WarnerMedia is reportedly planning to give four beloved sitcoms from the Warner Bros. Television library reboots, and they will all be exclusive to the company’s upcoming streaming platform. Step by Step, Perfect Strangers, Family Matters and Hangin’ With Mr. Cooper are all in contention for revivals as a way to bring nostalgic viewers to the service.
Back on Monday, sources told Deadline that talks are in “exploratory stages” for the four shows, and it is not clear if this would really come to fruition. However, there is “interest” among WarnerMedia executives who saw the success of the Full House revival Fuller House at Netflix.
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WarnerMedia is reportedly trying to make its comedy library the “centerpiece” of its streaming platform. It will already be the exclusive home to Friends once the deal with Netflix is over, and could become the exclusive streaming home of The Big Bang Theory. The service will also be the exclusive home of Seinfeld once the Hulu deal expires.
All seasons of Full House, Perfect Strangers, Family Matters, Step by Step and Hangin’ with Mr. Cooper are still exclusive to Hulu, and could join the WarnerMedia service once that deal expires.
Perfect Strangers has recently seen a groundswell of fan support for a reboot or revival. The series was created by Dale McRaven and ran from 1986 to 1993 and, like Full House, was a mainstay of ABC’s TGIF block. Mark Linn-Baker starred as midwestern American Larry Appleton, who lives with his distant European cousin, Brnaon Pinchot’s Balki Bartokomous.
Family Matters was a spin-off of Perfect Strangers, following the Winslow family. However, the show is most famous for making a star out of Jaleel White, who played their nerdy neighbor Steve Urkel. The series ran nine seasons, from 1989 to 1998.
Step By Step ran on ABC’s TGIF lineup from 1991 to 1997 before moving to CBS for its final season from 1997 to 1998. The series starred Patrick Duffy and Suzanne Sommers and single parents with three children who get married during a vacation.
Hangin’ With Mr. Cooper was created by Full House‘s Jeff Franklin and ran five seasons, from 1992 to 1997. Mark Curry played former NBA star Mark Cooper, who becomes a physical education teacher. Holly Robinson Peete co-starred as Vanessa Russell, his roommate and later fiancee.
Franklin would likely not be involved in a Hangin’ With Mr. Cooper revival if it happened. Early last year, WBTV fired Franklin for alleged misconduct. He was reportedly verbally abusive to staff and crew and made sexually-charged comments about his personal life. WBTV investigated him as early as 2016 over concerns of in-equal treatment of female writers on the show. A second investigation was launched in November 2017, after the studio received allegations he created a toxic work environment.
Steve Baldikoski and Bryan Behar, who are both executive producers on the show, were quickly named showrunners on Fuller House.
The fifth and final season of Fuller House will debut on Netflix later this year.
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