The Facts of Life could be getting the reboot treatment—and it will come from some very famous producers. A reboot of the classic ’80s sitcom is in the early stages at Sony Pictures TV, Deadline reports. Appian Way, the company run by Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Davisson, is in negotiations to executive produce the TV project alongside Jessica Biel’s Iron Ocean Films. The potential Facts of Life reboot is currently looking for a writer and has no network attached to it.
The original Facts of Life , a spinoff of the hit Diff’rent Strokes , ran for nine seasons on NBC, from 1979-88. Charlotte Rae starred as boarding school housemother Edna Garrett, the Emmy-nominated sitcom focused on a group of prep school girls and the adolescent issues they faced.
The series starred Lisa Whelchel as Blair, Kim Fields as Tootie, Mindy Cohn as Natalie, and Nancy McKeon as Jo. The first season of The Facts of Life even featured a young Molly Ringwald, but her character was cut for subsequent seasons. George Clooney joined the cast for later seasons of the show as the Eastland School girls went to college and worked for Mrs. Garrett’s gourmet foods store. Other guest stars on the long-running NBC comedy included Cloris Leachman, Helen Hunt, David Spade, Juliette Lewis, Seth Green, and future Blossom star Mayim Bialik.
‘The Facts Of Life’ reboot in the works with Leonardo DiCaprio’s Appian Way & Jessica Biel in talks to produce. https://t.co/wkKIq0clAL pic.twitter.com/qq6Cw6qgWu
— Yahoo Entertainment (@YahooEnt) August 3, 2018
News of a possible Facts of Life reboot comes amid a slew of recent remakes of beloved ’80s shows like Roseanne, Murphy Brown , and the recently announced ALF. But not everyone is a fan of the reboot idea. TV fans took to Twitter to react to the announcement of the possible reboot of the long-running comedy series. Actor David Alan Grier joked that someone needs to gouge his eyes out. Others called for an end to the reboot trend.
A reboot of The Facts of Life? Please no. Leave my childhood alone. Reruns, yes. But classics don’t need to be remade. They’re great as they are.
— Kimberly (@Kimmercane) August 4, 2018
PLEASE GOD NO! GOUGE MY EYES OUT INSTEAD! Sony Pictures Television in Early Talks to Reboot ‘Facts of Life’ | THR News – The Hollywood Reporter https://t.co/DlgJKzq7Q2
— David Alan Grier AKA #LeonMusk (@davidalangrier) August 3, 2018
Can we please stop it with all the reboots and revivals? Last week an ALF reboot (of sorts) was announced, and now Facts of Life. How much original programming is getting packed in favor of these reboots/revivals?
— Mandy (@supermandy77) August 3, 2018
While Leonardo DiCaprio is best known for his movie roles ( The Revenant, The Wolf of Wall Street ), he started his career as a child actor on TV sitcoms in the early 1990s. DiCaprio’s most notable TV role was on the ABC sitcom Growing Pains , where he played Luke Brower.
Jessica Biel is best known for her role as Mary Camden in the long-running family drama, 7 th Heaven.
Should DiCaprio and Biel’s version of The Facts of Life come to fruition, it will act as Sony Pictures TV’s second reboot, following the successful One Day At a Time which is going into its third season on Netflix.
