Nicole Kidman and Will Ferrell. [Deadline]

Hitch
Network: Fox
Hails from: Will Smith, James Lassiter, Deborah Kaplan and Harry Elfont
About: The 2005 movie, which starred Smith, Eva Mendes and Kevin James, is being developed into a half-hour workplace comedy about dating and sexual politics, Deadline reports.

Frankenstein
Network: Fox
Hails from: Howard Gordon and Rand Ravich
About: Adam Trouble is a morally corrupt FBI agent who is returned from the dead by an "antisocial internet billionaire and his bio-engineer twin sister," according to EW.

In other adaptation news you may have missed…NBC is working on a Marley and Me sequel series, a take on Monster-in-Law—the flick starring Jane Fonda and Jennifer Lopez—is also in development, as are shows based on Problem Child, Big, Rush Hour, Real Genius and more. Again, there are a lot of talented people behind these potential shows and they could all be great and our new favorites, but it does make you pause. Is any major broadcast network working on a series NOT based on an established property?