Freeform is giving new life to “Party of Five,” but fans shouldn’t expect to see much crossover between the original series and the reboot, original series creators Amy Lippman and Chris Keyser said.
The new reboot takes the original premise — five children living without their parents — and updates it for the current political environment by turning those kids from orphans to a family of immigrants whose parents have been deported.
“We’ve had lots of opportunities to revisit the story and we waited until there was a good reason to do it,” Lippman told reporters at the Television Critics Association press tour on Tuesday. “As we began to see stories like this on the front page of every newspaper, we began to realize what was originally the story of five orphans 25 years ago had sort of transmogrified into the story of these kids who are living without their parents in a very real way.”
The one-hour drama will follow the five Acosta children — the oldest four played by Brandon Larracuente, Emily Tosta, Niko Guardado and Elle Paris Legaspi — as they navigate daily life struggles to survive as a family unit after their parents are suddenly deported to Mexico. The pilot was co-written by Lippman, Keyser and newcomer Michal Zebede.
The biggest change, then, is that the kids’ parents aren’t dead. And Lippman and Keyser say they’ll stay relevant to the story throughout the season and continue to be present in their children’s lives from afar.
“They are not present, but they are dealing with how do we try to parent our kids from a distance, how do the kids deal in with social services, how is their footprint in the community different?” Lippman said.
The goal, the producers said, is to show the realities of the U.S. immigration system, especially for families in the country illegally, but it will stop short of taking a specific political position.
“We don’t want to go in with a strong political agenda, we just want to tell what it’s like for these families,” she said. However, a few characters will show up with their own various political beliefs.
Fans of the original series will see a few nods to the 1994 pilot starring Scott Wolf, Matthew Fox, Neve Campbell and Lacey Chabert, including at least one scene almost entirely re-created for the Freeform show.
“There’s enough for our fans of long ago to see echoes of our the original series,” Lippman said. But as for the possibility of any of the original Salinger siblings making an appearance, the executive producer played coy.
“Not yet,” she said.
19 TV Reboots That Should Have Been Booted (Photos)
Revivals of "Arrested Development" and the upcoming "Murphy Brown" are making waves as well new versions of "Charmed" and "Magnum PI" coming soon. But will they all be worthy of watching? TheWrap looks at the reboots of classic TV shows that should've gotten the boot from the start.
"Charlie's Angels"
"Charlie's Angels" perfectly captured the goofiness of the '70s, but it felt painfully out of date in 2011. Critics and audiences agreed: It was canceled after three episodes.
"Ironside"
Blair Underwood has done some memorable TV work, starting with his career-making role on "L.A. Law." But his 2013 take on the Raymond Burr crime drama was yanked from NBC's air even faster than you can say "LAX" or "The Event."
"The Bionic Woman"
A 2007 take on the "Six Million Dollar Man" spinoff, this NBC show's original sin was casting "Battlestar Galactica" ass-kicker Katee Sackhoff as the recurring villain rather than the lead.
"Knight Rider"
Like so much '80s television, the original "Knight Rider" is over-celebrated. But NBC's 2008 version lacked even the original's dumb charms — and David Hasselhoff.
"The Returned"
SundanceTV had an international hit on its hands with the French-language moody zombie thriller. An English adaptation was of course inevitable, but Damon Lindelof's A&E remake never quite found its audience, despite gaining the support of critics. Luckily, the original French series is still ongoing.
"Melrose Place"
The classic nighttime soap got a CW makeover in 2009, but the brand wasn't enough to keep an audience interested, especially on a network that was doing rich young people drama better on shows like "Gossip Girl" and even "90210."
"Prime Suspect"
Helen Mirren broke out big time as a rare female detective fighting crime and the sexism of her fellow cops in a hit series first introduced in 1991. But NBC's 2011 version, starring Maria Bello, struggled to find its voice and lasted just 13 episodes.
"Gracepoint"
"Broadchurch" captivated U.K. audiences with its tense murder mystery format, but when the U.S. tried to replicate its magic - with original star David Tennant in tow - it just never quite managed. Needless to say, "Broadchurch" is producing a third season, and "Gracepoint" was canceled after just one.
"Mockingbird Lane"
Bryan Fuller tried to put his stamp on a reboot of "The Munsters," and it's still a bit of a cult classic among his fervent fans, but NBC never ordered the show to series. At least we will always have the pilot, which aired in 2012, which is more than you can say for most pilots that don't get picked up to series.
"The IT Crowd"
This hilarious British series that helped launch Chris O'Dowd's career ran for four seasons. It's American counterpart -- not so much. The across-the-pond adaptation with Joel McHale was ordered to pilot but failed to get picked up at NBC.
"Dragnet"
Jack Webb and Ben Alexander starred in the original 1950's police procedural that became a major hit. Unfortunately, the Ed O'Neill and Ethan Embry reboot in 2003 failed to find similar success. It was cancelled after two seasons.
"Kojak"
Another police procedural bound to be rebooted, Telly Savalas starred as the chrome-domed detective in the 1970's series. Ving Rhames took the reins in 2005, but only made it to nine episodes.
"The Muppets"
ABC's reboot of "The Muppets" was one of the most highly anticipated new shows of the 2015-16 TV season, but the inside look at the adult lives of Kermit and company failed to resonate with fans.
"Heroes Reborn"
Beyond "Chuck" star Zachary Levi, NBC's bland "event series" reboot of 2006's "Heroes" brought nothing new or interesting to the table.
"24: Legacy"
Corey Hawkins starred in this Kiefer Sutherland-less "24" reboot that maintained the show's real-time structure and some of the original show's flaws, but also managed to be cancelled in real time. "24: Legacy" had a big debut following the Super Bowl in 2017 but dropped off sharply afterward and was done after just one season. At the time of the cancellation Fox was still considering continuing the "24" franchise.
Fox
"MacGyver"
Like the hero that shares the show's name, the reboot of "MacGyver," with Lucas Till in the Richard Dean Anderson role, cobbled together a bunch of unusual parts to make yet another procedural that's somehow still kicking, despite constant lampooning from "The Simpsons" and "SNL's" "MacGruber" sketches.
CBS
"Fuller House"
Netflix's rebooted take on "Full House" is doing just fine for the streaming service, having been renewed for a fourth season, but it got off to a truly rocky start with critics who complained that the nostalgia factor of seeing a grown up DJ, Stephanie and Kimmy Gibler wore off quickly.
Netflix
"The Odd Couple"
Matthew Perry and Thomas Lennon were no Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon, or Tony Randall and Jack Klugman for that matter. The reboot lasted three seasons, but the canned, laugh track sitcom felt very old fashioned and led to some miserable ratings. Matthew Perry even tweeted out one month ahead of schedule that the show was cancelled when he saw his face painted over on his stage door.
CBS
"Dynasty"
The CW rebooted the classic '80s primetime soap in 2017, but despite the buzz for Peruvian-born Nathalie Kelley as Cristal, the show drew critical pans and weak ratings -- still scoring a second season thanks to a lucrative Netflix deal.
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With reboots of “Charmed” and “Magnum PI” on the way, TheWrap looks at TV revivals that never should’ve happened
Revivals of "Arrested Development" and the upcoming "Murphy Brown" are making waves as well new versions of "Charmed" and "Magnum PI" coming soon. But will they all be worthy of watching? TheWrap looks at the reboots of classic TV shows that should've gotten the boot from the start.
