A signature 1990s sitcom is coming back for a new chapter. NBC has given a straight-to-series 13-episode order to Coach, with original star Craig T. Nelson on board to reprise his role and creator Barry Kemp set to write.
A sequel to the original series, the new Coach will be set in present day, picking up 18 years after the ABC sitcom went off the air after nine seasons. Coach Hayden Fox (Nelson) — now retired from coaching — is called back to become assistant coach to his own grown son, who is the new head coach at an Ivy league school in Pennsylvania that is just starting up a new team. Though the original series focused on Fox’s relationship with his college-age daughter, towards the end of the show he and his wife adopted a son who will grow up to follow in his father’s footsteps. Kemp and Nelson are executive producing the comedy, which, like the original, will be multi-camera. No other talent is attached.
NBC’s deal for Coach keeps Nelson at the network where he starred on the family drama Parenthood for six seasons. As Parenthood was wrapping its final episodes, Nelson and Kemp got together to brainstorm ideas of bringing Coach back. They homed in on a premise for the project, which was set up at Universal TV, the studio