This is the first sit com based on a stage play in a very long time. Rarely do we see *anything* from legitimate theater serving as the basis of a TV show, let alone a play by a Pulitzer prize winner. Back in the 1970s there was a trend to turn plays into sit coms: HOT L BALTIMORE (Lanford Wilson), BAREFOOT IN THE PARK (Neil Simon), THE ODD COUPLE (Simon again). That's all I remember. Were there any others you can think of?
shareI remember those three. The rest of them are probably from before I was born. I'll get the ball rolling with I Remember Mama.
share"The King and I". Yes, that was a sitcom for 13 weeks back in the '70s.
shareWow, there's one I had utterly forgotten. I watched that show as a kid. It was called "Anna and the King" and had Samantha Eggar and, of course, Yul Brynner who never seemed to escape that part. That may be the only musical turned into a sit com.
shareExcellent! Hollywood and Broadway got a lot of mileage out of I REMEMBER MAMA. Richard Rodgers turned it into a musical, one of his few failures, in 1979. My brother saw it back when we were teens, but I had no interest.
shareThe Big Bang Theory was based on a 70s play by Samuel Beckett which was so savaged by critics, and harassed by the police for its, then very graphic, violence and frequent full frontal nudity, that he vowed never to work in America again and would hurl whatever came to hand at anyone who even mentioned its existence in his presence.
shareAmazin'.
shareI know many people think this show is based on a play or Chico and the Man, but you need to check out "Dough" on Netflix. Its a British dramedy. Story goes old Jewish baker who has trouble adjusting to changing neighborhood and times. He hires a young black (Muslim) man who revitalizes the baker's business and his life. He also has a next door neighbor who wants to buy his business. If nothing else the movie is worth a look.
shareThe closing credits of this show say that it's based off of a play by Chicago playwright Tracy Letts. I wonder which came first, that movie or Letts' play.
Annoying the world since 1960!