Columbia Pictures
Military comedy Stripes is the latest classic film to be in the running for a television series adaptation with CBS developing the project. Trevor Moore, Sam Brown, and Zach Cregger are penning the half-hour with the original film’s director, Ivan Reitman, returning to helm the series.
The single-camera comedy will center on a perennial rebellious outsider who ultimately finds his purpose in life when he joins the U.S. military and must unite a group of ragtag eccentrics. The film starred Bill Murray, Harold Ramis, John Candy, Sean Young, and PJ Soles.
Reitman, Moore, Brown, and Cregger will executive produce alongside Julius Goldy Sharpe, Amie Karp, and Peter Fried. Sony Pictures Television Studios is producing in association with CBS Television Studios.
Reitman and his Montecito Picture Company banner have been looking to the past to drive their future but have not had the success they would have liked. Their update of Ghostbusters had mixed critical reactions though was praised for the performances of its female stars, but plans for a larger universe appear to have been dropped. More recently, they produced the feature reboot of Baywatch starring Dwayne Johnson and Zac Efron which drowned at the box office and was panned by critics.
Military shows were a huge trend this fall but they have all been dramas. Development this season has also been focused on showing diversity and more female-driven series, even gender-swapping reboots, but this project appears to stay comfortably in CBS’s usual demographics. How the comedians update the humor though could introduce a younger audience to the network.
Moore, Brown, and Cregger are best known for their sketch comedy troupe The Whitest Kids U’Know, who had a TV series on Fuse and IFC that ran from 2007 to 2011. Moore and Cregger also wrote, directed, and starred in the feature comedy Miss March. Moore is represented by CAA and Generate, Brown is repped by Reign Agency and Principato-Young Entertainment, and Cregger is repped by CAA and Principato-Young Entertainment.
Emily J | Managing Editor
