Tuesday, February 06, 2007

Remakes

We all have television shows we remember watching as kids. Some of our favorite shows have been reinvented and packaged over and over again through the years. For example, I Love Lucy becomes Mad About You or The Honeymooners becomes Everybody Loves Raymond or Happy Days becomes either Friends or That 70s Show. Some t.v. shows have been resurrected and blown onto the silver screen. Star Trek, Charlie’s Angels, Miami Vice, Dukes of Hazzard, and Superman are just a few. As technology and special effects have improved, the ability to move from black and white to color, from minimal effects to visual spectacles has also increased.

Having noted all that, here’s what I’m wondering: Why has no one made a television show or a movie that revives that campy wonder of the 1970s, The Six Million Dollar Man?

I loved that show. Okay, so admittedly, the acting was crappy and the story lines were equally awful, but the use of technology was what fascinated me.

And with today’s technology, especially advances in orthotics and prosthetics, a show like that would not only be fun, but would have an element of believability. On top of that, given the fact that so many of our Iraq veterans have suffered debilitating injuries to arms and legs, a show like that would call attention to the advances in treatment and technology for these brave men and women.

What television shows do you wish they’d remake either as a new series or as a movie? What shows do you wish they’d just left alone and never revived or shot to the silver screen?

7 comments:

Swizzies said...

Funny, Scott was just saying the same thing about old Steve Austin. He thinks Nick from CSI should play Steve Austin in a big-screen remake.

Me? I Dream of Jeannie or Nanny and the Professor.

Gunfighter said...

You mean you haven't heard?

There is a $6mil man movie currently in the development stage.

Cue Voiceover:

Steve Austin... a man barely alive. We can rebuild him, we have the technology. We can make him better, faster, stronger!

I loved that show.

Gunfighter said...

Belay my last, Janet. On research, it appears that the movie project has stalled.

Anonymous said...

They'll have to rename it "the Six Hundred Trillion Dollar Man" because Six Million might get you a basic examination, overnight stay and a cup of jello at most hospitals today lol

Sideon said...

Wonder Woman.
The Bionic Woman.
Maude.
Land of the Lost (Saturday kid-show that had those creepy Sleethstacks)

On the cartoon side, I'd love to see "Battle of the Planets."

Mary Ellen said...

I loved to watch The Love Boat and the $1.98 Beauty Pageant.

Then again, some of those earnest, improbable, dumbass, love-to-watch-em shows should just STAY in the 70s. The Dukes of Hazard remake is an argument for that.

The overhauled Charlie's Angels did OK at the box office, but wasn't compelling enough to get me into the theater even though I grew up watching the TV show.

Maybe remakes only work if the original idea was top notch or if our minds are too hazy to recall the original for comparison?

Honest said...

Sign me up for a remake of the Million dollar man and bionic woman. I loved those shows.