All-Female Honeymooners Reboot In The Works
There is a Honeymooners reboot in the works and this one is going to take things in a different direction with an all-female cast.
With countless networks and production houses busy working on reviving old classics like The Munsters, CBS has also joined the bandwagon. As per a new report, the network is working on giving the popular 1950s comedy sitcom, The Honeymooners, a new life by reimagining the show with an all-female reboot.
As reported by Deadline, the reboot of The Honeymooners, which ran from 1955 to 1956, will be a multi-camera project like the original. It will be helmed by Damon Wayans Jr. and Kameron Tarlow’s Two Shakes Entertainment and CBS Studios. The series will be written by Lindsey Shockley and directed by Kelly Park. The duo is also on-board as executive producers along with Wayans Jr. and Tarlow.
The original Honeymooners followed the lives of New York City bus driver Ralph Kramden (Jackie Gleason, who also directed the sitcom), his wife Alice (Audrey Meadows), Ralph’s best friend Ed Norton (Art Carney) who is a sewer worker, and Ed’s wife Trixie (Joyce Randolph). The sitcom was one of the first shows to present working-class married couples in a non-idyllic setting as most of the episodes took place in Kramdens’ kitchen in a run-down Brooklyn apartment building.
Unlike the OG show, the new Honeymooners will have a feminist focus. As per the outlet, it will be a “bold, female-driven reboot of the iconic working-class comedy.” This time, the center of the story will be a character named Ruth and her husband Alex. The couple doesn’t want a marriage where the power dynamics are imbalanced and want to be two equals in a relationship. Troubles arise when they put this novel concept to use as they become two heads of a household. Will their theory work out in real life? Will they be able to share the responsibility or will their marriage suffer because they are so desperate to strike a balance?
The basic story of The Honeymooners was centered around Kramden and Norton’s crazy schemes to make it rich, which always led to hilarious consequences for the characters. Occasionally, the show also raised serious topics like women’s rights and social status. Initially, the show was in the form of sketches that first aired on the DuMont network’s variety series Cavalcade of Stars, hosted by Gleason. The sketches then shifted to the CBS network’s The Jackie Gleason Show. But as their popularity skyrocketed, Gleason decided to separate the sketches from his variety show and turn them into a series. It premiered on CBS on 1 October 1955 and was an instant success as it became the No. 2 show in the United States.
The success of the original The Honeymooners has led to the remake of the show in countries outside the United States like Indonesia, Canada, Netherlands, Sweden, Poland, etc. In 2005, a feature film remake of the same name was released by Paramount Pictures, starring Cedric the Entertainer, Gabrielle Union, Mike Epps, and Regina Hall, as Ralph, Alice, Ed, and Trixie respectively.
CBS had planned to reboot The Honeymooners back in December 2016 as well. At the time, Bob Kushell was brought on board as the executive producer and to write the script while Sarah Timberman, Carl Beverly, Eric & Kim Tannenbaum, and Jeff Greenstein were announced as producers. While that project never saw the light of day, hopefully, this time the network’s plans will reach their expected goal.
