My first and foremost is Quantum Leap. I’m watching the reruns on G4 and think that this can be remade easily, relatively cheaply, and can still be just as poignant with episodes regarding the Afghan war, Sept 11, and things such as school shootings and treatment of prisoners or something.
Not to mention the other episodes that are simply there to be there. I would also, if I was creating the show, try to get Scott Bakula to play the Al role instead of Sam and not mention it for a long time until later in the series where it’s revealed that it actually IS Sam and this is just a second go of the system.
The best part of it is once it’s remade, you take the tapes back in time, broadcast those in place of the original and eliminate the need for a remake.
Make it in 2032 (to play on the “two decades ago nostalgia”) and call it “Theater”. Have it follow several Army doctors and nurses through their roations in Afghanistand and Iraq. Show life deployed and back home. Lighten the seriousness with episodes like: the enlisted men (and women) making a Lady Gaga (go full Glee on that one), the day DADT was repealed, etc. The keys are great writing, and the US being involved in an endless, pointless war that makes the audience long for the simplicity of the historic events in the show. So all you’ll need is good writers.
Babylon 5 is a definite candidate. Incredibly ambitious plots, undermined by ropey acting, dodgy sets and indecisive studio execs. Would be great to see it done again with a decent budget
I remember someone reviewing the 1970s anthology series “Whatever happened to the class of 1965” (based on the book which was based on a magazine article) as “turning sirloin into hamburger”. Perhaps it could be done better, this time covering the almost half century since instead of a mere decade.
The Abrams remake of ‘Star Trek’ gives us a really good platform for a new TV series.
I expect it to happen.
2014, maybe.
Goodness, when I wrote that and saw the date I thought, “Holy crap this IS the future”
Babylon 5 was the best TV SF ever done up to its time. (I am told BSG was superior).
Imagine how great it would be now with better CGI.
The actors were remarkable, so if only they had the kind of stuff anybody with a dualcore processor can do on their laptop, the show would have looked even more realistic.
And before anyone bothers to correct me, feel assured that the above statement was mere hyperbole.
They tried Journeyman during the same 12-month period that saw (a) debuts by the already-mentioned failed reboots of Bionic Woman and Knight Rider, plus (b) the failed attempt to do an all-American fish-out-of-temporal-water action-drama-with-light-comedy in Life On Mars.
I would like to see Babylon 5. This time, make all of the actors sign on for five-year contracts, so they don’t have to re-write major story arcs because the actor playing the pivotal character suddenly had to be replaced.
Lost. They could set it on Alcatraz and have time traveling prisoners returning at random, and some mysterious guy who seems to be pulling the strings behind it all. Maybe use one of the original cast members, like Jorge Garcia.
On a serious note… I’m thinking Star Trek, too. Maybe using the most recent film as a jumping off point.
(bolding mine)
Have you watched Rat Patrol recently ? It didn’t age well and it was really stupid in some places. They couldn’t decide if they wanted to do a show about the Western Desert before El Alamein or one set after Torch in Tunisia. If they want to do a show about raiders in the desert, they should do one about the LRDG (Long Range Desert Group) or Popski’s private army (but there would only be British and Commonwealth actors in it, it wouldn’t sell well in the US :D).
Eliminate the talking, the plots and David Hasselhoff’s chest and greatly expand the slo-mo running on the beach and you have a low-cost, guaranteed winner that will have a run that will rival The Simpsons or Gunsmoke.
