TV To The Big Screen – WAKE UP, HOLLYWOOD!!!

Why does Hollywood insist on pissing on my memories?

I don't generally have a problem with TV series becoming movies later, for new generations of audiences. I especially don't have a problem when they do it well.

What I DO have a problem with is when Hollywood seems to completely miss the point.

Take Will Farrell, for example. Please.

Everytime Farrell gets involved with a TV remake, it's a complete disaster. Usually because they take the name and basic premise from a series, and then proceed to try and "update" the characters and storyline.

Two examples – "Land Of The Lost" and "Bewitched".

The underlined fact here should probably be "if it ain't broke, then don't fix it!"

Of course, not fixing it sometimes creates problems too. Take "The Avengers" for example. This is one KICK ASS Movie – a true tribute to the spirit of the original series. I will NEVER understand why original series fans had a conipition fit about this movie, as it was a storyline that could have come right out of the Peel/King years on the original series. Ralph Fiennes was outstanding as John Steed, and Uma Thurman was ok as Emma Peel. The one minor thing wrong with this movie was the level of sexual tension between Steed and Peel – it kept fluxuating between too little and too much. But overall, the visual style, the storyline, and everything else – to me it really WAS a perfect tribute to the original series.

I'm in the minority on that – a lot of fans of the series HATED the movie. It bombed at the boxoffice.

But again, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it…"

Why do movie producers think that taking a hit drama or action series, and then turning it into a comedy for the big screen will work? Time and time again, it HASN'T.

Apparently the producers don't remember the old adage "Those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it."

Just because "The Brady Bunch Movie" and "A Very Brady Sequel" worked, and worked WELL, doesn't mean ANY show can do that – hey, dunderheads…"The Brady Bunch" was a comedy TO BEGIN WITH. And only one drama-to-comedy transition has worked that I can remember – Dragnet, and that's because it had the impeccable talent of Dan Ackroyd as it's driving force, and the immeasurably talented Tom Hanks as a co-star. Remember – "Starsky And Hutch" sucked, Ben Stiller or not…

I keep hearing that the producers of various TV to Movie projects are aiming for comedy. Why? 

Why does Jim Carrey want to be The Six Million Dollar Man if he's going to destroy the original and not pay homage to it? There's no point.

Or Dallas. What genius thought it would be fun to play a super-serious soap as a broad camp comedy? Um, count ME out, that's for sure…

We won't even go there on The Hardy Men, another Ben Stiller project that thankfully appears to be dead in the water…it was a BIG mistake to try this with such a revered property as the Hardy Boys. An HONEST Hardy Boys attempt would be appreciated, but not a comic knock off.

Now comes word that T.J. Hooker is on the way to the big screen. OH, IN GOD'S NAME, WHY? I have fond but ridiculous memories of the William Shatner/Adrian Zmed original – yes it was campy, but it fit the 80s perfectly. DO we really have to take this fun drama and turn it into a no doubt unfunny comic mess? Can't we just leave well enough alone? Isn't the original funny enough when viewed today?

You want inspiration on how to do things RIGHT? Look to JJ Abrams and his wonderful reimagining of Star Trek. Now THAT'S how to do it RIGHT…

It's time for Tinseltown to take a long, HARD look at the track record…and the bottom line…on these kinds of movies. Maybe it's time to do them RIGHT…or not do any more of them at all…

Just ask the horrified fans of "Land Of The Lost"…