★★★★★ 0/5

thirtysomething sequel gets pilot order

4 original cast members revive roles in pilot sequel.

5
Leave a comment

A sequel to seminal 1980s drama thirtysomething is now confirmed with ABC ordering a pilot in the US.

Titled Thirtysomething(else) (that’s a mouthful!), the new series hails from original creators Marshall Herskovitz and Edward Zwick. It will follow an ensemble of new faces playing the grown-up, 30-something children of 4 of the original cast. Ken Olin (Michael Steadman), Mel Harris (Hope Murdoch), Timothy Busfield (Elliot Weston) and Patty Wettig (Nancy Weston) all reprise their roles.

thirtysomething ran for four seasons from 1987 capturing the angst of the baby boomer generation and its struggles with real-life issues such as career, relationships, marriage, having kids and parenting. It centred around Michael Steadman (Ken Olin), his stay-at-home wife Hope Murdoch (Mel Harris) and their baby Janie. Melanie Mayron, Timothy Busfield, Patricia Wettig, Peter Horton and Polly Draper all starred in the series.

Source: Variety

5 Responses

  1. I thought the show Brothers and Sisters was somewhat of a Thirtysomething reunion. Ken Olin and Patricia Wetting were involved, and possibly another former 30something star.

  2. It amazes me that we keep getting reboots or continuation of shows that have never or hardly ever been re-run, since their original airings. Thirtysomething, Murphy Brown, Northern Exposure (although I would have liked to see Northern Exposure re-runs). Who’s actually asking for these shows back?

    1. All of these have long and affectionate legacies with US audiences. A reboot minimises the risk involved with a brand new show, mind you there are more of those than ever anyway. It isn’t an either / or situation. It’s roughly the same proportion in terms of output it’s always been.

    2. Who’s asking for them back in executives with no idea how to find and audience in amongst 500+ US shows other than name recognition and nostalgia. The Murphy Brown reboot was awful. Thirtysomethingelse at least has an interesting idea of looking at the same themes a generation later.

      NE has re-run several times on Foxtel channels, on daytime TV, at midnight and on secondary channels in the last 20 years, though I haven’t seen it for a while. I have watched some old episodes of Murphy Brown and Thirtysomething in the last 5 years either on cable daytime TV. Eventually all TV will available to stream somewhere.

Leave a Reply