Persuaders still Persuasive

Way back in June 2005, it was announced that Ben Stiller and British comic Steve Coogan were teaming up for a feature film revival of the flop 70s TV series THE PERSUADERS. Apparently, that project has dissolved, because this week Variety reports that the project is now being developed by producer Ashok Amritraj and ANGER MANAGEMENT screenwriter David Dorfman. There was no mention of either Stiller or Coogan’s involvement. If they are gone, it makes the reasoning behind mounting this TV revival a real head-scratcher.

THE PERSUADERS starred Roger Moore and Tony Curtis as two fun-loving playboys in Europe who were drafted by a retired judge to solve crimes. The series was produced in England and only lasted a season. But the reruns have a cult following in the UK and France which, apparently, Amritraj thinks is enough to prop up a "tent pole action comedy."  But does anyone besides me and a handful of other TV geek still remember the show?

8 thoughts on “Persuaders still Persuasive”

  1. Yup, loved the show! (Was it really cancelled after 1 season, it always seemed to me there were more episodes of it…)That said, I’m German and a tv geek, guess, that’s no help, eh?

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  2. Oh yeah. TV Geek Extraordinaire here who loved ‘The Persuaders’ when I was a teenager. Somebody recently re-ran the show (I think BBC America) and I was happy to see it still held up for me.
    The best part for me was always that theme music. A bit turgid, but it had a hook that never failed to grab me.

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  3. It played on BBCAmerica on Friday nights within the past year or two. The night’s lineup was The Avengers at 8, The Saint at 9, and The Persuaders at 10. It did suffer greatly by comparision.
    I was struck by what a good set-up for a series it was. They just didn’t find a tone which both leads could easily inhabit. I hope they keep the Brit vs. American teaming. I know Ben Stiller has the rights, but am I the only one wanting a Jack Black/Eddie Izzard buddy movie?

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  4. “The Persuaders” was a huge hit in Germany, mainly due to the dub. The German TV dubbed the show completely different in tone than the original series, filled it with ironic and witty remarks (there’s almost nothing but these) and made it a cult classic. Of course, if you’re a fan of the original, you’ll probably dislike the dub, and indeed, there are purists who liken it to blasphemy.

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  5. The Saint website has a story about the new Persuaders movie complete with two (2) trailers showing both Stiller & Coogan claiming a summer 2007 release date. There is also a trailer of a new movie version of The Champions.

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  6. “The Persuaders” was a huge hit in Germany, mainly due to the dub. The German TV dubbed the show completely different in tone than the original series, filled it with ironic and witty remarks (there’s almost nothing but these) and made it a cult classic.”
    The script for the dub was done by Henning Venske IIRC and yes, it was a huge hit here – way before buddy-movies with nothing but snarky oneliners as dialogue were “in”.
    kete

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