The series intended to follow the children of the original characters as they hit their 30s…

Last September, it was announced that Thirtysomething was set to return to screens for a new generation, as the show’s original creators – Marshall Herskovitz and Ed Zwick – decided was time to see what the series’ characters’ children were up to now that they’d hit their own 30s. The iconic drama series originally debuted back in 1987 and pumped out four seasons of relationship and parenting angst until it sputtered to a halt in 1991.

The new Thirtysomething project, called Thirtysomething(else) has been nixed at ABC, however, with the network passing on the pilot episode, Deadline confirms. The show will now be shopped around, but ABC’s decision is rumoured to be based on casting costs and available air time. Several members of the original cast – Ken Olin (Michael Steadman), Mel Harris (Hope Murdoch), Timothy Busfield (Elliot Weston) and Patty Wettig (Nancy Weston) – were supposed to return alongside new faces like Patrick Fugit and Chris Wood in this year’s pilot.

The phrase ‘thirtysomething’, coined by the show, became part of the cultural language at the time that it aired, and was added to the Oxford English Dictionary in 1993. Perhaps it will stay a facet of TV past, but we shall have to wait and see.