Reality Bites TV Series in the Works at Peacock, With Original Writer on Board
The dream of the ’90s is alive on Peacock: The streamer is developing a TV series version of the Gen X classic Reality Bites, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The series is described as a “reframing” of the 1994 film, with original screenwriter Helen Childress returning to pen the adaptation. The story centers on recent college grad Lelaina Pierce and her three best friends as they venture into adulthood together. “As the world around them is on the brink of a seismic shift, they struggle to hold onto who they are, and to each other,” per the official description. (It’s not clear if the new series will be set in the ’90s or in present day.)
Winona Ryder starred as Lelaina in the original Reality Bites, with Ethan Hawke as her slacker friend Troy, Janeane Garofalo as Vickie and Steve Zahn as Sammy. Ben Stiller costarred as Lelaina’s yuppie love interest Michael and directed the film as well.
Jenna Bans will executive-produce along with Childress, who worked with Bans on the late NBC dramedy Good Girls. Plus, original film producers Michael Shamberg, Stacey Sher and Danny DeVito will return as EPs on the series.
Alright, Gen X-ers: Will you watch a Reality Bites TV show? And who should play Lelaina and Troy? Hit the comments and share your thoughts… if, you know, you feel like it, man.
Now this revisiting actually sounds interesting, and having the creator on board gives me more hope. I do hope it can focus on a next generation, with the originals just popping in very briefly to provide a launchpad for a new story, because the themes of the original are more universal than those in many of the other nostalgia trips Peacock has undertaken.
Hard to recreate this great movie. Awesome cast, great soundtrack, captured the 90s college-type so well. Love Ethan Hawke in this movie! Just let the original live on.
Please don’t. This is one Gen X’er that would rather they leave such a seminal film alone. There’s no way they could tell this story in today’s social climate without butchering it all to heck.
Completely agree!!! You couldn’t remake this type of movie with the way the world is today. And going back & trying to recreate the 90s wouldn’t work either. They would never get it right. Don’t mess with a classic movie!
Love the original so much, it’s hard to imagine that they won’t screw this up but we’ll see.
Yet another bad decision to ruin a classic movie. Sometimes I wonder if those that “reboot” a classic or make a series after a classic movie shows laziness and lack of imagination. Use your brains and create something new, don’t diminish the greatness of the original with a cheap knockoff that insults everything about the original. JMO
Lelaina could he played by Maya Hawk
Troy could he played by Joseph Quinn.
I’m a Gen x person who loved the original and I’m not asking for a series but… we invented whatever so it’s whatever to me