HBO Max Developing ‘The Griswolds’ Series Based On The ‘Vacation’ Franchise
One of the most-watched movies of any holiday season is undoubtedlyNational Lampoon’sChristmas Vacation. People just can’t get enough of seeing a dysfunctional family try to make it through the holidays, probably because it makes it a little easier to deal with their own family problems. And soon enough, they may be able to see The Griswolds more often, at least if they have HBO Max.
WarnerMedia’s new streaming service has announced a new half-hour comedy series calledThe Griswolds, based on theVacationfranchise that started withNational Lampoon’s Vacationin 1983. But will it bring back any of theVacationfranchise cast members for the series or not?
The Griswoldsseries hails from Warner Bros. Television,Christmas Vacationco-starJohnny Galecki, who would executive produce through his Alcide Baba Productions along withHolly Brown, andThe MiddlewriterTim Hobert, who is also scripting the series.
The brief and vague logline says the series “brings the iconic family home from vacation and explores their daily lives in the suburbs of modern-day Chicago.” If it wasn’t for the family’s history on the big screen, this sounds like any other family sitcom we’ve seen on network television over the years.
Since Warner Bros. is using pretty much every property at their disposal to bring content to HBO Max, it only makes sense that theVacationfranchise is being used to create a possible series. The only problem is that recent installments of theVacationfranchise left something to be desired.Vegas Vacationwas mostly a misfire, and theVacationsequel that followed Ed Helms as Rusty Griswold taking his own family to Walley World had its moments, but didn’t feel quite like aVacationmovie, even though it brought backChevy ChaseandBeverly D’Angeloas Clark and Ellen Griswold.
As forThe Griswoldsseries, it’s not clear if anyone from theVacationfranchise is coming back. But if Chevy Chase and Beverly D’Angelo aren’t involved, then what’s the point? How can the series be about “the iconic family” without the stars who originated those roles? I could see the show focusing on Johnny Galecki as Rusty Griswold, the role he played as a child inChristmas Vacation, with his own family. After all, the series made a gag out of always changing the actors who played Rusty and Audrey Griswold, so moving on from Ed Helms would just be par for the course. Then Clark and Ellen could at least appear every now and then as grandparents.
Personally, I think it’s rather hard to do anything tied toVacationwithout Chevy Chase and Beverly D’Angelo involved. And I don’t know that theVacationformula lends itself to a half-hour series without being a cliche sitcom. But Warner Bros. is at least going to try. There’s a chance this doesn’t actually work out, just like the sitcom that Chase and D’Angelotried to make years ago. But we’ll see what happens.
