Because everything old is new again, 1990s domestic sitcom Mad About You will be returning to revisit Paul Reiser and Helen Hunt as longtime TV couple the Buchmans, now empty nesters. Still in their slanty Manhattan apartment? Maybe with a new dog? Will Janeane Garafalo return as their similarly aged daughter Mabel, as she appeared in the original series finale? We’ll just have to wait and see when the new Spectrum Originals series debuts in late 2019.
In case you want to bone up on your Bachman-ship before this latest sitcom return, Spectrum now announces that it “will make all 164 episodes of the original series available free on-demand, exclusively for Spectrum subscribers beginning August 1.” That’s seven full seasons of Paul and Jamie quarrels, wisecracks, dinner parties, and if we’re remembering correctly, at least one breakup.
Currently, Mad About You is only available for streaming on Hulu with a Starz add-on and for purchase on Amazon Prime. The purchase of the episodes by the Charter Communications-owned cable operator in a deal with Sony Pictures TV “provides Spectrum with a massive library at a time when that content remains increasingly in demand,” says The Hollywood Reporter. After all, “The Office and Friends recently sold to NBCUniversal’s streaming platform and HBO Max for $100 million and $85 million per year, respectively.”
Not sure that Mad About You has the same level of devotion as those other NBC series; it’s probably more along the lines of Will & Grace, which kicked off its own reboot on its old network in 2017. What’s next: A reboot of The Single Guy with Jonathan Silverman still looking for love in the big city decades later?