Though the first attempt to turn John Hughes’ 1989 comedy Uncle Buck into a TV series lasted all of one season back in 1990, that hasn't stopped someone from trying again. US network ABC is working up a new televisual take on the character embodied by John Candy.
Will Packer, who has had film success with Ride Along, Think Like A Man and, more recently, No Good Deed, is the producer spearheading this one for Universal TV and his own company.
Steven Cragg and Brian Bradley are writing the pilot for the show, which will spin the concept of the loutish man-child forced to grow up just a little when he has to take care of his brother’s kids into a multi-camera comedy series.
Though the film was a hit in 1989, the first try at a TV series (with Kevin Meaney taking over the title role) flopped, so all involved will be hoping that this version has a little more success. There is certainly precedent for films being turned into successful TV shows – see About A Boy for one example, now entering its second year – even if we're not sure we need a new take on **Uncle Buck **to try to give it name appeal.
It comes on the heels of fellow US broadcast behemoth NBC kicking off – and almost as quickly shutting down – development of a TV series that would’ve attempt to continue the story of Cameron Crowe’s Say Anything.... That project was shelved when Crowe, who had reportedly not been contacted by anyone involved, got on Twitter to publicly decry the idea and then called the executives personally.