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Thread: Another stupid reboot we don't need -- Head of the Class

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    Owner Dan Druff's Avatar
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    Another stupid reboot we don't need -- Head of the Class

    "Head of the Class" was a charming '80s sitcom about nerds in an honors program in a New York City high school. It starred Howard Hesseman and a cast of unknown twenty-somethings playing teenagers. A few of them became famous later, such as Robin Givens and Disney channel pervert Dan Schneider.

    It ran for five seasons. The final season was without Hesseman, who grew to resent the series, claiming in one interview that they went a different direction with it than had been sold to him (he didn't elaborate).

    I saw one of the earlier episodes taped live, in 1986. It was Season 1 episode "A Problem Like Maria", and was taped in Burbank, CA, despite the (fairly convincing) New York setting of the show. I remember the weather being really bad that night, and having to wade in 3 inches of water to get to the bathroom outside.

    Anyway, I did enjoy the show for the first four seasons, before giving up on it when Howard left, because the fifth and final season looked awful. Yes, I realize it was somewhat of a ripoff of Welcome Back Kotter.



    Now they're rebooting it on HBO Max.

    https://deadline.com/2021/01/head-of...ot-1234675694/


    HBO Max has rounded out cast for multi-camera comedy pilot Head of the Class, a reboot of the popular 1980s ABC sitcom. Jorge Diaz (Jane The Virgin), Dior Goodjohn (Glee), Brandon Severs (Walk the Prank), newcomer Adrian Matthew Escalona and Christa Miller (Scrubs) join previously announced Isabella Gomez, Gavin Lewis and Jolie Hoang-Rappaport in the reboot.

    The reimagined Head of the Class revolves around a group of overachieving high school students who meet their greatest challenge — a teacher Alicia Adams (Gomez), who wants them to focus less on grades and more on experiencing life.

    Diaz plays Elliot Olsen, a goofy English teacher who loves his job and is genuine to a fault. Goodjohn is Robyn Rook. Stem queen turned Twitch streamer, Robyn’s the defacto leader of the class – though she’d never admit it. Severs will portray Terrell Smith, is a year-round athlete, who is uber-positive and all about team mentality. Escalona is Miles Mendelson, the shy, introverted, overthinking coder, who’d rather spend time with computers than people. Miller recurs as Principal Maris, an intimidating, tough love boss that always puts the students first.

    Sounds lame.

    "Stem queen turned Twitch streamer"?

    Oh boy.

    This is projected for sometime in early 2022.

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    Gold MrTickle's Avatar
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    I assume this 80s reboot trend will continue with TV networks now controlled by people your age, Druff. I suspect in the 2040s we'll end up seeing reboots of my favourite 2000s shows.

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    You had the same take about Cobrai Kai....which was great.

    Always hatin.

     
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      Tegnation22:
      
      FRANKRIZZO: cobra kai

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    Owner Dan Druff's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Texter View Post
    You had the same take about Cobrai Kai....which was great.

    Always hatin.
    I thought Cobra Kai would be a fail, but it was different in that it was a continuation of the story, and an interesting exploration of the Johnny character, which was revealed in the original film to not be totally bad.

    The writers of Cobra Kai were excellent, and part of the reason it was so good was that they didn't try to turn it into modern woke preaching, or purposely change the gender or ethnicity of the main characters. The show is almost completely apolitical, and it kept true to its roots, while also adding a diverse young cast to comprise the next generation of karate students.

    Many of these other reboots cook all the fun out of the original series by turning it into a woke morality lesson. Then there's other reboots which just outright suck, even if they don't attempt to get political.

    Keep in mind that Head of the Class was actually a somewhat left wing show, with the Hesseman character being a former '60s hippy who tried to instill some of that mindset into his naive-but-booksmart honors students. I found this to be irritating at times, but it didn't dominate the show. Most of it was about high school nerds who had to deal with a combination of teenage angst and not fitting in, and they had a wise teacher guiding them through their tough moments. It was an enjoyable watch for a teenager in the '80s.

    This new one reads like it's going to be a woke modern reboot which doesn't quite understand the appeal of the source material.

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    Owner Dan Druff's Avatar
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    BUMP



    Cancelled after 1 season.

    User reviews on IMDB mostly say the same thing -- that this was a boring, Disney-channel-like teen comedy where all of the characters were interchangeable, and the main adult character was too immature.

    What a fail. The two guys behind the original did not have any involvement in this one, presumably because they are old now, and probably dismissed as not "getting" modern teen culture.

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