We're living in the middle of a TV reboot-a-palooza. There are so many movies being made into TV shows and so many TV shows from the past that are getting revived for a new day and age that no announcement is surprising anymore. This week, L.A. Law creator Steven Bochco announced that he and former writer Billy Finkelstein have a new version of L.A. Law in the works. Here's what he had to say on The Rich Eisen Show:
Yeah, you know, over the years we've been asked to redo L.A. Law. I always said, 'No I'm not interested.' One of our original writers--a wonderful writer by the name of Billy Finkelstein called me about four months ago and pitched me again. I said no. He pushed back and he said, 'The kind of law that was relevant in 2016 didn't even exist in 1980.' There are so many interesting legal aspects to our society today that were just simply not in play then. The more I thought about it, the more I thought, that is interesting.
L.A. Law was originally on the air from 1986-1994. During its time on TV, the series nodded to real-life legal matters and events that were going on at the time. For instance, in 1992, the show incorporated events from the riots in Los Angeles following the beating of Rodney King. With that in mind, it makes sense that L.A. Law could be rebooted and then tie in to the events of today.
While speaking on The Rich Eisen Show, Steven Bochco said that he took the pitch for a revival of L.A. Law to Fox, which owns the rights to the series (although it aired on NBC originally). The creative team behind the pitch is currently working on a script that they hope to have finished by October. If you know anything about the network TV pilot process, you should know that L.A. Law is in a pretty early stage of development. Fox would still need to sign on for a pilot for the potential drama before it's even decided whether or not it will move forward to series, so it could be a very long time before L.A. Law makes a comeback. In fact, we may not hear much more about this project until next spring.
As far as reboots, remakes and revivals go, L.A. Law isn't one of the most fondly remembered shows to ever air on television, but it was well-liked during its original run and it does have the capacity to be reworked for the modern day and age. It's a mixed bag, but since the major networks are still all over procedurals, we could be seeing this one on the schedule in 2017.
For now, you can check out what TV shows are set to air this fall with our TV premiere schedule.
