One of the best television series ever might be in line for a TV re-do. Check out this item via yesterday's TV Week which contains a link to Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files.
For anybody who wasn't a regular watcher of TWWW, you might need to be reminded of its best-ever theme song and clever opening credits:
Some of you might remember the awful Warner Bros. 1999 movie remake -- Wild Wild West (they weren't even smart enough to keep the "The") -- of the series starring Will Smith and Kevin Kline. Dreadful, unfunny, tons of money thrown at it and no charm, adventure or charisma in the entire movie, though it made a tons of money. It was one of those films that everybody sees and nobody likes...yeah, it happens.
The heart of the success of any TWWW reboot would be in the casting. This is a buddy western, with a dashing man-of-action teaming up with a clever and inventive genius. Nobody did it better than Robert Conrad and Ross Martin in the original, but just as Chris Pine and Zach Quinto stepped so ably into the shoes of William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy in Star Trek, I'm sure there is a good James West and Artemus Gordon team out there somewhere, too. TWWW is also considered one of the seminal influences in the completely cool and currently hot Steampunk pop culture genre, so that's another positive reason for a revival.
Do we need another remake? Where are the original ideas? The UNoriginality of a The Wild Wild West remake doesn't bother me. In great television we're dealing with iconic characters hopefully beloved by the audience after many years of familiarity. I don't think it's a crime to long for another go-round with them. Just do it right this time! (I found a lovely post on the Classic Forever blog about The Wild Wild West. Read it here!).
For anybody who wasn't a regular watcher of TWWW, you might need to be reminded of its best-ever theme song and clever opening credits:
Some of you might remember the awful Warner Bros. 1999 movie remake -- Wild Wild West (they weren't even smart enough to keep the "The") -- of the series starring Will Smith and Kevin Kline. Dreadful, unfunny, tons of money thrown at it and no charm, adventure or charisma in the entire movie, though it made a tons of money. It was one of those films that everybody sees and nobody likes...yeah, it happens.
The heart of the success of any TWWW reboot would be in the casting. This is a buddy western, with a dashing man-of-action teaming up with a clever and inventive genius. Nobody did it better than Robert Conrad and Ross Martin in the original, but just as Chris Pine and Zach Quinto stepped so ably into the shoes of William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy in Star Trek, I'm sure there is a good James West and Artemus Gordon team out there somewhere, too. TWWW is also considered one of the seminal influences in the completely cool and currently hot Steampunk pop culture genre, so that's another positive reason for a revival.Do we need another remake? Where are the original ideas? The UNoriginality of a The Wild Wild West remake doesn't bother me. In great television we're dealing with iconic characters hopefully beloved by the audience after many years of familiarity. I don't think it's a crime to long for another go-round with them. Just do it right this time! (I found a lovely post on the Classic Forever blog about The Wild Wild West. Read it here!).
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