Vudu, the streaming service owned by Walmart, is turning the 1983 comedy Mr. Mom into a digital series. Sorry, I have to go climb all the way inside a diaper pail and close the lid for a quick moment to center myself; I’ll be right back.
Variety reported that MGM is making the series as part of a partnership with Vudu, “intended to create a slate of short-form scripted content adapted from a library of classic intellectual property that offers the opportunity to serialize everything from James Bond to ‘The Pink Panther.’” They have decided to lead with Mr. Mom, which, in case it’s been a while, “was a hit film that featured Michael Keaton as a father who bumbles his way through stay-at-home parenting when his wife (Teri Garr) returns to the work world,” and was written by John Hughes.
They’re straight-up that this is a nostalgia play, which is incredible, as I cannot imagine many working moms are nostalgic for the idea that it’s a wacky switcheroo when dad has to take the kids: “As parents, we want to share with kids the TV shows and movies that we grew up with,” said Julian Franco, Vudu’s head of AVOD content and advertising. “They made us feel something. the Reality is we want our kids to feel the same thing too.” Personally, I want my children to feel like parents should expect to share childrearing responsibilities and that it should not be some freaky Friday situation when dad is forced to do bathtime, vacuum, and cook dinner.
Yes, I know Michael Keaton’s character eventually gets the hang of it and they ultimately negotiate an equitable arrangement together; that doesn’t change the fact that the basic joke of the film is “What if dad... was MOM?”
“We thought it would be a good first step for us. We’re going to reboot it. IT’s an American classic. Anybody that remembers it loves it,” said Franco. Yes, I love to watch men act like fish out of water when circumstances demand they do basic childcare.