Rockford Files Remake

[dmargalotti]

NBC is getting ready to relaunch the classic 1974-1980 series that originally starred James Garner. The Rockford Files has long been one of my all-time favorite television shows and while I'm interested in seeing the new version, I really don't think it could ever live up to the original. Maybe it will do well with younger viewers who never saw the original series. If you're a Rockford Files fan, what do you think?

http://screencrave.com/2010-03-01/dermot-mulroney-cast-in-rockford-files-remake/

 

[FreddyE1977]

I think that they've learned absolutely nothing from their absurd attempt to remake Knight Rider

 

[Rob Jason]

You can't "remake" a popular series. The originals were popular because they had the right stars at the right time with the right ensemble cast and the right writers and directors and on and on and on.

Let's think about TV series remakes....Which ones have worked, since 1948? And I mean the shows that tried to repeat the success of previous offerings. Knight Rider and The Rockford Files are good examples of what I'm talking about.
Thoughts?

OK, I can think of a couple --

The syndicated primetime Jeopardy!

Star Trek The Next Generation

 

[briancraig]

Love the Rockford Files, but a remake is a bad idea as James Garner is the only Jim Rockford.

I just don't think you can successfully remake an iconic tv show like the Rockford Files. Even worse, CBS is casting for a Hawaii Five-O remake.

A remake only works if the original show is forgotten. Battlestar Galactica was a cable remake success because few people even remember the original series which only ran for one season. Rockford Files ran for 6 seasons and James Garner was still making Rockford movies as late as 1999.

 

[dmargalotti]

OK, I can think of a couple --

The syndicated primetime Jeopardy!

Star Trek The Next Generation

I don't think game shows count. Much easier to tweak and relaunch. As for Star Trek, The Next Generation...that was more of a continuation than a remake. I'm really hard pressed to think of an actual remake that has worked. I was extremely disappointed with the remake of The Night Stalker a few years ago. It was nowhere near as good as the original with Darren McGavin. Anyone remember the New Adam-12? The more I think about it, the new version of the Rockford Files will probably stink for people like me who grew up watching James Garner and company. Oh well, there's always Hulu.

 

[Bob1370]

It's all about the casting. If they wanted to bring it back, they'd need to find an actor talented enough to give the character of Jim Rockford the same kind of easygoing, likable but strong presence that James Garner did. Anyone think offhand of an actor that could do that? George Clooney or Brad Pitt, maybe, but they'd be WAYYYYY too pricey for any TV project.

And as far as the scripts are concerned, you'd either need to recycle the scripts of the original run, or assemble the most talented and expensive bunch of writers assembled for a TV series since Seinfeld wrapped 12 years ag

 

[dmargalotti]

It's all about the casting. If they wanted to bring it back, they'd need to find an actor talented enough to give the character of Jim Rockford the same kind of easygoing, likable but strong presence that James Garner did. Anyone think offhand of an actor that could do that? George Clooney or Brad Pitt, maybe, but they'd be WAYYYYY too pricey for any TV project.

And as far as the scripts are concerned, you'd either need to recycle the scripts of the original run, or assemble the most talented and expensive bunch of writers assembled for a TV series since Seinfeld wrapped 12 years ago.

Well if you read the article linked above, they have cast Dermot Mulroney in the lead role. I'm not really familiar with his work. And it remains to be seen who will be cast to play Rocky, Angel, Dennis Becker, Beth Davenport, etc. The original series had a terrific cast with great chemistry.

As for the scripts, I heard today that the plan is to simply update the original series scripts. Sounds like they're taking a cheap and easy way out on that one.

 

[bk77]

George Clooney or Brad Pitt, maybe, but they'd be WAYYYYY too pricey for any TV project.

Even if the money was there will those guys still even consider TV? Afterall to this day Warren Beatty still claims that he had never done TV..even know we all know about Dobie Gillis. On top of that I have heard interviews in the past with both Bob Denver and Shelia James Kuehl who over the years had ran into Beatty at parties and even there Warren Beatty would still pull that line "..I have never done TV". Nevermind the fact that James-Kuehl & Denver were stars of Dobie Gillis as with Warren Beatty.

As Shelia told Entertainment Tonight so many years ago "..whatever Warren !!".
:

 

[FreddyE1977]

Even worse, CBS is casting for a Hawaii Five-O remake.

NOOOOOOOO! Five-O is one of my all-time favorites, and even with 400 channels on the dish
I have to go scrounging around the internet to find it. Even attempts to bring it back as a movie
have been disastrous! Just cut some clean copies from the master negs and bring back the original.

Stop them...before we have to suffer through Ted McGinley as Danno Williams!

 

[LKellerIII]

I can see doing a remake of Hawaii Five-O as a show that depicts the modern day happenings around that fictional state police agency. It would be very slick, featuring lots of picturesque Hawaiian location shooting. But it would be a mistake to re-cast for the roles of McGarrett and Danno - the show should just have all new characters.

As for a new Rockford Files - bad idea. They would obviously have to re-cast the role of Jim Rockford, and anybody they chose would be compared to Garner, and would come up lacking.

In my opinion, many of the scripts and plots from those old detective shows have not aged well, and seem dated. Most modern TV script writing is better. Rockford was top notch, and more fun than the average QM type shows, but they should just let it rest.

If they want to cast Dermot Mulrooney (or whoever) in a detective show, they should just make him a 'Rockford-esque' type with a different name, and change some of the details. How about having him live in a funky little beach house on Venice Beach, and drive one of those hot new Camaros? They don't make Firebirds anymore, in any case.

 

[Stanislav]

As for a new Rockford Files - bad idea. They would obviously have to re-cast the role of Jim Rockford, and anybody they chose would be compared to Garner, and would come up lacking.

In my opinion, many of the scripts and plots from those old detective shows have not aged well, and seem dated. Most modern TV script writing is better. Rockford was top notch, and more fun than the average QM type shows, but they should just let it rest.

Amen. Sure, those old shows can look a little hackneyed to modern viewers, but the ones with strong main characters hold up best, and The Rockford Files succeeded on the strength of Garner's unique characterization. That is why a new version just won't fly, IMHO. But you never know -- if the scripts and cast are decent, maybe a whole generation that has never seen or even heard of the original will take to the new incarnation.

Personally, I love the old P.I. shows from the pre-Internet, pre-computer, pre-cellphone era. A guy like Rockford had to get by through a lot of leg work; cultivating inside contacts; searching through musty, disorganized paper archives; scrambling to find a payphone along a deserted road on a dark, rainy night; and above all, being a master bullsh*t artist who knew how to con information out of unsuspecting individuals (as Rockford did so engagingly with his many hastily adopted personas and his ubiquitous fake business cards on which the ink had barely had time to dry). Nowadays, a P.I. does 90% of the groundwork for a case just sitting in front of his computer. Weenies.....

 

[Toledo Eleven]

Yeah, back then even Jim Rockford's telephone answering machine was a fairly new invention. Did anyone else ever notice that he shared phone numbers with "The Ghostbusters"? (555-2368).

 

[LKellerIII]

Yeah, back then even Jim Rockford's telephone answering machine was a fairly new invention. Did anyone else ever notice that he shared phone numbers with "The Ghostbusters"? (555-2368).

No problem. Rockford's area code in Malibu was 213 (in those days). The Ghostbusters were 212 (New York). Come to think of it, those 2 area codes are only one digit apart. I wonder if Jim Rockford ever got misdialed calls from panicked East Coast residents drowning in that gooey ectoplasm?

 

[Silkie]

NBC is getting ready to relaunch the classic 1974-1980 series that originally starred James Garner. The Rockford Files has long been one of my all-time favorite television shows and while I'm interested in seeing the new version, I really don't think it could ever live up to the original. Maybe it will do well with younger viewers who never saw the original series. If you're a Rockford Files fan, what do you think?

http://screencrave.com/2010-03-01/dermot-mulroney-cast-in-rockford-files-remake/

I tend to agree with you. The remakes, impersonations and substitutions are generally pretty cheap and shoddy by comparison, and that is part of the reason the genuine articles and the originals cannot be replaced, remade well, imitated or impersonated with any success for any length of time or substituted.

 

[ercjncpr]

What happened to the Hawaii 5-0 remake that CBS was talking about a year or so ago?

 

[briancraig]

CBS has greenlit a pilot for the new Hawaii Five-O.

Australian actor Alex O'Loughlin (Moonlight, Three Rivers) is the new Steve McGarrett and Daniel Dae Kim (Lost) is the new Chin Ho Kelly.

I'm not sure what CBS sees in O'Loughlin as both of his previous series for the network have been flops.

 

[Silkie]

Yeah, back then even Jim Rockford's telephone answering machine was a fairly new invention. Did anyone else ever notice that he shared phone numbers with "The Ghostbusters"? (555-2368).

It was a party line.

 

[Ultimajock]

Let's think about TV series remakes....Which ones have worked, since 1948? And I mean the shows that tried to repeat the success of previous offerings. Knight Rider and The Rockford Files are good examples of what I'm talking about.
Thoughts?

...Dragnet and (twice) The Twilight Zone have had multi-season revivals since their original network runs...

 

[cwf1701]

Let's think about TV series remakes....Which ones have worked, since 1948? And I mean the shows that tried to repeat the success of previous offerings. Knight Rider and The Rockford Files are good examples of what I'm talking about.
Thoughts?

...Dragnet and (twice) The Twilight Zone have had multi-season revivals since their original network runs...

lets not forget Battlestar Galactica (2003). and that version lasted longer than the original 1979 ABC version!

 

[bk77]

...Dragnet and (twice) The Twilight Zone have had multi-season revivals since their original network runs...
[/quote]

Not too mention both Dragnet and The Twilight Zone were remade into two very popular movies in the 80's.

1982's "Twilight Zone..The Movie" of course is infamous due to the death of actor Vic Morrow and two small children which happened during the shooting of the movie.

Dragnet..the 1987 movie with Dan Ackroyd and Tom Hanks not only had Harry Morgan on board playing the role of Bill Gannon once again but on the crew of the movie was Stacy Webb..the daughter of Jack Webb. I also remember at the time it was reported by Entertainment Tonight that both Julie London and Bobby Troop were offered cameos in the 1987 Dragnet movie, however for some unknown reason they turned it down. Wonder why?