In The Heat Of The Night becoming new, sadly still relevant Showtime series

By Sean O'Neal | October 8, 2014 | 9:51pm

Aux Features TV

Arriving in time to address the issues of racial inequality that its many previous incarnations did not, a new TV adaptation of In The Heat Of The Night is in the works at Showtime. The drama series set in modern-day Mississippi will—like John Ball’s 1965 novel, Norman Jewison’s 1967 film starring Sidney Poitier (and its two sequels), and the long-running CBS version before it—examine the uneasy racial tensions surrounding the police force of a small Southern town, which has dispiritingly remained a relevant theme for nearly half a century of In The Heat Of The Night adaptations. The only thing that has changed, apparently, are the uniforms the officers wear, with newer, more breathable fabrics allowing for a greater range of discrimination.

Handling the project is Hollywood’s go-to director for stories of racism below the Mason-Dixon, director and Mississippi native Tate Taylor, who will executive produce the series as penance for not solving all of this yet with The Help. The show will join Showtime’s other upcoming revival of an early ’90s series, Twin Peaks, in confusing recently awakened coma patients. But hey, at least they’ll be comforted in knowing that racist cops are still a thing.