Less than a day has passed since ABC staged reenactments of Diff’rent Strokes and its offshoot The Facts of Life as part of its Live in Front of a Studio Audience franchise — but we’re already thinking about what series will be featured the next go-round.
The first LIFOSA special aired May 2019, and recreated episodes of All in the Family and The Jeffersons. That was followed by a second installment in December 2019, featuring a new reenactment of All in the Family and a classic episode of Good Times.
Seeing as how all six reenactments thus far have been series created, developed or produced by the legendary Norman Lear — both Diff’rent Strokes and Facts of Life were products of Lear’s now-defunct Embassy Communications production shingle — it seems likely that tradition will continue, should there be a fourth special. With that in mind, TVLine has compiled the following list of 10 other comedies that could be rebooted in the near future (assuming the decision to double dip on All in the Family won’t be repeated with any other already tackled sitcom).
Scroll down to see which iconic series could get the Live in Front of a Studio Audience treatment next, then hit the comments with your casting suggestions for any of the featured shows.
FERNWOOD 2 NIGHT
Created by Lear, this iconic one-and-done comedy served as a summer replacement for Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, and ran in first-run syndication from July 1977 to September 1977. The talk show parody starred Martin Mull as host Barth Gimble and Fred Willard as Gimble’s sidekick/announcer Jerry Hubbard.
MARRIED… WITH CHILDREN
Fox’s longest-running live-action sitcom — which ran for 11 seasons (or 259 episodes) between 1987 and 1997 — starred Ed O’Neill as Al Bundy, Katey Sagal as Peg, Christina Applegate as Kelly and David Faustino as Bud. It was produced by Embassy Communications.
ONE DAY AT A TIME
Even though the sitcom was recently (if all too briefly) rebooted for Netflix and Pop TV, Lear previously told TVLine that he would “absolutely” revisit the original series. The CBS comedy ran for nine seasons (or 209 episodes) between 1975 and 1984, and starred Bonnie Franklin as divorced mother Ann Romano, Mackenzie Phillips and Valerie Bertinelli as teenage daughters Julie and Barbara, and Pat Harrington Jr. as Schneider.
SANFORD AND SON
Developed by Lear and considered NBC’s answer to CBS’ All in the Family, the popular working-class sitcom ran for six seasons (or 136 episodes) between 1972 and 1977. It starred comedian Redd Foxx as cantankerous junkyard dealer Fred G. Sanford, and Demond Wilson as peacemaking son Lamont. The series spawned two short-lived spinoffs — 1975’s Grady and 1977’s Sanford Arms — as well as two-season revival Sanford (sans Son), which ran from 1980-1981.
