Comedies Remade as Dramas

Cafe Society
1

Though I’m having trouble thinking of examples at the moment, I know there have been at least a few dramas remade as comedies. (Dragnet’s the only one I can think of right now. Maybe Starsky and Hutch and Dukes of Hazard count, though the originals had comic elements as well. Still, the remakes were clearly intended as sort of corned-up versions of the originals.)

But have there been comedies that were remade as dramas? I think that’s a much more interesting idea…

I recall hearing there was a continuation of the Brady Bunch series in the 80’s which was a one-hour drama about the dad running for the senate.

Any other examples?

I once came up with a relatively elaborate idea on how to make a movie of the Honeymooners which would have been a super-intense drama. Of course, someone beat me to the notion of remaking that series…

-FrL-

2

Lou Grant on The Mary Tyler Moore Show vs. Lou Grant on Lou Grant.

3

Ah yes, I remember now that that show existed. (I don’t personally remember the show—it was before my time…)

That reminds me that one of the characters from MAS*H was later portrayed in a medical drama. Don’t recall the title, though…

-FrL-

4

Trapper John, M.D.

5

Dragnet was a sly, subtle comedy, remade as an unsubtle, unsly comedy.

6

I vaguely remember that Boston Public started out as a comedy before becoming a formulaic “ripped from the headlines” type soap opera.

7

Dragnet was originally a fully serious police procedural drama in the 50s. Nothing comic about it.

It was revived in the 60s as a police procedural. The comedy came from Harry Morgan’s comic relief and from the quirks of the people they interviewed. Also, Jack Webb’s attitudes – which were meant to be taken perfectly straight – were considered funny by those who didn’t agree with him. When Joe Friday spent an entire show debating the evils of marijuana with a hippy, it’s clear that everything about the show is set up so that the audience was supposed to believe that Joe was right. It’s similar to John Wayne’s Green Berets – it seems ludicrous (Dragnet less so) but still supposed to have been in support of a position.

But the revival was never intended to be comic.

The movie was set as a lowbrow comedy.

Not entirely the OP, but close: Buster Keaton’s The General and Disney’s later The Great Locomotive Chase were both based on the same Civil War incident. The Disney film played it straight.

8

MTM/Lou Grant and MAS*H/Trapper John. MD aren’t remakes. They’re spinoffs
A remake is the same premise (updated or not) with different actors (but not necessarily different writers - Ball Of Fire (1941) and A Song Is Born (1948) were both Billy Wilder’s)

9

Well, the likely subjects are so few that I’m willing to cut some slack and count spinoffs.

I can’t think of any examples right now, but I do want to note that James Herriot’s books of vet stories are treated as heartwarming dramas in the US, given loving covers and titles like “All Creature Great and Small…”, but was very surprised when I saw the British editions. They have cartoony covers and titles like “It Shouldn’t Happen to a Vet.”
And it’s exactly the same material. Maybe schmaltz sells better in the US.

10

The Brady Brunch was revived in the late 80’s as The Bradys. It was supposed to be a drama. It didn’t last very long.