Fire up the boomboxes. Say Anything…, one of the definitive Generation X movies, is being revisited as a series for Generation Ys. The single-camera comedy, from Aaron Kaplan’s Kapital Entertainment and 20th Century Fox TV, whose film studio sibling produced the 1989 Cameron Crowe movie, has received a script commitment plus penalty from NBC. Justin Adler (Better Off Ted) is writing the project, which is set a decade after the events in the movie, and will executive produce with Kaplan.

The 1989 comedy drama Say Anything marked Crowe’s directorial debut and solidified heartthrob John Cusack’s status as a leading man. The film chronicled the romance between average student Lloyd Dobler (Cusack) and valedictorian Diane Court (Ione Skye) during the summer after their high-school graduation. The Say Anything series picks up ten years later. Lloyd has long since been dumped by Diane and life hasn’t exactly turned out like he thought. But when Diane surprisingly returns home, Lloyd is inspired to “dare to be great” once again, get Diane back and reboot his life.

NBC brass have been bullish on single-camera romantic comedies following the success of About a Boy last season. The network has two such new entries this fall, A to Z and the upcoming Marry Me.

There is a sense of nostalgia among broadcast executives this season with several 1980s comedic movies getting series treatment. NBC also has Real Genius, based on the 1985 film starring Val Kilmer, as well as Problem Child, based on the film that came out in 1990. Fox is adapting the 1988 Tom Hanks blockbuster Big and is remaking cult 1981 sci-fi dramedy Greatest American Hero.

Kapital Entertainment has four series on the air: The Mysteries Of Laura on NBC as well as Instant Mom, Chasing Life and the upcoming Secrets and Lies. The company’s broadcast sales this season include two pilot commitment, one for drama Broad Squad, a period female cop procedural, at ABC, and a Dana Klein comedy at Fox. Kaplan also has a family comedy starring e Chevy Chase and Beverly D’Angelo at ABC with a production commitment.

Adler is repped by UTA and Ken Richman.

As Deadline readers found out on Monday that NBC and 20th Century Fox TV were developing a comedy series followup to Cameron Crowe’s 1989 coming-of-age classic Say Anything starring John Cusack and Ione Skye, apparently so did Crowe. And he was not amused. I hear that Crowe had not been aware of 20th TV’s plans for a Say Anything series before my story ran Monday afternoon, shortly after NBC closed a deal for a script commitment plus penalty to the project. I hear Crowe had a very strong reaction to the announcement, and he took to Twitter to share his intent to kill the project late Monday night.

That mishap puts 20th TV and NBC in a difficult position — do they proceed with the Say Anything series, which they legally can, over the strong objection of the movie’s writer-director who wants the series dead? From what I hear, that appears unlikely.

20th TV identified Say Anything, produced by sibling 20th Century Fox, as a property they wanted to mine for a TV series earlier this season and brought in writer Justin Adler and producer Aaron Kaplan to develop the comedy as part of Adler’s blind script deal with the studio.

The 1989 movie, which marked Crowe’s directorial debut, chronicled the romance between average student Lloyd Dobler (Cusack) and valedictorian Diane Court (Skye) during the summer after their high-school graduation. Set in present day, the Say Anything series picks up ten years later. Lloyd has long since been dumped by Diane and life hasn’t exactly turned out like he thought. But when Diane surprisingly returns home, Lloyd is inspired to “dare to be great” once again, get Diane back and reboot his life.

Cusack also expressed his displeasure with the idea for a Say Anything series on Twitter. Asked whether he or Crowe were involved in the project, he responded, “Hell no !!”

Crowe has his own TV project in the works, comedy pilot Roadies at Showtime, which he wrote and is directing as well as executive producing alongside J.J. Abrams. Echoing one of Crowe’s signature movies, Almost Famous, Roadies follows the day-to-day life of a successful rock tour as seen through the eyes of the crew members.

Last season, Murder, She Wrote star Angela Lansbury spoke publicly against NBC’s plan to remake the classic series with a new character played by Octavia Spencer. While her comments had no direct impact on the network’s development process, the project ultimately didn’t go forward.

That mishap puts 20th TV and NBC in a difficult position — do they proceed with the Say Anything series, which they legally can, over the strong objection of the movie’s writer-director who wants the series dead? From what I hear, that appears unlikely.

20th TV identified Say Anything, produced by sibling 20th Century Fox, as a property they wanted to mine for a TV series earlier this season and brought in writer Justin Adler and producer Aaron Kaplan to develop the comedy as part of Adler’s blind script deal with the studio.

The 1989 movie, which marked Crowe’s directorial debut, chronicled the romance between average student Lloyd Dobler (Cusack) and valedictorian Diane Court (Skye) during the summer after their high-school graduation. Set in present day, the Say Anything series picks up ten years later. Lloyd has long since been dumped by Diane and life hasn’t exactly turned out like he thought. But when Diane surprisingly returns home, Lloyd is inspired to “dare to be great” once again, get Diane back and reboot his life.

Cusack also expressed his displeasure with the idea for a Say Anything series on Twitter. Asked whether he or Crowe were involved in the project, he responded, “Hell no !!”

Crowe has his own TV project in the works, comedy pilot Roadies at Showtime, which he wrote and is directing as well as executive producing alongside J.J. Abrams. Echoing one of Crowe’s signature movies, Almost Famous, Roadies follows the day-to-day life of a successful rock tour as seen through the eyes of the crew members.

Last season, Murder, She Wrote star Angela Lansbury spoke publicly against NBC’s plan to remake the classic series with a new character played by Octavia Spencer. While her comments had no direct impact on the network’s development process, the project ultimately didn’t go forward.