The Wrap reports that Happy Madison and 3 Arts are rebooting Martha Coolidge’s Real Genius for NBC. Here’s the pitch:
While the original film was set on a technical university campus, the TV reboot of “Real Genius” will be a workplace comedy, set in the present-day and centering around the relationship between two co-workers with incompatible personalities.
So they just want to use the title of a modestly successful, 30-year-old film to skin the avatar of their workplace comedy?
Let’s not mince words: Real Genius is a classic. It has the single best use of a Tears For Fears song on film (sorry, Donnie Darko) and my heart feels real joy every time I see that house explode in a plume of popcorn. And Val Kilmer has his movie star charisma is turned all the way up! And William Atherton! The supreme dickhead of the 80s! Gah!
This, by contrast, sounds like a Big Bang Theory clone. Maybe you like The Big Bang Theory, and that’s fine, but I think we can all agree that CBS’ eight year lead and millions of viewers puts them way ahead of this project and whatever potential NBC sees in it.
The people writing this have Workaholics and Parks & Recreation cred. Good?