Gritty sitcom remakes

[Yossarian]

Fresh-Prince of Bel Air is being rebooted as gritty drama Bel-Air.

Gritty Fresh Prince of Bel-Air reboot reveals first (real) trailer

The sitcom's dramatic remake is inspired by a mock trailer posted by a fan three years ago.

www.bbc.com

Which makes me wonder what other sitcoms of the '80s and '90s will be getting gritty remakes if this become a trend - I could maybe see a depressing reboot of Cheers, with Ted Danson playing an aging bartender who can't afford to retire but is getting sick of booting out weeping, incoherent drunks like Cliff Clavin every night.

 

[Private Storm]

I bet you could go quite dark with Hi-De-Hi. I'd watch it.

 

[scifisam]

I bet you could go quite dark with Hi-De-Hi. I'd watch it.

Hi-De-Hi sometimes went dark in a sneaky way. Poor Peggy.

 

[Pickman's model]

I bet you could go quite dark with Hi-De-Hi. I'd watch it.

All the ingredients were there in ooh Dr beeching for a really dark drama

 

[Santino]

Victor Meldrew is made redundant and his life spirals into a series of increasingly tragic coincidences as he and his wife attempt to blot out the memory of their son who died in infancy.

 

[Nine Bob Note]

Victor Meldrew is made redundant and his life spirals into a series of increasingly tragic coincidences as he and his wife attempt to blot out the memory of their son who died in infancy.

...and someone mistakenly pots a cheeseplant in his downstairs toilet

 

[Storm Fox]

The brothers Trotters try to make their way in Thatcherite Britain, while trying to look after 2 elderly relatives.

 

[Santino]

An intelligent and sensitive young man is ground down and abandons all hope for a meaningful existence by years of caring for his abusive father in a west London rag and bone business.

 

[a_chap]

When I watched the episode in the original Star Trek TV series where the Enterprise went back in time to the Earth in the 20th century and then Kirk & Co strived to get back to the 23rd century (I googled it, the episode is "Tomorrow is Yesterday") I always thought a more likely scenario was that the crew would decide to stay, conquer the Earth and subjugate the population as slaves.

 

[BoxRoom]

The brothers Trotters try to make their way in Thatcherite Britain, while trying to look after 2 elderly relatives.

While Del takes advice from the imagined ghost of his dead mother.

 

[T & P]

Lots of potential here. ‘Allo ‘Allo, Blackadder or Dad’s Army to name but three are loaded with dark themes potential.

 

[Yossarian]

Millions of years after he was put in suspended animation, the last human alive slowly goes insane from grief and isolation on a mining spacecraft, accompanied only by his bizarre hallucinations.

 

[hitmouse]

I still haven't got over them remaking Sabrina The Teenage Witch, light-hearted 90s teen sitcom with a sassy talking cat, as a shit self-serious (is that a word? you know what I mean anyway) gothic drama with no sassy talking cat in it. Cunts. I think they should go the other way, remake The Wire and Breaking Bad and Mad Men and all that as sitcoms with sassy talking cats in.

 

[Storm Fox]

Lots of potential here. ‘Allo ‘Allo, Blackadder or Dad’s Army to name but three are loaded with dark themes potential.

'Allo 'Allo was based on the drama The Secret Army, so kind of already done.

 

[maomao]

Porridge with prison sex.

 

[BoxRoom]

Millions of years after he was put in suspended animation, the last human alive slowly goes insane from grief and isolation on a mining spacecraft, accompanied only by his bizarre hallucinations.

I was going to mention this one. In the books Lister originally goes mad and almost dies drinking whiskey in grief and despair etc.

 

[Storm Fox]

The effect a selfish, bigamist, time-travelling television repairman has on those around him in the 1990's and WWII.

 

[T & P]

Frasier has loads of potential at several levels too.

 

[ska invita]

Chuckle Brothers

 

[spring-peeper]

When I read the title of the thread, I thought you meant this Gritty.




oops...

 

[spring-peeper]

I used google search for a picture of the Gritty mascot, and now every ad is offering me deals on the stupid thing.

 

[Raheem]

Porridge with prison sex.

I'll bet there's some fan fiction out there.

 

[Knotted]

Reggie Perrin is ground down by the emptiness of executive life and suicides for real.

 

[ElizabethofYork]

Are You Being Served?

Shop workers are ill treated by snobbish, misogynistic and homophobic management.

 

[krtek a houby]

Snobbish Torquay hotel owner has offending guests walled up alive, or disposed of in the laundry basket.

 

[Reno]

The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina on Netflix was a horror orientated remake of the 90s sitcom Sabrina the Teenage Witch.

Mocking Bird Lane also was an attempt to turn The Munsters into a darker, horror orientated series, but it never made it past the pilot.

The Netflix Lost in Space is a far darker and more serious remake of the 60s series, which while not a sitcom, often came close, especially from season 2 onwards.

 

[DaveCinzano]

The effect a selfish, bigamist, time-travelling television repairman has on those around him in the 1990's and WWII.

Herring has that covered

 

[Storm Fox]

Herring has that covered

Err that's how selfish is spelt isn't it? i.e. someone who thinks only thinks of themselves. Admitted I normally actually typo it shelfish.

 

[Yossarian]

Snobbish Torquay hotel owner has offending guests walled up alive, or disposed of in the laundry basket.

"Manuel" - a Barcelona man being pursued by a drug trafficking gang after an unfortunate mix-up finds work in one of the last places anybody would think of looking for him: A run-down hotel in post-Brexit Torquay.

But his poor English and nervous disposition make his working life difficult, and it's not helped by the constant verbal and physical abuse from the deeply unpleasant gammon who owns the place.

 

[Oula]

I was going to mention this one. In the books Lister originally goes mad and almost dies drinking whiskey in grief and despair etc.

I love the books. First one ends with

Spoiler

him deciding to stay in Better Than Life and die because his reality is too depressing

doesn't it?