Thursday, March 18, 2010

T^2: Remake!

M: With the slew of old shows/movies revived in new, plasticky packages, if you could remake any TV show/movie what would it be? What changes would you make?

Jennifer: This is kind of a tough one because honestly, my knowledge of old TV shows and movies is kind of lacking and I generally don't like the idea of remaking things that are less than say, twenty years old. And really, sometimes it's better to leave a good thing alone. But there are some TV shows that kind of failed or never found an audience but that I thought had intriguing premises that I wouldn't mind seeing remade. Like Reunion, that mystery show with the high school friends 20 years later, or Kidnapped or The Nine. All of them were very serialized with somewhat complex plotting and large ensemble casts that I think would be good candidates for reworking but I guess there's a reason none of them finished out their first seasons. I mean, take Cupid...try to remake a failed show and you just end up with another failed show.

Mira: I was originally thinking of this question because when the Harry Potter movies first started coming out I was quite dismayed. I felt that something that could have been even more fantastic was shortchanged. Ultimately, I ended up really enjoying the actors chosen to play the parts and even the movies themselves. However, there is still a part of me that thinks the better venue for the books would've been a TV show; a season for each year. With all the little stories and intricacies of the books, I really think it has potential. Only thing is the production stage required might be too big of a budget for TV. I dunno. In any case, a show I would love to see redone is Sweet Valley High. I loved the books growing up, and if you think about the original series -- there were some edgy storylines in the book that were completely glossed over by the horrible TV show that did exist. Plus those two twins who played Jessica and Elizabeth? BLECH! They didn't look "good girl" enough for my image of them. I think that the series could just have been a much better show but they made Enid really annoying, Todd really stupid, the twins sexy, and uh, the dork, Watson?, almost borderline cool. BLEH! I think Sweet Valley High done right could be way better than Degrassi or 90210 or Saved by the Bell (Gasp! Yes, I said that!) or any of those other high school shows... :)

2 comments:

Jennifer said...

The dork was Winston! Winston Egbert!

burkie said...

the movie one is easy for me: Mystery Men. i was so disappointed in the movie because 1) i'm a fan of the lame superhero concept, and 2) the film had a great cast! ben stiller, william h. macy, janeane garafalo, geoffrey rush, even pee-wee herman. but...the movie FAILED. horribly! it should have been funny/stupid but it wound up being only stupid/stupid.

tv show? i can't think of one...