Rodney Dangerfield’s “Back To School” Being Turned Into Reality Show

MGM Television is developing a docu-series based on the 1986 film

Rodney Dangerfield talks to Robert Downey Jr in "Back To School." (Orion Pictures/Getty)
Rodney Dangerfield talks to Robert Downey Jr in "Back To School." (Orion Pictures/Getty)
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Rodney Dangerfield’s Back To School is coming back … sort of.

In a twist on the standard formula, MGM Television has greenlit a project which will create a “docu-series” inspired by the 1986 film. Essentially, MGM is developing a reality show based on a fictional film.

In the movie, Dangerfield’s character, obnoxious millionaire Thorton Melon, enrolls in college with his son Jason to prevent the boy from dropping out. As you can guess, ’80s comedic mishaps, Rodney gets no respect and wacky situations ensue.

Produced by Mark Burnett, the series will document college students attending school with their parents as their surprise classmates. Ugh.

“I am so excited to take the premise of one of my favorite films into the unscripted world,” said MGM Unscripted Television president Barry Poznick. “Rodney was a comedic genius and his spirit is very much in the DNA of our show’s approach to a dual fish-out-of-water comedic format for audiences to experience along with our parents and kids. I love that grown-ups are going back to school and we are able to capture this with our new series.”

In addition to Dangerfield, the ’86 film also stars Burt Young, Sally Kellerman and features a young Robert Downey Jr. as well as cameos from Oingo Boingo and Kurt Vonnegut.

Here’s the trailer:

Dangerfield died in 2004 at the age of 82.

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