Old TV Shows Resurrected to Movies
Published by simon on January 18, 2006I just watched S.W.A.T. on DVD the other day. I remember the old TV series when I was a kid, I kinda had good memories of it, although the other day reading the online reviews of the movie, most of them liked the movie but said the original series was kind of lame.
Well, I liked it, but what I know, I was probably two and a half years old at that time. I really loved cops shows and S.W.A.T. always had interesting stakeouts or hostage situations.
OK, talking a bit about TV shows from the 70’s and 80’s. Most baby boomers like me remember the 80’s as the golden decade of TV, when the new medium of coloured idiot box took over our living rooms. There was no internet, radio was pretty crap, good movies were few and far between.
And so every night we watched TV. Sometimes, family sitcoms (‘Family Ties’ vs. ‘Growing Pains’), sometimes good old cop shows (’CHiPs‘!) at times family drama (though I never liked ‘Eight is Enough’).
With the craze of Hollywood studios re-making old TV shows that that era, it’s rather inevitable that execs are scouring the media archives for the next big summer blockbuster. Most of the obvious choices have done, like Charlie’s Angels, Starksy & Hutch, Dukes of Hazzard (although I doubt this one was ever shown over here), etc.
The A-Team – I’m dying to see this on the big screen! I absolutely loved this cheesy show, I still watch the reruns. The plot was always the same, some small Godforsaken town in middle America is oppressed by a corrupted sheriff or businessman, out pops the aforementioned team in their black GMC van (usually being pursued by Colonel Decker), team annoys bad guy, set up elaborate trap (usually involving barrels and broken bar tables), you know the rest… I’m curious as to why Stephen J. Cannell, hasn’t allowed this movie to be made, at least 2 of the 4 original stars are still around. Lt. Templeton “Faceman” Peck (Dirk Benedict) should be sitting at home somewhere, I last saw “Howling Mad” Murdock (Dwight Shultz) on Star Trek: The Next Generation. He still looks the same. Col. John “Hannibal” Smith (George Peppard), has unfortunately passed on, and last I heard, Mr. T (B.A. Barracus) is ill.
But to hear them say “I love it when a plan comes together…” on the silver screen…
Fantasy Island – “The plane! The plane!” Well, now this show would never had stood a chance to win any Emmys, it was always a cheap thrill. If you had never watched this poor (my sympathies), the premise was always the same every week. 3 sets of guests, either a couple or alone, would come by hydro-plane to this tropical island, hosted by Mr. Roarke (Ricardo Montalban) and his sidekick Tattoo, where for one weekend, they can fulfill their deepest fantasy. What happens is that they will go through this dream-like thing, like be a WWII pilot, live in prehistoric times, or something like that. And usually, it always ends up with a happy ending, like ‘the Love Boat’.
To do this movie, well, they don’t need much, really. Probably a new Tattoo, I don’t think he’s still alive. They can get that Mini-Me actor from the Austin Powers series…
MacGyver – Bart Simpson’s Aunt Patti and Selma loved this show, and you can understand why. Richard Dean Anderson (now seen on Stargate) was one hot dude back in the day. He was always eligible, always smart and resourceful, and always smooth with the ladies. Anyway, it’s about this handyman using college science and above average common sense to solve mysteries and all these muddles he (and some hot babe) always seem to be getting into. But in the later seasons they ran out of ideas and kept recycling the ideas. Come to think of it, maybe a Mac movie won’t be such a good idea…
Part II will be coming soon, I think…
Technorati Tags: The A-Team, Fantasy Island, MacGyver, Richard Dean Anderson, TV, 80’s
don’t forget a knight rider movie will be coming out soon!
i love macgyver. yeah, mainly coz of richard. and i watched stargate too, again because of him lah. older, but still boleh tahan….
I am better than you!
I can even remmber Combat! I bet your aren’t born yet. Ouch, the music is playing in my head.
Others I remember :
Little House on the Prairie, Kojak, that white lady doctor in Indian settlement, High Chapparal, Lost in Space, The Osmonds, The Jacksons Five
Oops out of topic.
jamie and marie osmand show!!! and you asked for it !! eh eh what about different strokes ?
I wonder if there’ll ever be a show called T.W.A.T
Hmm, just wondering
gimme Combat ANYTIME! Vic Morrow was da man. BTW, just to add to Lilian’s list, there was Six Million Dollar Man, Bionic Woman, Bonanza…
WTH, i watched more cartoons then. and they were Stingray, Thunderbirds, G-Force…
Do you all remember the lame local production called ‘Woo woo burung hantu’? It was my first intro to TV and I actually enjoyed it. And yeah, the time when TV 3 appeared in Klang Valley. And got Top of the Pops. Gosh, Simon, what have you done! Down memory lane till cannot end.
haha..Macgyver, he used to keep me glued to the tv, watching him jack a car/ break in a house / diffuse a bomb / build a rocket using only his pocket knife.
Oh my gawd, being born in the late (very late) 80’s didn’t give me any chance to watch any nice shows you all said, except maybe the A-Team, which still reruns on Astro. I think it’s pretty original and creative too.. hehe… Imagine when I’m all grown up and people my age will be recalling buffy, angel, charmed, smallville, CSI, Gerak Khas(Hahaha)… oh my oh my…
i enjoyed watching all those shows you mentioned, simon, esp. macgyver and fantasy island.
fantasy island reminds me of love boat.
different strokes brought up by wingz reminds me of the facts of life.
little house on the prarie brought up by lilain reminds me of the waltons. high chapparal remins me of the big valley.
do any of you like watching soap operas of those day? the very popular dallas? then we also have dynasty and flamingo road.
Yay, some guy’s going to do the finale of the old 1980s Dungeons and Dragons cartoon!
8555 - knight rider? after baywatch, a dun think david haselhoff has a chance to be a movie star!
mudslinger - he really aged a lot in stargate. plus i dun really like his character…
wingz - “And we’re bringing it to you… why? b’coz YOU ASKED FOR IT!!!”
shan - yes, i think there is a series of p0rn0 movies…
buaya69 - “White rook to commander…!”
lilian - er, no… dun remember any burung hantu show… but i used to watch totp (and solid gold) on video. quite raunchy stuff back in those days!
yuin - yeah, there always seemed to be all these dangerous items lying around for him to use in an emergency!
ken - buffy rocks man. though i never liked angel, coz buffy doesn’t appear!
lucia - never really liked love boat prolly too mushy for me. my mum only like flamingo road, she loved mark harmon. morgan fairchild was such a bitch.
swifty - i used to watch that. but didn’t like it as much as visionaries!
the only ones i seem to remember are macgyver (richard dean anderson was - and still is - hot!) and the a-team.
and i loved ‘charles in charge’, ‘full house’, ‘family ties’, ‘growing pains’ ‘cheers’, ‘the cosby show’…
… but i watched a lot of cartoons then (deyyy, i was only born in 1981, lahhh!) and for some odd reason, Japanese soaps (Oshin, anyone?? or Maero Attack?)
…ahhh… those were the days…
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