Deadline is reporting that Bill Fagerbakke (“The Stand,” “Heroes”) will reprise the role of Dauber Dybinski in NBC’s new “Coach” miniseries, and that Jerry Van Dyke (“The Middle”) could be back on a recurring basis as Luther Van Dam. Both men played assistant coaches to Hayden Fox in the 1989-1997 original.
The same Deadline report indicates that health issues will prevent Shelley Fabares, who played Fox’s love interest Christine Armstrong, from returning with them.
NBC has ordered 13 episodes of the new “Coach,” which is set 18 years after the end of the original and will again star Craig T. Nelson as Fox. There’s no word on whether or not it will also bring back Clare Carey (“Aquarius”), who played Fox’s daughter Kelly during most of the show’s run.
The premise of the miniseries has Fox emerging from retirement to serve as assistant coach to the son he adopted in the first series. That son is now head coach at a new Ivy League team in Pennsylvania.
Barry Kemp, who created the hilarious original, will serve as showrunner.
Nelson, iconic to nerds as Steve Freeling from “Poltergeist,” just finished a six-year run as grandpa Zeek Braverman on NBC’s Jason Katims dramedy “Parenthood.”Nelson also played “Coach” in the Will Ferrell skating comedy “Blades of Glory.”
