Major League Baseball just played a “Field Of Dreams” game between the Chicago White Sox and New York Yankees, complete with Kevin Costner leading the teams out of a corn field much like the 1989 film.
The success of that game has inspired Peacock to issue a straight-to-series order for a show based on Field Of Dreams. The Good Place creator Michael Schur has signed on to write the series.
The Field Of Dreams tourist site was recently renovated, which made it capable of hosting professional games. It was scheduled to open in 2020, but complications and delays due to COVID-19 forced the MLB to change the debut date. The added build-up arguably worked in their favour though, because the game became the most-watched MLB telecast since 2005.
It’s definitely no coincidence that Peacock is ordering this series less than a week after the game broke viewing records. It’s perhaps also a sign of the current state of the industry that anything that attracts viewers is suddenly deemed valuable and quickly turned into content.
The 1989 film starred Costner as an Iowa farmer who hears a mysterious voice compelling him to build a baseball diamond in his cornfield. This magical field eventually attracts the ghosts of legendary baseball players and helps Costner’s character get closure with his estranged father.
Lisa Katz, President of NBCUniversal Television and Streaming said of the series: “It’s whimsical and grounded, a space where Mike Schur excels, and we’re looking forward to bringing a new version of this classic to Peacock.”
Erin Underhill, President of Universal Television, said of Schur: “His talent, his love for baseball and his reverence for its themes make him the perfect choice to revisit this beloved film that evokes nostalgia and visceral emotion in so many of its fans.”
Schur has a good track record. Along with The Good Place, he also co-created Brooklyn Nine-Nine, was a producer and writer for The Office, and recently created sitcom Rutherford Falls, which is also on Peacock and was just renewed for a second season.
Obviously Peacock see Schur as one of their brightest in-house talents. How will a Field Of Dreams series will actually work though? The story works well as a film, but elongated over an entire season might be difficult in its current form. But Schur has proven he can write fantasy intelligently on The Good Place, so perhaps we should give him the benefit of the doubt.
Unsurprisingly, the 1989 Field Of Dreams is already available to stream on Peacock in the U.S. There’s no word on when the show is expected to arrive.
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