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Two Beauty And The Beast Shows In The Works

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ABC and The CW commission pilots based on the classic fairytale.

Any child of the 80’s will remember the soft focus slush-fest TV series Beauty and the Beast starring Sarah Connor herself, Linda Hamilton as “Beauty” Catherine and Ron Perlman as “The Beast” Vincent. Running for three seasons from 1987 through to 1990, the unashamedly romantic show proved popular with ladies of a certain age who had weird, somewhat creepy crushes on the lion-faced, David Coverdale haired, Vincent.

Now it would seem that TV execs think we’re ready for another stab at the classic fairytale with not one but two shows on the horizon. SFX report that both ABC and The CW (home of Supernatural and The Vampire Diaries) have Beauty and The Beast pilots in the works.

Where the two shows will differ is in their approach. While the ABC commissioned pilot will be a faithful, old fashioned fairy tale, The CW will base their version on the aforementioned 80’s show which was itself a modern day update.

The ABC show, tentatively titled “Beast,” has been described as, “a fantastical reimagining of the classic fairy tale, set in a mythical, dangerous world wherein a beautiful and tough Princess discovers an unlikely connection with a mysterious beast.” It will be written and executively produced by Jon Steinberg (Hard Target, Jericho).

Brothers and Sisters Sherri Cooper and Jennifer Levin have written the new script for The CW update and will executive produce with the creator of the original show Ron Koslow and Paul Junger Witt (Blossom, The Golden Girls) as well as Bill Haber and C Anthony Thomas.

It would appear that the current craze for all things fairytale on US TV has directly influenced these two pilots. Both Grimm and Once Upon A Time have proved popular with US audiences and on the big screen there are two Snow White feature films due for release in the coming months. Julia Roberts goes head to head with Charlize Theron as the evil Queen in Mirror, Mirror and the superior looking Snow White and The Huntsman respectively.

So hang on to your undergarments ladies, we could be seeing a lion-man riding atop tube trains again soon.