Smart Guy, the 1990s WB sitcom starring Tahj Mowry, is getting a reboot.
The news of a reboot was first revealed by Mowry himself during a recent interview with Entertainment Tonight. “There’s been lots of Zoom meetings and talks about this, so we do have the ball rolling on it. It’s just a matter of time and timing, but we do have the possible home for it,” he said. “We do have a writer, and I feel like I came up with a really fresh take on how we can bring that back with the whole cast and something that is fresh and new. But also something that the diehard fans will still get that nostalgic aspect of it as well.”
Created by Danny Kallis, Smart Guy followed the exploits of 10-year-old child prodigy T.J. Henderson (Mowry), who moves from being an elementary school student in the fourth grade to a high school student in the tenth grade, attending the same school as his two elder siblings: 16-year-old Yvette (Essence Atkins) and 14-year-old Marcus (Jason Weaver). Also starring John Marshall Jones as Henderson family patriarch Floyd Henderson and Omar Gooding as Marcus’ dimwitted best friend Mo, Smart Guy ran for three seasons with a total of 51 episodes from 1997 to 1999 on The WB.
Mowry reiterated that, in a perfect world, fans “will see the whole cast.” He, however, admitted that work on the reboot is still in very early stages. “We’re not at that stage yet where we’re checking everyone’s schedule,” Mowry explained. “We’re still in the pre-phases. So that will come. But if all goes according to plan, everyone will be in it.”
Mowry added that “the person that’s been in the most contact with” him about the reboot “is probably John Marshall Jones.” Mowry also noted that he just reconnected with Atkins on ABC’s new pilot Black Don’t Crack, in which they are both part of the cast.
When asked where fans might find T.J. in the present day, Mowry said, “You will find T.J. just as he was in the original, a fish out of water. He was sort of exploring a new world for himself. You’ll find him in that same situation, but somewhere else. So I’ll just say that.”
Mowry also acknowledged that T.J. is now of legal drinking age, saying that fans “will be able to see him, maybe, have a tequila on the rocks.”
Since the Smart Guy reboot doesn’t seem to have a clear timeline, fans can always re-watch all three seasons of the original Smart Guy series on Disney+ as they wait for the reboot to completely materialize.