The Globe (the sleazy tabloid, not the Boston paper) reports that Marlo Thomas is returning as THAT GIRL in a sitcom pilot for ABC. In the revival, she plays a grandmother whose 20-year-old grand-daughter is a struggling actress in New York. This reminds me of the disasterous MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW movie (MARY & RHODA) that ABC did a few years back, which focused on the original sitcom stars’ daughters and their laughless struggles. The tabloid also reports that all the actresses, from Farrah Fawcett to Tanya Roberts, whot starred in CHARLIES ANGELS are reuniting for an ABC TV movie.
TV Revivals
Miami Hell
Kim Masters at Slate Magazine looks at the troubled production of the MIAMI VICE movie.
on Miami Vice things went so wrong that Foxx ended up
leaving in the middle of production, after a shooting (and we don’t
mean the kind with a camera) took place during filming in the Dominican
Republic. Foxx refused to return for any more work outside the United
States, meaning that Mann had to rewrite the ending, eliminating a
version that was to have been shot in Paraguay."The whole of
making this movie was filled with adversity," Mann says. But he adds
that whatever the crew might have endured, it was all in the service of
making a great film. "Sometimes folks are going to join this unit and
they may have a tough time," he says. "Guess what? They’re on the wrong
movie."
Fan Fliction
The New York Times reports today that lots of fans are making their own STAR TREK movies and episodes — which I hereby dub fan fliction– and that Paramount has turned a blind corporate eye to it as long as no one tries to make a buck from their work.
Up to two dozen of these fan-made "Star Trek" projects are in
various stages of completion, depending what you count as a
full-fledged production. Dutch and Belgian fans are filming an episode;
there is a Scottish production in the works at www.ussintrepid.org.uk.There is a group in Los Angeles that has filmed more than 40 episodes, according to its Web site, www.hiddenfrontier.com, and has explored gay themes that the original series never imagined. Episodes by a group in Austin, Tex., at www.starshipexeter.com,
feature a ship whose crew had the misfortune of being turned into salt
in an episode of the original "Star Trek," but has now been repopulated
by Texans."I think the networks — Paramount, CBS — I don’t think they’re
giving the fans the ‘Trek’ they’re looking for," said Mr. Sieber, a
40-year-old engineer for a government contractor who likens his "Star
Trek" project, at www.starshipfarragut.com, to "online community theater.""The fans are saying, look, if we can’t get what we want on
television, the technology is out there for us to do it ourselves," he
added.And viewers are responding. One series, at www.newvoyages.com,
and based in Ticonderoga, N.Y., boasts of 30 million downloads. It has
become so popular that Walter Koenig, the actor who played Chekov in
the original "Star Trek," is guest starring in an episode, and George
Takei, who played Sulu, is slated to shoot another one later this year.
D. C. Fontana, a writer from the original "Star Trek" series, has
written a script.
I’ve seen "Star Trek: The New Voyages" and, as I posted here in December, I was very impressed:
The acting and writing are cringe-inducing but everything else is
amazing. I can’t believe what these imaginative and extremely talented
film-makers were able to accomplish on a shoe-string budget (though it
helps to have the FX pros from STAR TREK ENTERPRISE over-seeing the
effects).[…]Watching the first two episodes of NEW VOYAGES makes you realize what
ENTERPRISE should have been: a return to the STAR TREK we all fell in
love with. Note to Paramount: It’s not too late.
Have Gun, Will Shoot Myself
Variety reports that Eminem is planning to star in a big-screen, "contemporary" version of the classic western HAVE GUN, WILL TRAVEL, which starred Richard Boone as Paladin, a roaming gunfighter-for-hire.
Concept
will be updated to contemporary times and see Eminem playing a bounty
hunter. Setting could be Eminem’s hometown of Detroit, but those
details have yet to be worked out.[Eminem’s manager Paul] Rosenberg told Daily Variety
that the vehicle will be revamped from the original, with some
characters based loosely on ones from the series as well as nods to
certain story points.
Oh. My. God. This might be even worse than Rutger Hauer’s "contemporary" version of WANTED: DEAD OR ALIVE. I can’t wait to see the Dixie Chicks in a "contemporary" version of BONANZA.
KUNG FU returns… again
Variety reports that Warner Brothers is mounting a big screen version of the TV series KUNG FU. This is not the first time the studio has tried to wring more money from the cult hit…they did a KUNG FU returns reunion movie with David Carradine, a busted pilot with Brandon Lee (KUNG FU: THE NEXT GENERATION), and a made-in-Canada syndicated series with Carradine and Chris Potter (KUNG FU: THE LEGEND CONTINUES). What makes this development noteworthy, however, is that they haven’t signed either Owen Wilson or Ben Stiller or Colin Farrell to star in it yet.
Dr. Who Taken Prisoner
The long gestating remake of the cult TV series THE PRISONER is on the fast-track for the UK’s Sky One. Zap2it reports that Christopher Eccleston, who starred in the first season of the revived DR. WHO series, is now taking on the role of Number Six, originally portrayed by Patrick McGoohan:
The new series, slated to run for six
episodes, would likely premiere sometime next year, 40 years after the
original debuted on ITV. Rumors of a new series have been percolating
for some time, but Sky One didn’t greenlight the project until this
week. Bill Gallagher, writer of the BAFTA Award-nominated series "Conviction"
(no relation to the NBC show) and "Clocking Off," will pen the scripts
for the new "Prisoner."
You’re Not My Hero
Today I came across two opposing views on the "re-imagining" of pop culture properties. First, my friend Javi says live with it — recasting is an inevitable part of an industry that recycles everything:
In a culture where everything is re-made and re-hashed over and over
again, i can understand why people would get so mad about daniel craig becoming the new james bond, or brandon routh the new superman or david tennant the new doctor who (any hartnell loyalists out there? c’mon – express yourselves!). People crave stability in their heroes and the values they embody – and re-hashing and re-casting takes that way. I get it. I can even understand the good-natured argument between friends about how the only man ever to really capture the spirit of superman was kirk alyn, and the occasional shocking revelation that someone who’s opinion
you respect actually thinks that george lazenby’s work in “on her majesty’s secret service” has been shockingly under-appreciated……what i don’t understand is the all-pervasive vitriol – why put up web pages full of heated invective about craig’s perceived shortcomings? why the long angry treatises about how “the character is named ‘starbuck’ – not ‘stardoe!’” why all the keening wails over how some callous money grubbing producer “ruined my childhood?” why the nasty public outcry over michael keaton putting on the mask and cowl? why all the death threats about how michael shanks was no james spader? oh wait – there weren’t any, moving on.
…but the fact is we live in a society where everything is re-made, re-hashed and re-packaged endlessly – which means your idols can be frozen in time indefinitely. no need to put up a protest site, i
can just curl up in a sofa and watch my dvd of “octopussy…”
John Kenneth Muir doesn’t agree. Despite all the accolades that the new BATTLESTAR GALACTICA has been getting (including a Peabody Award), he thinks they should call it something else.
To reiterate my stance on Galactica: It’s well-written and I can enjoy an episode any time in much the same way I enjoy the tense 24. However, my problem begins and ends with the fact that it’s called Battlestar Galactica. The original series has been used as a "brand name" by Ron Moore to do something totally new, something unfaithful, something he wanted to do. That’s fine, and some people obviously like what he’s done very much. But it shouldn’t be called Battlestar Galactica
Why not? It’s still BATTLESTAR GALACTICA…with a few tweaks (for the better, by the way). Roger Moore’s James Bond is still James Bond, whether you like the portrayal or not. I’m with Javi in this debate (I don’t know how anyone could look at the new BG and pine for the old one, but that’s another subject).
By the way, LIVE AND LET DIE was my first 007 movie, too, and I loved it (hey, I think I was 10 at the time). But then I saw GOLDFINGER and it was a revelation. James Bond became my hero (and still is). That said, I still eagerly awaited each new 007 movie — and enjoyed them –even as I was rediscovering the early ones (this was before home video…I had to wait for the Connery Bonds to show up in revival theatres or on TV). I was able to see them as two distinctly different experiences — the Roger Moore Bonds and the Sean Connery Bonds — and enjoy them for what they were (not any more. I cringe watching the Moore Bonds).
I can’t wait to see Daniel Craig in CASINO ROYALE. But the truth is, I’d be dying to see it no matter who was starring as 007 (Clive Owen, Julian McMahon, etc.). Because I’m a James Bond geek. Even at my ripe old age, I’m still a little kid when it comes to Bond…
UPDATE 4-18-07: John comments at length on the reaction to his original post. Here are some excerpts:
It Takes a TV Guide
Will Smith is out to unseat Owen Wilson (I SPY, STARSKY & HUTCH) and Colin Farrell (SWAT, MIAMI VICE) as the go-to guy for theatrical remake of TV shows. After ruining THE WILD WILD WEST, Smith is tackling IT TAKES A THIEF, which starred Robert Wagner as a convicted thief who is forced into becoming a spy for the government. Variety reports:
Smith and his Overbrook
Entertainment partner James
Lassiter have come aboard to produce the film with Kevin
Misher, John Davis and Joe Singer. "Four Brothers" scribes David
Elliot and Paul Lovett are set to write the script.Davis and Singer set up the project at Universal nearly a decade ago, when it
was envisioned as a potential starring vehicle for Michael
Douglas. Studio has had Smith in its sights for several years,
but the project just recently gained forward motion with a fresh take and new
writers.
When are they going to do the MANIMAL movie?
First Owen Wilson was in STARSKY AND HUTCH. Then I SPY. Or was it the other
way around? Doesn’t matter. Now his brother Luke Wilson has lined up TV redo of his own. Variety reports Luke is up to play Bobby Ewing in the DALLAS movie. Offers have gone out to John Travolta to play J.R., Jennifer Lopez to play his wife Sue Ellen, and Shirley MacLaine to be Miss Ellie. Meanwhile, Ice Cube is remaking WELCOME BACK KOTTER for the big screen with himself in the title role that was originally played by Gabe Kaplan. Really. I’m not making this stuff up.
More on Galactica
Now Playing Magazine interviewed GALACTICA executive producer Ron Moore about what he has in mind for season three…
“The end of the season is quite a shake-up,” acknowledges Moore. “The
Cylons show up and all hell breaks loose. Essentially, season three is
going to deal with the Cylon occupation of the Colonials on New
Caprica. The sort of archetype that we’re talking about is like Vichy
France: There’s a Colonial government run by President Baltar that is
collaborating with the Cylons, while the humans put together an
insurgent resistance against the occupation. It’s a pretty big twist.”“Adama and the Galactica and Pegasus are gone, and they’re sort of
trying to get their act together to figure out a way to come back and
rescue [the Colonials],” continues Moore. “And season three will start
off in that world of the Cylon occupation.”None of which is to say that Battlestar Galactica should be renamed Occupation New Caprica.
No, never fear, for Adama, Roslin, and the rest of the gang will
eventually resume their search for Earth. But the Cylons will continue
to get plenty of screen time as well.