‘Stay Tuned’: Josh Gad, Andrew Rannells to Star in New Remake of Cult Classic!!

Don’t touch that dial! The Book of Mormon co-stars Josh Gad and Andrew Rannells are teaming up on the small screen…and getting sucked into it. They’re set to star in a TV remake of the cult 1993 comedy Stay Tuned. The new series is being developed for Hulu. Deadline reports that the series will be a loose remake of the 1993 film, which was directed by Peter Hyams (Outland), and written by Jim Jennewein and Tom S. Parker (The Flintstones); in it, Gad and Rannells will find themselves trapped inside the world of television.

Although Gad and Rannells won accolades for their star-making Broadway performances in Book of Mormon, and became close friends during its production, this will only be their second on-screen collaboration: they previously made cameos in Hulu‘s History of the World, Part II. Says Gad, “For over a decade Andrew and I have been the Laverne and Shirley of our generation (according to our mothers). It only makes sense to now do a TV series where we can literally do an episode as Laverne and Shirley (assuming the rights to those characters aren’t prohibitively expensive and that the algorithm rewards Laverne and Shirley viewership).” Rannells counters, “Personally, Josh and I have always reminded me more of a Sam and Diane or at times a Cagney and Lacey, but either way, I am thrilled we are reuniting once again.”

What Is ‘Stay Tuned’ About?

Stay Tuned stars sitcom legends John Ritter (Three’s Company) and Pam Dawber (Mork and Mindy) as Seattle couch potatoes Roy and Helen Knable. After an argument destroys their TV, they’re approached by sinister satellite TV salesman Johnny Spike (Jeffrey Jones, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off), who offers them a revolutionary new system with 666 channels of excitement. As you may have guessed, Spike is an emissary of Hell; Roy and Helen promptly get sucked into “Hellevision,” a nightmare world of diabolical TV parodies. If they can survive for 24 hours, they can escape unscathed: if they don’t, their souls belong to the man downstairs. One of the film’s highlights sees the duo trapped in a cartoon animated by the legendary Chuck Jones. The film was a disappointment at the box office, earning $12 million USD on a $15-20 million budget, and critics weren’t much kinder, resulting in a 47% Rotten score on Rotten Tomatoes. However, it developed a cult following on VHS.

Hulu‘s Stay Tuned remake was created by Akiva Goldsman (Star Trek: Strange New Worlds), Jordan Cahan (Black Monday), and Greg Lessans (Without Remorse); Cahan will showrun the series. Gad and Rannells will executive produce alongside Goldsman and Lessans via Weed Road Productions, Morgan Creek’s James G. Robinson & David Robinson, and Aaron Semmel.