Reviving a classic TV series is never an easy feat - just take it from "The Garcias" showrunner Jeff Valdez. The executive producer and cocreator of Nickelodeon's "The Brothers Garcia" - a family sitcom that follows the three Garcia brothers growing up in San Antonio - spent a decade getting the rights back to his show and developing its reboot for HBO Max. With a fresh take on the hit 2000s series, Valdez is immensely proud of the story he's been able to re-create.
". . . 'What happened to those kids? Where did they go? What are their lives like now?'"
"We loved making this show. It was really special to us, and we say it is a really feel-good [show]," he tells POPSUGAR over Zoom. While some reboots struggle to recapture the same magic from their predecessors, "The Garcias" uses some of its original elements to remind people why they fell in love with the Garcia family. With the original theme music and some original cast members from "The Brothers Garcia" (Ada Maris, Carlos Lacamara, Alvin Alvarez, Jeffrey Licon, Bobby Gonzalez, and Vaneza Pitynski), "The Garcias" makes a compelling case for why a revival nearly 18 years later makes sense.
"Interestingly, when we first had the opportunity to do the reboot, half of the people in my camp said, 'Just create new kids, recast the show, and redo it again,'" Valdez explains of his approach to creating the new series. "I said, 'I do not want to do that, we already did it. I think it's [more] interesting if we pick them up [and say], 'What happened to those kids? Where did they go? What are their lives like now?'"
What makes the revival even more attractive is that those who are new to the series don't have to be familiar with the original Nickelodeon sitcom. The show picks up on its main characters' stories 15 years later, but their present-day storylines give them a new introduction. However, fans of the original show can still appreciate the reboot just the same. "If you know the original show, I think you will enjoy this show a lot because you will know all the nuances of the characters, and we play those nuances out . . . And you don't have to know the old show . . . You can literally just watch the new show and you will see who these characters are," he says.
As far as casting goes, Valdez admits it wasn't at all hard to convince the original cast to return to their acting roots. In fact, most hadn't acted in 17 years, so they jumped at the chance for a comeback. "I called them and they were like, 'Dude, we are in. We're ready to go,'" Valdez shares. "One of them even quit a job that she had. Literally, she had a full-time job and just left [it] to come do this."
As the first English-language sitcom to have an all-Latinx cast and creative team, the Nickelodeon series created a new standard for the Latinx community on screen. It was groundbreaking 20-plus years ago, but its mission is even more powerful now as it aims to achieve a new goal.
"It is an opportunity to just check your brain out and check in with your family and feel good."
"More than anything, it is about creating a sense of normalcy, because too often as American Latinos, we only see ourselves in a very abnormal way," Valdez says. "When I see those images on TV of gangbangers and drug lords, I'm like, 'I do not know that world.' And most people I know don't know anything about that world [either]. [On 'The Garcias'], we have an astronaut, a guy in the military who's serving our country, a professor, an entrepreneur - it is a reflection of America. And that is what I want people to see, whether you are Black, white, Asian, Latino - this show reflects America."
Valdez says the show "is an opportunity to just check your brain out and check in with your family and feel good." He adds: "You do not have to be [Latinx] to watch this show. It's a [Latinx] cast, but it's also a family show." In no way is "The Garcias" plagued by the reboot curse. The show's charm actually lies in its familial details. And while the recipe for "The Garcias" borrows original components from its parent series, the show has cooked up an updated concept that a new generation can embrace.
"The Garcias" premieres on HBO Max on April 14.
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