Following the Hart To Hart remake with a gay couple, which was set up at NBC, Sony TV is rebooting another classic 1970s drama series from the Spelling-Goldberg catalog, Fantasy Island, with a major twist (or two). The project has landed at ABC with penalty.
Written by Sheldon Turner (Up In The Air), the new take goes further in shaking up the original concept — about a tropical island where people pay to go and live out their fantasies — than the 1998 revival, also on ABC. Gone is the island where both series were set, with Fantasy Island as the name of a company that designs and executes fantasies for clients. In another major change, the enigmatic Fantasy Island owner Mr. Roarke, played by Ricardo Montalban and Malcolm McDowell in the two previous versions, will be a woman.
Like the original series, each episode is expected to chronicle two fantasies, with an overarching serialized arc involving Roarke and her personal life.
The original Fantasy Island, created by Gene Levitt and executive produced by Aaron Spelling and Leonard Goldberg, ran on ABC from 1977-1984.
