In a mad dash to keep up with the gigantic Netflix’s of the world, every major TV company and streamer/channel embracedshows based on old moviesor recognizable IPs more than ever before. Though TV shows based on movies had been common in the past (R.I.P. to the CBSRush Hourprocedural), it became especially normal to see press release announcements for such projects in the mid-to-late-2010s. A bevy of new streamers were looking to launch around 2019 to 2021 and needed high-profile programming for the occasion. Thus, the world was graced with TV shows based on productions ranging fromTurner & HoochtoFatal AttractiontoAmerican Gigolo,among many others. One proposed project that never actually happened in this trend?In the Heat of the Night, which was supposed to be rebooted as a TV show.
A 1967 film starringSidney PoitierandRod Steiger, the originalIn the Heat of the Nightis a seminal motion picture still influencing pop culture to this very day.Trying to take that feature and turn it into a new TV show always seemed like a risky proposition —who would want to take over a role originated by Poitier? To boot, this was a much older movie than most other features adapted for current streaming shows (which largely looked to 1980s or 90s cinema for source material). Would audiences be chomping at the bit for this adaptation? We’ll never know for sure, because for a slew of various reasons,In the Heat of the Nightnever got off the ground as a modern-day TV show.
In the Heat of the Night
A Black Philadelphia police detective is mistakenly suspected of a local murder while passing through a racially hostile Mississippi town, and after being cleared is reluctantly asked by the police chief to investigate the case.
MGM Announces an ‘In the Heat of the Night’ TV Series
In January 2017,MGM Television announced that anIn the Heat of the NightTV showwas in development, with the project being set in the modern-day world.Joe Robert Cole, fresh off his work on the acclaimedPeople vs. O.J. Simpsonminiseries, would be writing this adaptation. This news came a few years after another attempt to getIn the Heat of the Nightrealized as a modern-day prestige show on Showtime, an endeavor that enlistedThe HelpdirectorTate Taylorto be the primary creative voice of the affair. Taylor would still be involved in this adaptation, but Cole would now be leading the creative team on this show, which did not have a network attached to air it.
In the Heat of the Nightcame as MGM Television was rocketing back to lifethanks to hits likeTeen Wolf,Vikings, andFargo. Two of those shows were based on old titles from MGM’s vast library of movies, which provided a bit of a direction for where the division wanted to take its small-screen ambitions. It was time to embrace old MGM features and turn them into modern-day prestige shows. The same year thatIn the Heat of the Nightwas announced,Get Shortypremiered on Epix (now known as MGM+)while 2017 also sawMGM publicly announcingthat it would be drastically expanding its annual output of TV shows.Inevitably, TV adaptations of classic MGM movies would be making up a good chunk of that expansion.
Why Do Some TV Adaptations of Classic Movies Succeed Where Others Fail?
For every Buffy there’s a Bueller.
Some of those grander ambitions never quite came to fruition, as MGM Television struggled to get many new TV shows based on its old movies off the ground. The ones that did (like the internet miniseriesStargate Originsor the CBS proceduralClarice) didn’t last very long and quickly faded from the public consciousness. In the middle of all this turmoil, there were never any updates onIn the Heat of the Night, with Cole moving on to other major creative endeavors. Hollywood and MGM as a studio have often been so quick to exploit any recognizable IP…what was it that madeIn the Heat of the Nightimpossible to crack as a modern TV show?
The ‘In the Heat of the Night’ Show Reflected the Troubles With MGM Television
In hindsight, the problems withIn the Heat of the Nightlikely reflect the issues with MGM Television in recent years more than anything else. Tragically, many of those issues stemmed from the top of the division. In December 2015,Mark Burnettbecame the president of MGM Televisionas part of a five-year contract with the studio. Burnett’s string of lucrative reality TV shows (includingSurvivor) likely made him seem like an ideal pick for this job. By November 2020,The Hollywood Reporterpublished a lengthy piece exploring how Burnett’s time at MGM Television had largely been a nightmarethanks to the executive’s allegedly toxic behavior towards employees.
Burnett’s alleged alienation of key creative people had led to MGM Television struggling to launch further hit shows in the wake of successes likeFargoandThe Handmaid’s Tale(both crafted before Burnett took over the division). In hindsight, it’s a near-certainty thatIn the Heat of the Nightwas one of many MGM Television projects that got caught up in all the chaos that stemmed from Burnett running the company.So few major scripted shows got made under Burnett’s watch, it’s no shocker that anIn the Heat of the NightTV show would fail to get off the ground. Further corporate shenanigans, likeMGM’s erratic financial state as an independent entityand the Amazon purchase of MGM, also undoubtedly played a part in limiting the opportunities for this show to exist.
Then there’s the big elephant in the room when it came toIn the Heat of the Night, which was how to make a TV show that could follow in the footsteps of such a classic motion picture. What actor would want to inhabita role made famous by Sidney Poitier? While there had been previously anIn the Heat of the NightTV show that ran for seven seasons on NBC, that original 1967 movie was still what everyone thinks about when you mention the name Virgil Tibbs.Breaking this proposed show down, it kind of sounded like a no-win scenario;In the Heat of the Nightisn’t gargantuan enough that it’s attached to a swarm of modern-day merchandising, yet it’s still famous enough to cast a wide shadow on any potential reboot. With so many variables working against it, it’s no wonder the creative team behindIn the Heat of the Nightopted to move on to other productions.
In the Heat of the Nightis available to stream on Prime Video in the U.S.
