Oscar-winning "In the Heat of the Night" may get TV treatment

PanARMENIAN.Net - Oscar-winning film "In the Heat of the Night" may get another TV remake. Showtime and MGM Television are teaming up to develop a new series based on the 1967 film directed by Norman Jewison and starring Sidney Poitier, AceShowbiz said.

"The Help" helmer Tate Taylor will direct and write the project, in addition to serving as executive producer alongside Warren Littlefield ("Fargo") and John Norris ("Get on Up"). The new show is dubbed "an exploration of character and race set in modern-day Mississippi."

The drama movie which won five Oscars, including for Best Picture, at the 40th annual Academy Awards, was based on John Ball's 1965 novel about a white man and a black man working together to solve a murder investigation in a racially hostile Southern town.

It was later adapted into a 1988 TV series on NBC. Starring Carroll O'Connor and Howard Rollins, the show later moved to CBS and lasted for seven seasons. It also spawned four made-for-TV movies.