'The Kids In The Hall' Revival Headed To Amazon
Amazon is ready for some of that prime cut Canadian humor with The Kids in the Hall. The streaming service just announced an official Kids in the Hall revival, featuring the original cast together again for 8 new episodes. The original Kids in the Hall debuted in 1989 and drew a cult following, lasting for five seasons and coming to an end in 1995. After the show ended, the group returned for a film, Brain Candy.
The Kids in the Hall revival is officially a go, making it the first Canadian Amazon original series. The 8-episode revival is being billed as a continuation of the original show and will be available for Prime members in Canada and around the world. The original series ran from 1989 to 1995 on CBC in Canada, and CBS, HBO, and Comedy Central in the United States, and featured Dave Foley, Kevin McDonald, Bruce McCulloch, Mark McKinney, and Scott Thompson – all of whom are returning for the revival. The cast is expected to reprise classic characters and introduce new ones as well. Lorne Michaels's Broadway Video and Canadian production company Project 10 are producing.
"Even after 30 years, The Kids in the Hall has retained its brilliance and originality," said Michaels. "We are happy to be bringing back all of the original Kids for the new series."
"We've been investing in Canada for several years and are excited to add to that momentum by making The Kids in the Hall the first Canadian Amazon Original series," said James Farrell, Vice President of International Originals for Amazon Studios. "The Kids in the Hall is an iconic show with a deep-rooted fan base. Several of our global hits, including The Boys, Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan, and The Expanse have been filmed in Canada and we are looking forward to continuing our work with talented producers and crew teams across the country to bring this series to our Prime members around the world."
Word of a potential revival surfaced in 2017, and now it's official. When the potential of a revival first came up, Kevin McDonald said: "We got a Kids in the Hall group message to all of us. Lorne Michaels wants us to do what Mr. Show did, and do like six episodes of sketches for something like Netflix." Obviously nothing worked out with Netflix, but Netflix's loss is Amazon's gain. Also: I had completely forgotten about the Netflix Mr. Show revival until just now.
The original Kids in the Hall is not, as of the writing of this story, available to stream (you can rent it from Amazon), but hopefully, that'll change now that this revival is moving forward. I'll confess that I wasn't an avid watcher of the series, but the sketches I've seen I've enjoyed. I also enjoyed the 1996 film Brain Candy when I rented it from Blockbuster Video, to give you an idea of how much of an old man I am.