CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN…AGAIN.
Zach Braff and Grabrielle Union have signed on with Disney+ for a Cheaper By The Dozen “reimagining”, as Disney calls it. Same story, same movie, but this time – are you ready? It’s a multiracial family!! OMG! The genius over at Disney!
I feel bad for Zach – he was fighting the good fight for so long with thoughtful independent movies like The Last Kiss and Garden State. Bringing big movie stars to small heartfelt indie films. Now he goes off and does this?! He had costars like Josh Gad and Natalie Portman play meaningful roles in small films, and now he just simply sells out to Disney+ to make a remake of a remake. I dunno if Zach just gave up or if he needs money for his next film, but this was definitely sad to see. Good luck Zach! Hope you come back to us one day.
BRIDGERTON BREAKS RECORDS
Bridgerton breaks all kinds of records on Netflix. This I can not understand. I have seen a few episodes. The show seems braindead to me. Really no substance to it, but it does have a lot of flash with those old time costumes and palaces, and castles. I guess every girl wants to be that princess who is sought after, but I do not know what appeals the guys to this show. It is a fluff piece for sure, and that usually goes along with soap operas and chick flicks. How this series is breaking the records is beyond me. I guess I’m losing touch with reality. Am I the only one who wants substance and good writing these days?
RIP LARRY KING
Larry King passed away recently, as did Cicely Tyson and Hank Aaron and they were among the best in their respective fields. Larry of course – wanted to interview everyone until the day he died – and I think he pretty much did that. The old guy “retired” from CNN then popped up somewhere else. I guess when you do something for a long time it’s hard to let it go. RIP to these major talents and they will both be missed and treasured.
PIXAR HAS SOUL
Pixar’s Soul is apparently doing very well. I do not hear anyone at all talking about it, but according to the books, it’s debut around Christmas time broke some kind of Neilson streaming record. I guess that’s what we are going by these days. I don’t know how it works, I don’t know how it counts – I know it’s tricky and probably not very truthful, but it’s all we have to go on. So Congrats to Pixar and congrats to Jaimie Foxx and Soul. I have not seen it yet but I guess I might, maybe, look at it in the future.
STREAMING COMPETITION HEATS UP
Netflix and Disney seem to be the top two streamers at this time and what is strange is that they are both connected by one person. First let me give you the numbers. Netflix has 203.7 million subscribers. They have been at it longer, so they naturally should have the higher number. Disney+ has 86.8 million subscribers. Almost half in an incredibly short amount of time. Will Disney keep the momentum up or will it flatline is another story – but Netflix continues to grow – adding 8.5 million last quarter alone. What makes them continue to grow? Content. What does Disney need in order to grow? Content. Guess who’s content is busting out big numbers? Bridgerton for Netflix. Who did it? Shonda Rhimes. Shonda created Bridgerton and Grey’s Anatomy. Grey’s Anatomy of course, was on ABC, a Disney owned channel. Disney let her go, Netflix snatched her up extremely quickly and she gave them Bridgerton. Bridgerton is now propelling Netflix further ahead of Disney, because it seems Disney does not yet know how to deal with talent and matching them up with their streaming services. Netflix has started out that way – so they know. Disney in order to catch up to Netflix and get more numbers, needs a bridge of communication with their talent and discuss what they can bring to the table for Disney+. You know all those guys have “dream projects” over at ABC and Disney and it’s time for Disney to let go some control and let their people fly.
MORE REBOOTS ON THE WAY
The Wonder Years is having a reboot and is coming back to the small screen through ABC. Yes reboots or “reimagining” is all the rage now and pretty much has been for quite some time.
This Wonder Years reboot is being helmed by the very talented Lee Daniels and Lee Daniels Entertainment – and will have original Wonder Years co-creator Neal Marlens on board guiding him along the way.
Yes this version will be of a black family, set in Alabama, during the same time period as the original. Fred Savage is on board as exec-producer and also to direct a few episodes. So the show is in very good hands and has everyone’s blessing – but we’ve seen this kind of thing go sour before when Normal Lear fought like hell to create One Day At A Time. That just didn’t work – i get the feeling though – this one just might fly.
Another famous reboot got the green light – the 80’s female empowerment sitcom Kate and Allie is coming to NBC. Hot on the heels of the new show “The Young Rock”’s good word of mouth, Erica Oyama is pretty much naming her own ticket these days. She chose Kate and Allie to reboot for NBC and they gave it to her.
NBC has also made pilot commitments to reboot Night Court, and Zorro. I do not know if the new Kate and Allie will have any special changes in mind, but the original had legends Susan Saint James and SNL Original Cast Member Jane Curtain that made the whole sitcom work. Let’s see if NBC can snag two more female comedic legends to fill their shoes and make the story work.
Thanks for reading! Paulie B
