NBC says Seinfeld and Friends revivals will never happen, but door's open for The West Wing

The success of the Will & Grace and Roseanne revivals has stirred up talk of revisiting virtually every successful sitcom, including The Office (but in that case, only for a holiday special), as well as many dramas. But NBC is actually showing some restraint in that regard—at a recent Hollywood Reporter event, network boss Robert Greenblatt told the publication that Seinfeld and Friends will likely never be revived.

Although Greenblatt is heartened by the response to the “reboot genre,” he also cautions against reworking every idea that ever scored the network a hit. “We can’t just reboot everything,” Greenblatt says, sending a shiver down the spines of all the network executives who were recently inspired by the looming Charmed and Party Of Five reboots. According to THR, Greenblatt indicated that “Friends, for example, he says will never happen. Seinfeld is also virtually guaranteed to never be rebooted.” (Sorry, Seinfeld2000.) And when asked about a return trip to a friendly bar in Boston, the NBC boss said “I’d love to have the Cheers reboot if it were 20 years ago.”

But, The Office still could come back, Greenblatt says, “though likely without the full original cast,” and The West Wing—which now looks like escapist fare in the current political landscape—“also seems to have favorable odds of returning.” The problem there is that creator Aaron Sorkin is “busy doing 10 other extraordinary things.” In addition to 30 Rock, these are the same shows Greenblatt proposed bringing back when the conversation turned to reboots during his executive session at last summer’s Television Critics Association press tour.