Rebooting "I Dream of Jeannie"

[Danja]

Billions was a prestige drama on Showtime, that's very different from a sitcom, and especially a network sitcom, which this probably would be.

If I had to reboot it, I wouldn't do another sitcom (NBC tried to turn Jeannie into Lucy Ricardo, with disastrous results ). Humor that may have been acceptable in the 60's would not necessarily be acceptable today.

I would do something more dramatic, something along the lines of Bel-Air (It would still have a degree of humor, but it wouldn't be wall-to-wall laughs).

Buffy the Vampire Slayer had humor. Charmed had humor. The Scream films had humor (Even the Nightmare on Elm Street films had a sense of humor). You almost NEED humor to give the audience a breather.

For me, I Still Dream of Jeannie is the better of the two TV-movies because it leaned much more into the fantasy/supernatural and was less a ha-ha sitcom.

 

[JD]

I'd rather see them stick to the sitcom format, for me the whole appeal of a show like this is all the crazy, goofy situations Jennie's powers get Tony and Roger into.

 

[Danja]

I'd rather see them stick to the sitcom format, for me the whole appeal of a show like this is all the crazy, goofy situations Jennie's powers get Tony and Roger into.

What's always troubled me is that Jeannie came off looking like a bumbling idiot (It got SO bad, Sidney Sheldon left the show for a time. The character that was onscreen was no longer the character that HE created.)

He wrote one episode in S5 and that was the end of his involvement in the show.

 

[JD]

Just because that happened in the original doesn't mean it would have to happen in a reboot, sitcoms have changed a lot in the past 50 years.

 

[Danja]

Just because that happened in the original doesn't mean it would have to happen in a reboot, sitcoms have changed a lot in the past 50 years.

Jeannie can function outside of a sitcom (the two TV-movies have shown that).

 

[Shaka Zulu]

The comedy in the show was originally derived from Tony trying to keep Jeannie a secret, Jeannie's over eager attempts to help Tony and Jeannie being a fish out of water, Not sure how those will play in the 2020's.

They won't play at all, much like how this proposed reboot of this short lived 1964 sci-fi sitcom with a similar premise would've been dead in the water if it had happened (in order for the one mentioned above by me to be able to happen now, it would have to be a comedy-drama about how the gynoid character of said show has to cope with becoming more human while being earmarked for long duration space exploration missions where she won't be with humans for a very long time.)

As I've said, I've get nothing against remakes/reboots and I think that the current nastiness against them (with one exception due to how it was carried out) is just stupid and pointless considering all of the revivals of older musicals that happens constantly on Broadway and the West End, but this concept's dated as fuck and deserves to stay in the past where it belongs. Remake something else from the same era instead, like (maybe) this show, this one, or this one.

 

[CoveTom]

The funny thing is that it could work. Wasn't there a series a few years ago that had a private detective dealing with supernatural elements. There definitely was a series of books on it...

Anyone here remember the NBC miniseries from the late 80's called Something Is Out There and the short-lived weekly series that followed it? That was a similar concept, except it was a cop dealing with an alien woman who had been stranded on Earth. The mini-series was fantastic (and is on YouTube, BTW).

 

[Danja]

Not at all.
But don't make Blade white or Black Panther asian or Batman australian

He's already been British (Robert Pattinson, Christian Bale).

 

[Ovation]

He's already been British (Robert Pattinson, Christian Bale).

As have Superman and Spider-Man (twice). Hmm.

 

[Shaka Zulu]

Anyone here remember the NBC miniseries from the late 80's called Something Is Out There and the short-lived weekly series that followed it? That was a similar concept, except it was a cop dealing with an alien woman who had been stranded on Earth. The mini-series was fantastic (and is on YouTube, BTW).

That concept (in that mini-series at least) worked when it was on TV in the 1990's, and could work today, but a new version of Jeanie wouldn't work now, at all, and would be condemned by everybody, female and male, as being dated.

 

[Danja]

That concept (in the mini-series at least) worked when it was on TV in the 1990's, and could work today, but a new version of Jeanie wouldn't work now, at all, and would be condemned by everybody, female and male, as being dated.

A straight reboot? Absolutely not (Please, for the love of God, leave Jeannie-the-Bumbling-Idiot back in the Sixties).

I would set it in between FYL and ISDoJ and take it darker (put more emphasis on the fantasy/supernatural aspects of it and less on trying to make it wall-to-wall laughs).

Tony and Jeannie in the TV-movies have a teenage son, Tony Jr.. That changes the dynamic considerably.

What happened after the two movies? That's something that's never been explored.

This scene from I Still Dream of Jeannie has to be my favorite scene from the whole series.

For me, this is Jeannie's "Elsa" moment .. her "Let It Go" moment ... The moment where she drops all pretense of being human and reveals her true identity as a genie.

Jeannie and Elsa have something in common: They both spent years hiding their powers.

I pumped my fist during this scene.

FWIW: I love Idina Menzel. She has an amazing voice.

 

[Jayson1]

I would go for a dark comedy. Sort of like that X-Files episode that had a genie found by a guy and his brother who lived in a trailer park? A grifter con artist and his grifter con artist wife, finds her bottle and becomes her "masters." Jeanie though realizes these two are fuck ups and thus always screws up their wishes.

It wouldn't stop just their. The fun thing is their wishes would always be permanent in some way and no reset buttons would ever be pushed and we begin to see their lives change in increasingly funny and weird ways but not just them but the whole world as well.

Like at one point they wish Jeanie could allow them to meet a real life alien so the next day a alien spaceship crashes on the planet and the fact that we have made first contact with aliens is now this running background story. They wish they could get free singing lessons from rock star lBruce Springsteen so the next day he visits them but as far as the world is concerned he is not a musician. He is a popular and famous geologists who studies rocks and that never changes back. Now he can't sing a lick but for some reason he feels compelled to give them singing lessons. As the show evolves the world itself would become more and more weird as the impact of their wishes keep taking a toll.

 

[Danja]

I would go for a dark comedy. Sort of like that X-Files episode that had a genie found by a guy and his brother who lived in a trailer park? A grifter con artist and his grifter con artist wife, finds her bottle and becomes her "masters." Jeanie though realizes these two are fuck ups and thus always screws up their wishes.

It wouldn't stop just their. The fun thing is their wishes would always be permanent in some way and no reset buttons would ever be pushed and we begin to see their lives change in increasingly funny and weird ways but not just them but the whole world as well.

Like at one point they wish Jeanie could allow them to meet a real life alien so the next day a alien spaceship crashes on the planet and the fact that we have made first contact with aliens is now this running background story. They wish they could get free singing lessons from rock star lBruce Springsteen so the next day he visits them but as far as the world is concerned he is not a musician. He is a popular and famous geologists who studies rocks and that never changes back. Now he can't sing a lick but for some reason he feels compelled to give them singing lessons. As the show evolves the world itself would become more and more weird as the impact of their wishes keep taking a toll.

Too many plot threads to keep track of (Even Lost gave up after a while.)

 

[JD]

A straight reboot? Absolutely not (Please, for the love of God, leave Jeannie-the-Bumbling-Idiot back in the Sixties).

I would set it in between FYL and ISDoJ and take it darker (put more emphasis on the fantasy/supernatural aspects of it and less on trying to make it wall-to-wall laughs).

Tony and Jeannie in the TV-movies have a teenage son, Tony Jr. That changes the dynamic considerably.

What happened after the two movies? That's something that's never been explored.

This scene from I Still Dream of Jeannie has to be my favorite scene from the whole series.

For me, this is Jeannie's "Elsa" moment .. her "Let It Go" moment ... The moment where she drops all pretense of being human and reveals her true identity as a genie.

Jeannie and Elsa have something in common: They both spent years hiding their powers.

I pumped my fist during this scene.

FWIW: I love Idina Menzel. She has an amazing voice.

I'm so tired of darker reboots of old sitcoms, I'd much rather see them embrace the silliness of the original, and if anything just go bigger and crazier with it and take advantage of modern special effects to really go nuts with Jeannie's powers.
I think at this point it's getting to be so long since the original, that I really question if there would enough interest in a direct follow up like that. If I were rebooting the show, I'd do a full, from scratch reboot, and then bring in some at well known actors for Tony and Jeannie, and someone like Michael Schur, who's proven them can run a sitcom with a deeper, fantasy premise, to be the showrunner.

I would go for a dark comedy. Sort of like that X-Files episode that had a genie found by a guy and his brother who lived in a trailer park? A grifter con artist and his grifter con artist wife, finds her bottle and becomes her "masters." Jeanie though realizes these two are fuck ups and thus always screws up their wishes.

It wouldn't stop just their. The fun thing is their wishes would always be permanent in some way and no reset buttons would ever be pushed and we begin to see their lives change in increasingly funny and weird ways but not just them but the whole world as well.

Like at one point they wish Jeanie could allow them to meet a real life alien so the next day a alien spaceship crashes on the planet and the fact that we have made first contact with aliens is now this running background story. They wish they could get free singing lessons from rock star lBruce Springsteen so the next day he visits them but as far as the world is concerned he is not a musician. He is a popular and famous geologists who studies rocks and that never changes back. Now he can't sing a lick but for some reason he feels compelled to give them singing lessons. As the show evolves the world itself would become more and more weird as the impact of their wishes keep taking a toll.

No, no, no a million times no, this is not I Dream of Jeannie in any way shape or form. The one thing I absolutely hate more than anything else in movies and TV is when they do a "reboot" or "adaptation" that has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with source material.
If you want to do a show with that premise, that's fine, it sounds like it could be pretty good, but it is not I Dream of Jeannie, so do not call it I Dream of Jeannie.
At least the new Matlock show was quick to make it clear that it's not really a reboot, but still uses the title in a way that makes sense.

 

[Danja]

I'm so tired of darker reboots of old sitcoms, I'd much rather see them embrace the silliness of the original

There's a problem when "silliness" crosses the line into misogyny.

Humor that may have been acceptable in the 1960's will not necessarily work today.

I think at this point it's getting to be so long since the original, that I really question if there would enough interest in a direct follow up like that.

The show is still in syndication. It's on DVD. It's streaming.

The original is still available for everyone to see.

I Dream of Jeannie: Fifteen Years Later did a brief recap of Jeannie's origins within the movie for new viewers (in the movie, she had to tell her son Tony Jr. about her ... erm, "secret identity").

There are ways of making sure no one is left behind without doing a total reboot (Furthermore, Sony/Columbia has been trying to get a Jeannie feature film going for years.)

 

[JD]

There's a problem when "silliness" crosses the line into misogyny.

Humor that may have been acceptable in the 1960's will not necessarily work today.

Sure, but there are still a lot of sitcoms out that can find ways to have women as main characters without falling into misogyny.

The show is still in syndication. It's on DVD. It's streaming.

The original is still available for everyone to see.

I Dream of Jeannie: Fifteen Years Later did a brief recap of Jeannie's origins within the movie for new viewers (in the movie, she had to tell her son Tony Jr. about her ... erm, "secret identity").

There are ways of making sure no one is left behind without doing a total reboot (Furthermore, Sony/Columbia has been trying to get a Jeannie feature film going for years.)

Sure it's available, but I question if there's really enough interest to support a direct follow up, especially since all of the original cast members are all either dead or retired and probably too old to be able to make any appearances.

 

[Guy Gardener]

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Take sex out of it.

Make Nelson either a gay man or a straight woman.

But then why does Toni Nelson dream of Jeanie if she is not in love with the little savage?


This movie had the mistress falling for her Genie.

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Oh... Major Nelson is in "Space Force" not NASA... Drones.

Space X?

Get Elon to play himself, as he has to hide Jeanie from his best friend "President Trump" who can also be played by the real guy, since the country practically runs it self, right?

Ask their buddy "Putin" to play Doctor Bellows?

 

[Danja]

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Take sex out of it.

Make Nelson either a gay man or a straight woman.

But then why does Toni Nelson dream of Jeanie if she is not in love with the little savage?

FYI: Genie is an American remake of Bernard & The Genie (they were both written by Richard Curtis).

#Nerdy

 

[the G-man]

I think the big thing would be to cast a Middle Eastern actress as Jeanie this time

If Idris Elba can play a Norse God, and Gal Gadot play a Greek demi-goddess, why can't a blonde from Texas play a Genie? They're all mystical beings and, as such, beyond race.

 

[Forbin]

Actually, the Melissa McCarthy one looked like fun!
3000 Years of Longing was quite good, IMHO.