Rebooting "I Dream of Jeannie"

[Danja]

"Bewitched" is being rebooted as an hourlong show.

"Bewitched" Thread


How would you reboot I Dream of Jeannie?

I would pick up where the TV-movies left off (Jeannie is the mother of a teenage son, Tony Jr.). I would have the crazy stuff she did before marrying Major Nelson as being an urban legend.

I see it as something akin to Highlander (there is this subculture of seemingly "mythical" beings existing on the fringes of our modern world).

I would bring the show back to Cocoa Beach a la Buffy the Vampire Slayer operating out of Sunnydale, California (the setting for IDoJ relocated to Houston for the TV-movies). The supernatural goings-on would have a greater impact in a small town like Cocoa Beach than they would in a metropolis like Houston.

Tony would be retired from the Air force and working for a private rocket contractor out of Cape Canaveral (he might even be part of the new Space Force).

 

[JD]

I think the big thing would be to cast a Middle Eastern actress as Jennie this time, and I doubt you could get away with her calling Tony master all the time.
I think trying to find a way to give her a bit more agency, without totally breaking the whole genie thing would be important too.

 

[Nerys Myk]

I think the big thing would be to cast a Middle Eastern actress as Jennie this time, and I doubt you could get away with her calling Tony master all the time.
I think trying to find a way to give her a bit more agency, without totally breaking the whole genie thing would be important too.

The comedy in the show was originally derived from Tony trying to keep Jeannie a secret, Jeannie's over eager attempts to help Tony and Jeannie being a fish out of water, Not sure how those will play in the 2020s.

 

[Danja]

The comedy in the show was originally derived from Tony trying to keep Jeannie a secret, Jeannie's over eager attempts to help Tony and Jeannie being a fish out of water, Not sure how those will play in the 2020s.

I'd lean more towards drama than sitcom (something along the lines of the Bewitched and Prince of Bel Air reboots).

I think the big thing would be to cast a Middle Eastern actress as Jennie this time, and I doubt you could get away with her calling Tony master all the time.

Sidney Sheldon tried casting a Middle Eastern actress back in the 60's (he auditioned Miss Israel, Miss Egypt, Miss Saudi Arabia, Miss Jordan, etc.).

Barbara Eden was cast as a last resort.

A running gag of the original series was that Jeannie and Tony often switched places. Who was Master and who was Servant went back and forth.

 

[Jedi Marso]

Aishwarya Rai as Jeannie!

 

[JD]

She's Indian though, and I don't think Indians are considered Asian, not Middle Eastern. I did one other possibility though, Jameela Jamil, who's of Pakistani descent according to Wikipedia.

 

[Nerys Myk]

She's Indian though, and I don't think Indians are considered Asian, not Middle Eastern. I did one other possibility though, Jameela Jamil, who's of Pakistani descent according to Wikipedia.

Wouldn't that be the same "problem"? Pakistan is part of the "Indian sub-continent". It was part of British India before the Partion.
Casting Indian and Pakistani actors as Arabs and other Middle Easterners is pretty common.

 

[JD]

Oh, I didn't realize that, I thought it was part of the Middle East. I have to admit, I'm not good with which countries are part of which regions like that. Same goes for places like Eastern Europe and Scandanavia, and South and Central America.

 

[valkyrie013]

Do know there are blonde Kurds and Persians?

 

[UssGlenn]

The comedy in the show was originally derived from Tony trying to keep Jeannie a secret, Jeannie's over eager attempts to help Tony and Jeannie being a fish out of water, Not sure how those will play in the 2020s.

also how Jeannie is in love with Tony and he's trying to be a gentleman about it, since they aren't married, and the whole power dynamics thing.

 

[Shawnster]

Flip the script and have a male genie. Of course, that messes up the Jeannie pun.

Genie could be French named Jean

 

[BillJ]

Or just leave it alone, and create something new…

 

[EnderAKH]

Make Tony a cop. Make it a procedural. Put it on CBS. You're welcome, America.

 

[Ovation]

Make Tony a cop. Make it a procedural. Put it on CBS. You're welcome, America.

Or NBC. Law and Order: Magical Intent. Someone has to investigate and prosecute all those supernatural crimes with serious professionalism and realism.

 

[vandevere]

Or NBC. Law and Order: Magical Intent. Someone has to investigate and prosecute all those supernatural crimes with serious professionalism and realism.

The funny thing is that it could work. Wasn't there a series a few years ago that had a private detective dealing with supernatural elements. There definitely was a series of books on it...

 

[UssGlenn]

Or NBC. Law and Order: Magical Intent. Someone has to investigate and prosecute all those supernatural crimes with serious professionalism and realism.

Have it star Daniel Radcliff and set it in the Harry Potter universe.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Have it star Daniel Radcliff and set it in the Harry Potter universe.

Potter is a divorced, recovering alcoholic on his last chance with the force. His new partner is his old schoolmate Luna Lovegood, whose unconventional methods and outlook has also placed her on the outs with the Magical enforcement and investigation community.

Check please.

 

[Ovation]

Potter is a divorced, recovering alcoholic on his last chance with the force. His new partner is his old schoolmate Luna Lovegood, whose unconventional methods and outlook has also placed her on the outs with the Magical enforcement and investigation community.

Check please.

Not yet. Need a team of prosecutors. If we’re going to do L&O, we’re doing it right (as in, the original).

 

[UssGlenn]

Not yet. Need a team of prosecutors. If we’re going to do L&O, we’re doing it right (as in, the original).

Hermione is the DA and Malfoy is the prosecutor

 

[Nerys Myk]

Not yet. Need a team of prosecutors. If we’re going to do L&O, we’re doing it right (as in, the original).

Enter Hermione Granger
Ninja’d