TV Reunion Movies

Keeping in this television mood that I have gotten into lately, I was wondering, of all the reunion movies that are really pilots for hopefully a new TV series from the old series, how many of them are really made into new series?
In 1977 Father Knows Best did at least two reunion movies. I say at least because in what I have read in Unsold Pilots said that the first one had two sequels but only mentioned one. The first one was the whole family getting together for Mom and Dad’s 35th anniversary. The second one had a bit more drama as it looked like Jim and Margaret Anderson would be spending Christmas alone and would have to sell their house. I didn’t see either one but I doubt that they were alone on Christmas and didn’t have to sell their home.
In 1978 the king of all reunion movies was aired. Rescue From Gilligan’s Island. The title says it all but it wasn’t really a full reunion. Tina Louise was finally getting her own acting career underway since the show went off, mostly in hair and skin commercials. She wanted too much money so they recast her part. It was a monster in the ratings. It was mostly because the public had waited at least 10 years to see them get off that island. The ending set up the series as on an anniversary of their voyage they set out to sea again and get stranded on the same island again. They did two more movies with people coming to the island like some spies and the Harlem Globetrotters. That is what the series was to be about. The stories would revolve around the problems the guest had who were staying at the resort that the castaways had built. The new series thankfully never got off the ground. I think it would have been a big flop. I remember seeing the first reunion movie and I was very happy to see they finally got off that island. I also remember thinking “Not again!” when they got stranded again. The only reason to watch the first movie was as a reward for being a loyal viewer all those years. I didn’t want a new series. If I want to see Gilligan’s Island I can watch the repeats.
Some of the reunion movie I never heard of till I read Unsold Pilots by Lee Goldberg. I have already told you in a previous posting about the one for Cannon called the Return of Frank Cannon. I never saw the ad for it or I know I would have watched it. There is Murder in Peyton Place. The characters that were played by Ryan O’Neal and Mia Farrow are killed and everyone wants to know why. I never heard of this movie either. My Mom must not have either or she would have watched it. I am too young to remember the show it was based on. I think it came on after my bedtime. Also, I never heard of The Return of Marcus Welby or The Return of the Mod Squad so I didn’t watch them either and I guess most of the country didn’t since no new series came out of either one.
I did see The Return of Sam McCloud in 1989. McCloud was now a Senator and visiting overseas in England. He gets his old friends from the New York police department to come to England and help him solve a murder. The movie kept the fish out of water story in the movie. You know having a cowboy in England. Considering the Joe Broadhurst and Chief Clifford were also in England that was multiplied by 3. However, you can’t keep them in England and this movie proved that the old McCloud charm didn’t work as well anymore so I think it was wise that a new series never came to be. Still with Dennis Weaver now gone I was glad that I got to see good old Sam one more time before he went to ride his horse into the sunset.
There was the Return of the Beverly Hillbillies. The less said the better.
There was also The Return of the Greatest American Hero, The Return of the Man From U.N.C.L.E., The Return of the Six Million Dollar Man and the Bionic Woman and finally Return to Green Acres. The only ones out of those mentioned above that still looked like you could get a series out of them were the Greatest American Hero and the Six Million Dollar Man. Mostly because the leads would be new actors. The Greatest American Hero would now be a Heroine with Mary Ellen Stuart in the role. The new 6 Million Dollar Man would have been the son of Steve Austin played by Tom Schanley. Neither one came to series.
In 1987, only a year after the series was canceled, we had Still Crazy Like A Fox. At least they weren’t returning since they were still here in recent memory at that time. Harry Fox and his family were vacationing where almost every hopeful crime drama series revival wants to start…London, England. While there Harry Fox is accused of murdering a Duke and has to clear his name. It was offered to the networks and to syndications as a series but they both turned it down.
In 1979 and 1980 there were two Wild, Wild West reunion movies. Robert Conrad and Ross Martin both times came back to their signature roles of West and Gordon. In the first film they fought the son of their arch enemy Dr. Loveless. The new Dr. Loveless was played by Paul Williams. The next mad scientist they went up against was played by Jonathan Winters. Now THAT would be one I would like to see on DVD or on some cable station sometime. With Mr. Winters in it the blooper reel might be more entertaining then the movie.
As far as becoming a series it is Still The Beaver who hit the home run in 1983. All the kids from the series are grown up, married and have kids of their own. Only Beaver is the one who left town but now returns as a single Dad to raise his two sons in Mayfield. It became a successful series on the Disney Channel and then moved to WTBS before it entered syndication.
The Brady Bunch at least got on base when A Very Brady Christmas from 1988 became a series in 1990. Instead of a new sit-com it became an hour long lighthearted family drama. It aired as a midseason replacement in Feburary 1990. It aired Friday night at 8pm. This is what killed them as the audience for the Brady Bunch had grown up and were not home at that time. Airing it at 9 or 10pm would have been better. The show was canceled in one month.
So in looking back the ratings for a reunion movie might be good but chances are slim to none that an old series will see new life pumped into it again. You could get a series of movies. Look what happened to Perry Mason and Columbo. But don’t try for a new weekly series unless your lead character is Beaver Cleaver.