Lee Daniels is rebooting a classic television show from the 80s/90s — with a twist.
“The Wonder Years” was a coming-of-age series about Kevin Arnold, his family and his friends. But more than just white, middle class kids came of age in the 60s, when the show was set.
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Daniels’ version will be about a Black family in Montgomery, Alabama. He has drafted Saladin Patterson of “The Big Bang Theory” and “The Bernie Mac Show” to be the showrunner and write the pilot episode. Patterson went through his wonder years in Montgomery.
"This is going to be a love letter to Montgomery, about Montgomery and the people of Montgomery," Patterson told the Montgomery Advertiser.
The reboot, like the original, will begin in 1968.
“One of the reasons to explore that time period with a Black middle class family in Montgomery is because the story of the Black middle class really hasn’t been represented in TV and film from that time period,” Patterson told the newspaper.
Directing the pilot will be Fred Savage, who played Kevin in the original show.
“(Savage) gives insight to the tone, which is something that we want to emulate, but make our own,” Patterson told the Advertiser. “Having him direct the pilot is just going to go a long way in making this show feel authentic. I couldn’t be more excited about that.”
No one has been cast yet, but Patterson said he wants the show to be filmed in Montgomery.
“I’m going to fight really hard for that,” he said. ‘We’re definitely going to want to shoot it in the South.”
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