‘The Griswolds’ Comedy Based On National Lampoon’s ‘Vacation’ Films In Works At HBO Max

National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation — Warner Bros/Kobal/Shutterstock

The Griswold family is heading to HBO Max. WarnerMedia’s upcoming streaming service has put in development The Griswolds, a half-hour single-camera comedy based on National Lampoon’s Vacation films. The project hails from writer Tim Hobert (The Middle), Johnny Galecki and his Alcide Bava Productions and Warner Bros. TV, where Galecki and Alcide Bava are under a deal.

Johnny-Galecki — Johnny Galecki Randall Slavin

Written by Hobert, The Griswolds brings the iconic family home from vacation and explores their daily lives in the suburbs of modern Chicago.

National Lampoon’s Vacation film series is among the assets available to WarnerMedia-owned HBO Max for mining of projects. The five-film series (1983-2015) is based on John Hughes’ short story Vacation ’59 that originally was published by National Lampoon magazine. It revolves around the misadventures of the Griswold family, whose attempts to enjoy vacations and holidays are plagued with nonstop disasters and strangely embarrassing predicaments. Chevy Chase and Beverly D’Angelo starred in all five films as the parents, Clark and Ellen Griswold, while the Griswold kids were portrayed throughout the film series by different actors. Galecki played Rusty Griswold in 1989’s National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.

Hobert executive produces with Alcide Bava’s Galecki and Holly Brown, and Cory Wood producing. Alcide Bava produces in association with Warner Bros. TV.

Hobert worked on Seasons 2-9 of The Middle, most recently as executive producer. His other writing-producing credits include Scrubs, Community and Spin City.

Galecki also has eSports comedy The Squad with writer Anthony Del Broccolo set at NBC. His Alcide Bava landed its first series order for comedy Living Biblically, which aired for one season on CBS. Galecki starred as Leonard Hofstadter on all 12 seasons of CBS’ hit comedy The Big Bang Theory and can be seen reprising his Roseanne role as David Healy on ABC’s The Conners. He’s repped by WME and Management 360.