First, an admission: I’ve never been a huge fan of Jimmy Kimmel’s Live In Front of a Studio Audience specials.The late night host’s idea – redoing classic Norman Lear sitcom episodes live with modern stars – is wonderful.
Without a Carrol O’Connor, Sherman Hemsley or Jimmie Walker to bring the magic, you were often left with talented actors doing vague impressions offering faint echoes of the original legends.Kimmel’s third Live outing on Tuesday night was poised to offer the same disappointment, with a game cast hamming their way through a Facts of Life episode.
Hart wrung out every bit of physical comedy he could manage, pretending to struggle while climbing down from a bunk bed and copying Coleman’s distinctive gait.Damon Wayans, taking over Todd Bridges’s role as Arnold’s brother Willis, was another surprise, setting up Hart’s punchlines as a consummate straight man before landing his own sly jokes.
Before that Diff’frent Strokes episode, I was ready to write an essay begging Kimmel and ABC to stop doing these projects.
The casting Tuesday was star-studded: Aniston, Kathryn Hahn, Gabrielle Union and Allison Tolman played Blair, Jo, Tootie and Natalie from The Facts of Life.
Still, Tuesday’s production proves these specials need to reach beyond tapping stars who vaguely resemble the characters they are recreating.
These specials are so popular that Kimmel and his crew, including executive producers like Will Ferrell and Kerry Washington, can keep doing them, likely for as long as they want.But I hope they take a lesson from the success of Hart and Wayans to play a bit more with the material in future recreations and cast performers whose presence adds fresh comedic possibilities, not just a faint nod toward giants from the past.