Things haven’t been so great over at NBC for the past few years. While they currently have a breakout hit with “This Is Us,” the network is still far from their Must See TV glory days of “Seinfeld,” “Friends,” and more. So, the thinking over the network at the moment seems to be, why bother wasting time and money trying to create new shows, when you can just give people what they already like? To that end, what was supposed to be a one-off revival of “Will & Grace” has turned into a two-season order, “Miami Vice” is coming back, and NBC admits they’re trying to get more of their former hits back on air.
NBC Entertainment chairman Bob Greenblatt reveals he’s been chasing creators of his past shows to see if they’d be interested in reviving them.
“We often talk about ‘The Office,’ I’ve talked to [creator] Greg [Daniels] four times over the past few years. It’s always, ‘Maybe some day but not now’,” he told Deadline. “There is certainly an open invitation but we don’t have anything happening right now. If he wants to do it, I would do it.”
Greenblatt also shares that he’s been talking to others as well. “I’d say to Tina [Fey] ‘Hey, you think some more 30 Rock makes any sense?’ She’d say, I don’t know maybe,’ “ he revealed.
“I keep saying to [Aaron Sorkin], ‘Do you want to do ‘The West Wing‘ again, wouldn’t it be great to do it?’ He says, ‘You know I love that show and some day I’d love to revisit it, but it’s not going to happen right now,’ ” Greenblatt added, also mentioning that he’s reached out to John Wells about “ER.”
For all these anecdotes, there’s an air of somebody who doesn’t get it when he’s been rejected, and keeps trying over and over again. It’s safe to say all these shows had a healthy, lengthy run and are probably better off left alone, but everything from “Arrested Development” to “Roseanne” seems to be coming back, so who knows. Anything you’d like to see return? Let us know in the comments section.