Female-Led Kung Fu Reboot in Works at the CW

[Danja]

A female-led reboot of the David Carradine-starring Kung Fu television series from the 1970s is now in development at The CW.

https://comicbook.com/tv-shows/2019/11/06/female-led-kung-fu-reboot-in-development-the-cw/

 

[CorporalCaptain]

The original Kung Fu is one of the best TV shows ever. The Legend Continues was, sadly, many notches below the original. (I've forgotten too much of the two 80s movies with Brandon Lee to comment on them.) But I'll be there to give this reboot a chance.

 

[valkyrie013]

Sounds like iron fist... Which sucked..

Just have her do like the old series .. Like knight rider, a team even the original kung fu... Go town to town righting wrongs, learning etc.

 

[Caretaker]

Or just make this a follow-up to TLC. Make this the modern Kwai Chang Caine's granddaughter (Peter's daughter). And find someway to write out Kwai Change Caine since David Carradine is no longer around.

 

[Shaka Zulu]

Sounds like iron fist... Which sucked..

Just have her do like the old series .. Like knight rider, a team even the original Kung Fu... Go town to town righting wrongs, learning etc.

This is nowhere near as 'badly plotted' as people say Iron Fist was; unlike that show, this version of Caine isn't a person returning home to claim her inheritance in the family business, but a person coming home (like Bruce Wayne or Kate Kane) to fix her hometown. Hopefully, this will be better plotted than TLC was.

 

[Christopher]

Sounds like iron fist... Which sucked..

Season 2 was much better than season 1.

Anyway, this doesn't sound too similar to IF -- for one thing, it actually has a Chinese-American lead.

Just have her do like the old series .. Like knight rider, a team even the original kung fu...

Huh? There was no "team" in the original, just one guy wandering the country a la The Fugitive. And I don't think there's a lot of interest in Westerns these days.

 

[Kor]

Season 2 was much better than season 1.

Anyway, this doesn't sound too similar to IF -- for one thing, it actually has a Chinese-American lead.




Huh? There was no "team" in the original, just one guy wandering the country a la The Fugitive. And I don't think there's a lot of interest in Westerns these days.

I believe @valkyrie013 meant to list out three series: Knight Rider, The A-team, and the original Kung Fu.

Kor

 

[Christopher]

I believe @valkyrie013 meant to list out three series: Knight Rider, The A-team, and the original Kung Fu.

Oh, I see. (Capitalization! It matters!) But that just makes me more confused, because "like the old show" doesn't really apply to any of those. Knight Rider has had four separate revivals that were all different in approach, and only the first and fourth were approximately the same as the old show in format. The A-Team, conversely, has never had a TV series revival, only a feature film remake. And Kung Fu's sequel series was not in the same format as the original; it was a present-day cop show instead of a Fugitive-formula Western.

 

[valkyrie013]

Sorry.. Victim of the Louisiana education system..
Just saying that.. Old one resembled those shows as in it went town to town not staying in 1 town.

 

[Christopher]

Just saying that.. Old one resembled those shows as in it went town to town not staying in 1 town.

Which is why we wouldn't be likely to see that done today, especially on The CW. All those "town to town"/picaresque shows like The Fugitive, Kung Fu, The Incredible Hulk, etc. are from an era when TV drama aspired to an anthology-like model. In early TV, the anthologies were the classiest shows, and they were a good approach in an era when there wasn't home video or box sets or wikis to give a reliable overview of the whole series, so that individual episodes had to be able to stand on their own even if you didn't get to see every one. So a picaresque format let you do anthology-like storytelling with a continuing lead character, because every week that character would get involved in a completely different story with a different set of characters.

These days, though, serialization is the norm, so it's preferred to have a continuing ensemble cast staying in one place (or having a steady home base if they do travel).

 

[CorporalCaptain]

Besides the town-to-town aspect, the temple flashback scenes were essential to the format of the original Kung Fu.

 

[valkyrie013]

All true, though I do wish theyd go back to that way with some shows, you can still do a semi serial with an overall arc, but still be mostly an anthology show.
Say like the A Team. If they repop that. Staying in 1 town would be a problem. Having jonny law on ur heals. But could still have some serial plot points that they address

 

[Christopher]

Come to think of it, Supernatural is a "wandering around" sort of show, isn't it? And that's been on The CW since the dawn of time. So I guess it's possible.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

I was thinking about how Caine always was barefoot and disshelved, got me musing has there ever been a female character on TV that was like that? The best I could think of was River from Firefly.

The reboot will follow a young Chinese-American woman who, prompted by a quarter-life crisis, drops out of college and goes on a life-changing journey to an isolated monastery in China.

Quarter-life crisis! Where's my cane to shake at the clouds?

Come to think of it, Supernatural is a "wandering around" sort of show, isn't it? And that's been on The CW since the dawn of time. So I guess it's possible.

You beat me to it... though to be fair I haven't watched it in a while, many times it's they hit the road from a central point from week to week more than just drifting from place to place.

 

[Garak]

As long as Elizabeth Banks doesn't direct it, it should be fine

 

[Captaindemotion]

As long as Elizabeth Banks doesn't direct it, it should be fine

Too soon, man, too soon!