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CBS GREEN LIGHTS NEW "BEWITCHED" PILOT

therealjm12 said:
I believe that the actor who played Dr. Bombay (Bernard Fox) recently passed away.

Not according to Wikipedia, IMDb or the Dead or Alive site. http://www.deadoraliveinfo.com/dead.nsf/fnames-nf/Fox+Bernard
Still taking in oxygen at 84!
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Umm....I could have sworn that I read somewhere that Bernard Fox had passed away. Wikipedia is pretty good when it comes to updating the passing of celebrities, even though Fox isn't what one would consider to be on the "A" list. (No offense to Bernard Fox fans).

As for updating old TV series, there are a number of attempts over the years that have bombed.
Examples:

The Fugitive- with Tim Daly
Dragnet- With Ed O'Neil
The Bionic Woman

I am sure there are plenty more.

Sorry but I just believe that TV executives have either run out of original ideas, or are just plain lazy and will air anything they hope will attract an audience.
 
landtuna said:
It was a "Luft" Stalag (German Air Force POW camp). The Luftwaffe was allowed to provide POW camps for captured Allied airmen. These camps were generally run a bit more humanly than those of the Wehrmacht (army) or Gestapo (state police).
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From what I've read, the Germans generally respected the Geneva Convention when it came to American, British, and French POWs...but not when it came to captured Soviet prisoners (the USSR never signed the Geneva convention and was notorious for bad treatment of POWs, as were the Japanese).

Tieing this back to television and "Hogan's Heroes", the original B&W pilot did have a Russian prisoner in Camp 13 (they changed it to Stalag 13 after the pilot) -- but that Russian prisoner had disappeared from the show once regular production began.

I had long just assumed that American television in the sixties wasn't willing to show a communist as one of the "good guys", but I'm wondering if the German treatment of Soviet prisoners was another reason why they dropped this character.

As for the person who compared "Hogan's Heroes" with "Amos & Andy", there's really not a comparison. The NAACP has a long history of complaining very loudly whenever a station has proposed to air an "Amos & Andy" rerun, and the show has essentially not aired on broadcast or cable television (with the exception of a few "historical retrospectives") since the mid sixties. "Hogan's Heroes" is running on a number of local stations even today -- and doesn't generate protests or complaints. While "Hogan's Heroes" did generate controversy when it first started, it seems that the controversy has long ago dissipated.
 
When so many shows seem to be pale imitations and blatant ripoffs of shows past, at least a remake/reboot/reimagining is honest.

I don't see a problem with remaking old shows, provided they are well-done, creative and can stand on their own.

There have been some good remakes in the past (Battlestar Galactica, Hawaii 5-0, Star Trek TNG). There have been some that perhaps weren't the most inspired (the 1988 writers strike response "Mission Impossible") but were still decent. And there were some that were definitely unique (the bizarre, grim and dark-humored late-90s reboot of "Fantasy Island" with the brilliantly cast Malcolm McDowell, which I think had some potential). And of course some were really bad (I recall catching a remake of "The Munsters" that was just plain awful).

And then of course are those that just sound plain stupid (a new "Bewitched", the umpteenth reboot of "Charlie's Angels", "The Flintstones"). They just sound really bad on paper.
 
FightingIrish said:
Star Trek TNG.
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You really can't call "Star Trek: The Next Generation" a remake. The action takes place some 80 years after the original series, which would more appropriately make it a sequel.

I know....I know....a distinction without much of a difference. ;)
 
FightingIrish said:
...the bizarre, grim and dark-humored late-90s reboot of "Fantasy Island" with the brilliantly cast Malcolm McDowell, which I think had some potential...
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So you must have been the *other* viewer!

/liked that a lot.
//from a rack full of white suits, McDowell's "Mr. Roarke" picked a dark one.
 
hubcity said:
FightingIrish said:
...the bizarre, grim and dark-humored late-90s reboot of "Fantasy Island" with the brilliantly cast Malcolm McDowell, which I think had some potential...
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So you must have been the *other* viewer!
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The original "Fantasy Island" benefited from (a) a very strong lead-in (b) only having two other shows competing with it and (c) "De plane!" (a certain tongue-in-cheek camp value.) The remake had none of these factors.

Sadly, television history proves that shows do not succeed or fail solely on their own merits.
 
Pab Sungenis said:
The original "Fantasy Island" benefited from (a) a very strong lead-in (b) only having two other shows competing with it and (c) "De plane!" (a certain tongue-in-cheek camp value.) The remake had none of these factors.
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I don't remember what the "strong lead-in" was for FI but the show was just plain silly. A classic time waster IMHO. A masterful collection of cliches.

With all the remakes of otherwise forgetful originals why hasn't someone created an updated "The Millionaire". No, not the game show but rather the original 1950's drama about the millionaire who gives away his fortune. That was a true classic and could have unlimited potential for new story lines.
 
landtuna said:
Pab Sungenis said:
The original "Fantasy Island" benefited from (a) a very strong lead-in (b) only having two other shows competing with it and (c) "De plane!" (a certain tongue-in-cheek camp value.) The remake had none of these factors.
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I don't remember what the "strong lead-in" was for FI but the show was just plain silly. A classic time waster IMHO. A masterful collection of cliches.

With all the remakes of otherwise forgetful originals why hasn't someone created an updated "The Millionaire". No, not the game show but rather the original 1950's drama about the millionaire who gives away his fortune. That was a true classic and could have unlimited potential for new story lines.
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The lead in was The Love Boat. Another time waster. Aaron Spelling produced both shows. Anything from Spelling was a time-water, in my opinion.
 
I think the remake of Fantasy island was supposed to be of a more serious nature. More sci-fy ish. It didn't go over.
Yes, Aaron Spelling mostly was responsible for crap -just mind candy. However, as Hollywood producers go, he was was known to be fair, kind & generous.
 
landtuna said:
With all the remakes of otherwise forgetful originals why hasn't someone created an updated "The Millionaire". No, not the game show but rather the original 1950's drama about the millionaire who gives away his fortune. That was a true classic and could have unlimited potential for new story lines.
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If they produced that one today, he'd probably get labelled as being a socialist for giving away his money. Worse yet, they'd redo it as a "reality show", with trashy people competing in tacky competitions for the privilege of winning the millionaire's money...

We live in more cynical times than when that series originally ran.
 
TexasTom said:
If they produced that one today, he'd probably get labelled as being a socialist for giving away his money. Worse yet, they'd redo it as a "reality show", with trashy people competing in tacky competitions for the privilege of winning the millionaire's money...
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Oprah's Big Give, anyone?
 
TexasTom said:
landtuna said:
With all the remakes of otherwise forgetful originals why hasn't someone created an updated "The Millionaire". No, not the game show but rather the original 1950's drama about the millionaire who gives away his fortune. That was a true classic and could have unlimited potential for new story lines.
Click to expand...

If they produced that one today, he'd probably get labelled as being a socialist for giving away his money. Worse yet, they'd redo it as a "reality show", with trashy people competing in tacky competitions for the privilege of winning the millionaire's money...

We live in more cynical times than when that series originally ran.
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But it doesn't have to be done that way. The emphasis was on what happened to the person after receiving the money and not how the money was given away. Think of the possibilities.
 
Just thought of another cast member, Eddie Murphy -Dr. Bombay!

Bet he would love to do it too.
 
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