“First Wives Club,” “Nancy Drew,” “Roswell” — it’s hard to keep up with all of the TV reboots in the works. In the past few days alone we’ve seen reports about three series getting a second lease on life: “Charmed,” “Cagney and Lacey,” and “The Greatest American Hero.” All of the projects are being written by women.
“Charmed” scored a pilot order from The CW, Entertainment Weekly confirms. When the project was first announced by the network, the supernatural show was going to return as a prequel set in the ’70s. That’s no longer the case. Now set in the present day, the new “Charmed” is described by The CW as “fierce, funny, [and] feminist,” and “centers on three sisters in a college town who discover they are witches. Between vanquishing supernatural demons, tearing down the patriarchy, and maintaining familial bonds, a witch’s work is never done.”
Set in San Francisco, the original series centers on three sisters (Shannen Doherty, Alyssa Milano, Holly Marie Combs) who also happen to be witches. The trio use their magical abilities to fight evil supernatural forces. Rose McGowan was added to the cast in Season 4 after Doherty left the series, which ran from 1998 to 2006 on The WB.
The new “Charmed” is penned by “Jane the Virgin” scribes Jessica O’Toole and Amy Rardin.
The pilot for “Cagney and Lacey” has been picked up by CBS, the network behind the original cop show. Variety reports that this new iteration will follow “the titular female police detectives and friends as they keep the streets of L.A. safe.”
The original series ran from 1982 to 1988 and starred Sharon Gless and Tyne Daly, but as the source notes, “Loretta Swit played Cagney in the original two-hour pilot and Meg Foster played Cagney for the first season.”
Bridget Carpenter (“Parenthood”) is writing the reboot.
“The Greatest American Hero” could be heading back to ABC. The reboot has received a pilot order from the network. Inspired by the ’80s show, the single-camera comedy centers on 30-year-old Meera, “who loves tequila and karaoke and has spent her life searching and failing to find meaning, much to the chagrin of her traditional Indian-American family,” Variety summarizes. “An inexplicable event occurs that will change the course of Meera’s life forever when she is entrusted with a super suit to protect the planet.”
Rachna Fruchbom (“Fresh Off the Boat”) is penning the show.
William Katt toplined the original series as Ralph Hinkley, a school teacher granted superpowers by the super suit Meera seems to have inherited. The show aired from 1981 to 1983.
No word on casting for “Charmed,” “Cagney and Lacey,” or “The Greatest American Hero” yet, and directors haven’t been announced, either.
