So I am an avid watcher of Tubi, the last remaining ethical streaming service.
Lately it has been recommending me sitcoms of the 1960s, and so far I’ve really been finding myself surprisingly enjoying this look into the past. Gilligan’s island, The Jetsons, and bewitched.
I was watching The Jetsons today before work just to have Some Noise playing whilst I ingested my ramen noodles before work. Given that this is a sitcom about the future and how American society as pictured in the 1960s would adapt if the Space Age Promises of Tomorrow held true.
Not that kind of got me thinking, the Jetsons is very much in the ballpark of flintstones, it’s a modern family, in a time period that people of the 1960s would not consider modern. Now Flintstones doesn’t really need to be updated, because it’s set in a fictionalized stone age. You would not have to do much to update it if you wanted to do a modern take on that setting.
But what about the Jetsons? Now let’s say you were put in charge of making this reboot happen? How would you do it?
Would you be overly self aware and make jokes about a lot of future predictions that didn’t come true? Would you try to make it a sitcom version of Star Trek, like lower decks, but featuring a family instead of the D Squad?
Or maybe do something a bit more serious?
I want to hear from you, this is a message board for movies and TV shows, so let’s Flex those creative muscles, how would you make a new movie or TV show about the Jetsons?
I, too, think the writer’s / SAG strike is going too long, but damned if you get me to cross that line.
No no, it is fine, Screen Actors Guild needs all they can get. Besides if the writers are under less pressure and have more creative control than we all win
There’s a Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law episode where he takes the Jetson’s case and they joke about how they live in a dated vision of the future. I’d probably do that. Maybe have them interact with the modern world but have them appearing posh and snobby despite actually being behind the times on a lot of things.
Would highly recommend you watch Harvey Birdman if you haven’t already by the way OP. I think you’d like it
That’s actually one of my favorite episodes, I love how they keep that joke fresh. I think my favorite part is when they give a tape containing their evidence, however because it’s available on this futuristic platform that modern technology has no way of reading, they have to go find something that can. This futuristic media? A betamax tape.
I feel like I’d be compelled to go fairly dark with it. When The Jetsons was made, it was largely a period of optimism and prosperity in the US. That is most certainly no longer the case, with the middle class pretty much having evaporated, and so many people struggling to keep a roof over their heads and food on the table.
I think I’d probably focus on the company store construct, that has become the foundation of capitalist society. Where everything you earn is due to the good will of those you’re obligated to give it back to. In a world with all sorts of wonderful technology, for most, it exists solely to make your toils for the sake of others more efficient.
I don’t see how the optimism of The Jetsons can exist today, at least not without mocking the hell out of it.
This is an incredibly pessimistic outlook and one I’m glad that, for instance, the makers of Star Trek The Next Generation didn’t share.
When TNG was coming out, the world was reeling from the stagflation of the 1970s and the economic shocks of Reaganomics and Thatcherism.
And still TNG is a very optimistic show, that still managed to touch on the issues of its day in a realistic and non-naive manner.
The brilliance of TNG’s utopia is that it is built on the premise that we had to go through a literal hell and near rural self-destruction to get to it. I don’t recall if TOS established WW3 first or not, but TNG really leans heavily into the notion that we came within inches of destroying everything.
But the moment we learned we weren’t alone in the universe, we turned it around and started building the future we could have had all along.
TOS introduced the Eugenics Wars, a global conflict which took place in the far-flung future of the 1990s. It was never really clear in that series whether or not it was synonymous with WW3, but they did talk about tens of millions dead.
I think the difference is, Star Trek has always been very detached from our own lives. It’s not placing the average day in modern times into a futuristic setting, like The Jetsons is.
This was my first thought…
Maybe just have the Jetsons encounter things from 2023, keeping their retro-futuristic technology. It would underscore the dystopian hell we all live in. Like, they’re constantly served spam and advertisements, Rosie’s subscription-based, their flying car is remotely disabled for a missed payment, everyone is low-level depressed because they never see grass or natural environments…
I feel like I’d be compelled to go fairly dark with it.
Then you are not making the Jetsons, just relying on name recognition. This is not an attack on you or the idea but the post WW2 optimism is central to the show.
You would be making another Velma: Taking a light-hearted comedy from decades ago and tossing out everything but the character names.
You’re right. I don’t think it can be successfully made, today. The best you can do is just barely peak through the facade.
I would add some bladerunner and true lies.
Family thinks he works at sprocket. But he’s a rogue robot hunter in the undercity. Hijinks ensures when he tries to keep his job separate from his family. Ps. Rosie is a spy for the robot rebellion
Honestly, any pitch that gives me more Rosie in my life is a winner.
Just sealab 2020 it. Use some stock footage and some AI trickery but replace all the scripts with crazy.
So I am an avid watcher of Tubi, the last remaining ethical streaming service.
Do you know something about Dropout that I don’t?
Flintstones doesn’t really need to be updated
If you haven’t read the 2016 Flintstones DC comic I highly recommend it.
how would you make a new movie or TV show about the Jetsons?
This is a difficult question. The Jetsons was very much a highly optimistic view of the future through the lens of the standard sitcom formula; spawned off of their success with the Flintstones which itself was basically just an animated version of The Honeymooners.
Today, an inherent understanding of the sitcom formula is not something you could expect from the general public, as the sitcom has essentially died as a concept in favor of series with a storyline that spans multiple seasons.
To make the Jetsons work today, you would need to adapt it to modern sensibilities in more ways than one. The general vision of the future is much more bleak than in the 60s, so I would start there.
The speed at which new technology is releasing is staggering compared to what it was 60 years ago, so the idea of some brand new technology that permeates every facet of life to make things easier could hold a much more sinister tone to modern audiences.
If you were going to keep the same essential premise, you would need to address that somehow. Perhaps a focus on sustainability and ethics like the solarpunk movement or you could lean into the opposite and go full dystopian cyberpunk.
The work culture of the Jetsons is also something that would need to be addressed. George is fired and subsequently re-hired every episode that features Mr. Spacely, and a Google search tells me that George has a 9 hour workweek. George is either irreplaceable, has very strong union protections or both.
Actually, now that I’m this deep into the weeds, I think a Lower Decks style parody, highlighting all the dirt behind the scenes that makes this world so idyllic would be a great place to start with a reboot.
I know for sure that my version of Spacely Sprocket would probably be a parody of Elon Musk, he would definitely be a tech bro who constantly thinks that his terrible new ideas going to be the latest thing.
I’d keep it the same, but with blackjack and hookers!
Eh you know what, forget the blackjack
Knew you would keep the hookers, who could say no to Rosey? That’s 3/4 horsepower of suction that won’t quit as long as there’s an electrical plug nearby.
Eh screw the whole thing
Instead of answering your question, I’m going to share a fan theory that I found quite amusing: The Jetsons and The Flintstones actually happen contemporaneously. When nuclear war caused civilization as we know it to collapse, wealthy individuals moved to space, while everyone else was left to scrape by as they could in the irradiated leavings of our old society.
The Jetsons are decendants of those wealthy people that made it out. Society is relatively the same, just in space with robots. Their technology has progressed in a reasonable fashion from the 1960s tech they took off Earth with them. The Flintstones are decendants of the people left behind. That’s why all their “stone age” technology is so reminiscent of everyday 1960s tech. As they attempted to rebuild, they took inspiration from the pre-nuke past. The radiation caused genetic mutations, leading some animals to express dinosaur-like traits.
Let’s make it non-fiction and have the setting be an arid, inhospitable, howling wasteland.
If I recall correctly, that IS the in-cannon reason they all live in houses on poles in the clouds and use flying cars.
Are you talking about Oblivion movie or the Jetsons?
So I looked it up, it was a PSA Jetsons commercial
Nice, I haven’t seen this before.
Thanks for the link 🔗
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It’s been done already, only as a drama. See the series Caprica.
Ok I’ll do the casting :George Jetson = Bryan Cranston, Jane Jetson = Alyson Hannigan, Judy Jetson = Emma Myers, Elroy = (don’t know), Rosie = Fran Drescher (If only for her voice…it’s perfect), Astro = some dopey grey great dane, Danny Devito = Cosmo Spacely.
Jetsons was set in 2062, because 100 years back then seemed like a LOOOOONG time.
I think we can say now, setting sci-fi in the “near future” isn’t enough. Blade Runner was 2019 for crying out loud.
Keep the show the same, but add 500 years to present. 2523. Worked for Buck Rogers!
