Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, but it's a gritty drama now

[JamesTC]

Fresh Prince was great. As much as it is credited it for the serious lurches, its true strength was still the comedy. Watched it loads as a kid and it was still held up when I watched it all a few years ago.

Seriously, how fucking moronic are they to gut all the characters and remove the comedy. Based on the trailer, Hillary is a non-entity generic family member. Carlton is generic nerd. Uncle Phil is slim. At least end the trailer with Uncle Phil throwing Jazz out of the house. Who wants to watch this depressing shite?


In a way I hope this is a huge success. The slew of atrocious dramas based on sitcoms would be a joy to behold.

Friends... but serious! Joey learns a lesson on sexual boundaries and does a cry! Phoebe gets stabbed! Monica still has an eating disorder! The monkey rips Ross' face off!

[thecuriousorange]

If this works, it will work best for younger people who didn't grow up with the goofy original.

[Cuellar]

Dad's Army - PTSD Fraser, dementia Godfrey

Pike walks in, flicks on the living room light, revealing a riddled Wilson glumly fucking his mum on the sofa. Hodges kicks the front door in and screams "PUT THAT FUCKING LIGHT OUT YOU CUNT THERE'S A WAR ON" and knocks Pike's teeth out.

Jones butchering a pig interspersed with slow-motion silent flashbacks of him in the Boer War dismembering a 'fuzzy-wuzzy' with his bayonet, close up of screaming Jones's face covered in blood, crying.

[Ferris]

with his bayonet, close up of screaming Jones's face covered in blood, crying.

but also laughing, in a way.

[Magnum Valentino]

At least Donald Trump probably won't have a cameo.

Seriously, the basic premise could, in theory, work for a decent drama. Has a comedy ever been successfully remade as a completely serious piece?  I'm not going to watch this, but it'll be interesting to see how it does.

I can't think of one but if I remember right, the proper serious film Agnes Brown and Mrs Brown's Boys are both based on the same source. That's the opposite of what you've asked, mind.

[petril]

Dad's Army - PTSD Fraser, dementia Godfrey

Pike walks in, flicks on the living room light, revealing a riddled Wilson glumly fucking his mum on the sofa. Hodges kicks the front door in and screams "PUT THAT FUCKING LIGHT OUT YOU CUNT THERE'S A WAR ON" and knocks Pike's teeth out.

Jones butchering a pig interspersed with slow-motion silent flashbacks of him in the Boer War dismembering a 'fuzzy-wuzzy' with his bayonet, close up of screaming Jones's face covered in blood, crying.

a whole especially grim episode about Private Walker off on 'business' and it's horrific. but there's a war on

[Alberon]

Or you could go the other way.

Threads - bawdy, slapstick fun with a family making good after the bomb has dropped.

1984 - Warm-hearted comedy as Winston Smith finds love.

[purlieu]

Imagine Seinfeld but it was a straightforward drama about an actor living in an apartment in New York.

Jerry trying to help his friend George out as he moves from one crisis to another, his life gradually falling apart as he ends up destitute, eventually going to prison for manslaughter after contributing to his fiancée's death in a bleak mirror of the actual final episode.

Red Dwarf, except it's just the bickering scenes from the first series for a while until Lister realises how fucked he is and throws himself out of an airlock.

Bottom doesn't bear thinking about.

[Alberon]

Some Mothers do ave em - A man with obvious learning difficulties comes home to find his wife has left him taking their young daughter. Eventually tops himself by putting on roller skates and propelling himself to his death on a busy main road.

Derek - Just too bleak to even think about.

[JamesTC]

Red Dwarf, except it's just the bickering scenes from the first series for a while until Lister realises how fucked he is and throws himself out of an airlock.

Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers expands on the show by having Lister lose his mind drinking himself to death before Rimmer is brought back to whip him into shape.

[Ron Maels Moustache]

Derek - Just too bleak to even think about.

For Derek without the "jokes", try Walter from 1982.

[Famous Mortimer]

There is at least one other data point in this "sitcom to drama" pipeline, the Brady Bunch. As well as variety shows featuring the entire main cast, they did a "thirtysomething"-esque drama called "The Bradys". Admittedly, it doesn't follow the same plot as the original, but it does have almost all the original actors.

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

In a way I hope this is a huge success. The slew of atrocious dramas based on sitcoms would be a joy to behold.

Friends... but serious! Joey learns a lesson on sexual boundaries and does a cry! Phoebe gets stabbed! Monica still has an eating disorder! The monkey rips Ross' face off!

[purlieu]

Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers expands on the show by having Lister lose his mind drinking himself to death before Rimmer is brought back to whip him into shape.

Yes, I was thinking of that chapter as I was writing the post.

[Mister Six]

Tenuous link, but I hope you all watch this.

[George White]

'Allo 'Allo - where it's literally just Secret Army.

[Blue Jam]

This is just that "Breaking Bad (for example) But It's A 90's Sitcom" idea reversed isn't it?

How long before someone actually tries to commission one of these throwaway ideas as an entire series? Or we start to get entire shows based around memes?

[JamesTC]

Or we start to get entire shows based around memes?

The failure of the show based off a Twitter account will hopefully mean they are scared off this.

[Blue Jam]

The "Breaking Bad But It's A 90's Sitcom" works because BB is already a dark comedy, putting a laugh track on it actually isn't that weird.

TFPOBA, as others have noted, actually did explore gritty issues such as class and racial stereotypes and escaping a life of crime, but as a comedy it probably did it more effectively than a drama would. I guess it could work as a drama but the original is funny and why would anyone want to subtract the comedy from that? The creators of shows like BB, The Sopranos, The Wire etc know that at times you need to add a little comedy to keep things from getting too bleak.

[Blue Jam]

The failure of the show based off a Twitter account will hopefully mean they are scared off this.

I don't know, we've already had an emoji movie, how long before we get The All-New Exciting Adventures of Advice Dog or a sitcom starring Distracted Boyfriend and Jealous Girlfriend?

[Icehaven]

Young Sheldon is a strange amalgam of this idea, a spin off prequel to a sitcom which while still ostensibly a sitcom itself is more of a drama with serious/issues-y storylines, and is a totally different style to The Big Bang Theory (no laugh track, muted colours where TBBT was famously day-glo). And it's got this strange thing of us knowing that the Dad, one of the main characters, only has a couple of years to live as he supposedly dies when Sheldon is about 14 and in the most recent series he's 12. No idea what they're going to do with that, if the series will end first or what but it is starting to cast a kind of poignant pall over it. 

[MojoJojo]

How long before someone actually tries to commission one of these throwaway ideas as an entire series? Or we start to get entire shows based around memes?

Kevin Can Fuck Himself does the drama/sitcom crossover thing - it's the same sort of idea as these Breaking Bad but as a sitcom edits.

[gilbertharding]

That 'sitcom with the laugh track removed - see, they're not funny are they?' (I first saw it done with The Big Bang Theory) is a cheap trick. A lot of comedy has to be deadpan: the characters don't necessarily know they're being funny. And of course the long pauses become Pinteresque, and sinister in that context.

The one posted up there of Ross from CoffeeFriends was funny though.

[Blue Jam]

Kevin Can Fuck Himself does the drama/sitcom crossover thing - it's the same sort of idea as these Breaking Bad but as a sitcom edits.

Now you mention it, Mr. Robot also has one episode which begins in the style of a 90's sitcom. Despite the laugh track it's actually creepy and unnerving, which I'm sure was the intention:

https://youtu.be/1LyZvcUAU0E

Probably inspired by that YouTube "...But It's A 90's Sitcom" thing though, aye.

[Alberon]

TFPOBA, as others have noted, actually did explore gritty issues such as class and racial stereotypes and escaping a life of crime, but as a comedy it probably did it more effectively than a drama would. I guess it could work as a drama but the original is funny and why would anyone want to subtract the comedy from that? The creators of shows like BB, The Sopranos, The Wire etc know that at times you need to add a little comedy to keep things from getting too bleak.

I remember a very good in joke from The Wire where Dominic West's (An English actor playing an American) character tries to put on a British accent and is comically bad at it.

[Fisher Goes Berserk]

These reimaginings are amazing and deserve their own H.S. Art thread.

[Ron Maels Moustache]

Seriously, the basic premise could, in theory, work for a decent drama. Has a comedy ever been successfully remade as a completely serious piece?  I'm not going to watch this, but it'll be interesting to see how it does.

I guess The Chilling Adventures Of Sabrina might count, although technically that's based on a spin-off of the original comic strips.

[dissolute ocelot]

I guess The Chilling Adventures Of Sabrina might count, although technically that's based on a spin-off of the original comic strips.

On a similar line, there were various silly kiddie Archie TV shows before Riverdale such as The Archie Show. And Lou Grant was a dramatic spin-off from the Mary Tyler Moore show (a sitcom). I believe Trapper John, M.D was primarily dramatic, in contrast to M*A*S*H which was only occasionally tragic.

[Noodle Lizard]

I, for one, love the trend of spin-offs/reboots removing all but one word of the title - or just reducing it to a single name. As if to say "we're trimming the fat, now we're getting to the true heart of it". In this instance, they've removed the comedy from the comedy show, that's how serious they are about the story - no distractions. Probably would've called it just "Bel" if they could've.

[Blue Jam]

I remember a very good in joke from The Wire where Dominic West's (An English actor playing an American) character tries to put on a British accent and is comically bad at it.

Heh, House did the exact same joke with Hugh Laurie:

https://youtu.be/XfBTe_N-m6U

There's a similar one in Better Call Saul where Jimmy puts on a dodgy British accent to try and convince clients he can afford a secretary. It's done as a nod to all the dodgy British accents in Mr. Show.