“The ‘Burbs” TV Adaptation Adds Six New Faces to Cast, Including Haley Joel Osment

Back in 1989, I was in the full throes of two mutual loves, horror movies and ‘The Two Corey’s.’ The former which occupied so much of my waking moments, high school trigonometry be damned, filled my nogging with such films as Creepshow, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Halloween, Fright Night, John Carpenter’s The Thing and The Howling. The latter film, particularly, made me a card-carrying fan of Joe Dante, the director of that lycanthropic terror fest. As for ‘The Two Corey’s’? This was a duo comprised of actors Corey Haim and Corey Feldman, both extremely gifted if not slightly troubled young actors of their day. Though I was always more of a Haim fan (his turn in the coming-of-age Lucas was criminally neglected by the awards circuit in ‘85 and he gave River Phoenix some serious competition when he auditioned for the role of tough kid Chris Chambers in Stand By Me), I was no fair-weather fan and supported the Feld-Dog anytime I had an opportunity. Which brings us to the oddball meeting of two – or one-and-a-half, to be accurate – of my favorite things in ‘89: Joe Dante and Corey Feldman.

Dante was taking a small sojourn from the horror genre to concentrate more on the laughs with The ‘Burbs, the story about a suburbanite husband and father (Tom Hanks) who becomes convinced that his next-door neighbors are killing and cooking people within the confines of their home. This being the suburbs however, the film and Dante played it delightfully fast-and-loose as to which might actually be worse in the eyes of suburbia: The neighbors indiscriminate killing of innocents, or the fact that they refused to cut their lawn.

Variety reports today that the Peacock small screen series remake of Joe Dante’s dark comedy The ‘Burbs is well under way, with no less than three new thespians being cast in integral parts for the upcoming series.

This new version of the Universal 1989 film had already announced the casting of Keke Palmer as the star of the series (hey, we don’t do the casting folks, we just report on the aftermath…) and it looks as if she’ll be joined by six very talented cohorts’ intent to make this iteration of The ‘Burbs slightly more successful than its big screen brethren.

Joining Palmer in The ‘Burbs will be stalwart actors RC Cyler, Oscar-nominated actor Haley Joel Osment, Justin Kirk, Kyrie McAlpin, Danielle Kennedy, and Randy Oglesby. Who’s ready to go homicidal next-door neighbor hunting, huh?

So, how does this new show differ from the original 1989 version? Eh. It could go either way, as the new show – according the handy-dandy logline “follows a young couple who have reluctantly relocated to the husband’s childhood home. Their world is upended when a new neighbor moves in across the street bringing old secrets of the cul-de-sac to light, and new deadly threats shatter the illusion of their quiet little neighborhood.”

The ‘Burbs, 2025 style, was written by wordsmith Celeste Hughey, and just for old times’ sake, 1989 original film alums Brian Grazer (who was the producer of the movie) and original writer Dana Olsen will have a hand in the new proceedings via producing duties. No word yet about a cameo appearance from Mr. Corey Feldman, but we’ll be watching this one closely, just in case…

Stay tuned for any and all info on The ‘Burbs TV series (including a release date) as it rolls into us here at Vents HQ!