NBC Can’t Stop Won’t Stop Trying To Remake Everything

NBC is in the process of rebooting Miami Vice and Will & Grace, because originality is dead and nostalgia makes for a quick dollar. Of course, NBC is not the only network mining it’s past for content, but NBC Entertainment chairman Bob Greenblatt is really on one right now. He’s also got his sights set on remakes or reboots of The Office, 30 Rock, ER and The West Wing.

According to Deadline, Bob’s discussion with Greg Daniels of The Office went like this:

“We often talk about The Office, I’ve talked to Greg four times over the past few years. It’s always, ‘maybe some day but not now’,” Greenblatt said in an interview with Deadline during NBC’s portion of the TCA press tour. “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.”

Bob Greenblatt is that guy you used to kick it with back in the day or whatever and he found you on Facebook. Now he’s always bugging you to “get together,” except you guys were never really like that before and he can’t take a hint, but you don’t want to be mean, so you’re all vague and fake with your response. Greg’s not trying to remake The Office, bub. Let it go. Nobody wants this, I’m sure of it. But do you think Bob cares what you think? Bob just wants to party like it’s 2005 when you still had to mail back your Netflix envelopes.

Bob probably tried to Facebook messenger Tina Fey too. According to Deadline, Bob said “I’d say to Tina ‘Hey, you think some more 30 Rock makes any sense?’ She’d say, ‘I don’t know maybe’ ”. That’s industry speak for “hard pass,” Bob!

Bob also tried it with Aaron Sorkin and John Wells of ER. Bob told Deadline:

“I keep saying to him, ‘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.’ I’ve said it to John Wells on ER, but there is nothing concrete except Miami Vice which is something that we are reviving.”

He’s just not that into you, Bob. Part of Bob’s problem may be that he doesn’t want to do anything interesting or fun. All of those shows he wants to reboot either ended when they needed to or lasted too long. If Bob wants to party with the Ghosts of NBC Past, he might start with trying to reboot some shows we’d all be interested in seeing again. I would love to see a remake of Diff’rent Strokes where a poor black man adopts two rich little white kids and raises them in the ghetto. Or how about we go pull Vicki Lawrence out of mothballs and do Mama’s Family: The Next Generation. Sadly, for the time being we have to hang out with that crusty gang over at Will & Grace, because they actually picked up the phone when Bob called (yes, Bob is the type to still call you on the telephone like a neanderthal instead of texting).

Pic: YouTube