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The Rockford Files to be Re-made

I guess I have to agree with Christopher, the fact that it's a re-telling doesn't automatically make it bad. The odds, though, are very much against it, and I agree with the others who have said that the show and James Garner are so fondly remembered that it will set the bar pretty high.

As for the casting, I don't know who could pull it off today. James Garner was a full-fledged Big Screen Star when he took the role, and he had enough clout to basically set up the cast and the whole production the way he wanted. The quality of the Beery/Santos/Margolin/Corbett/Luisi ensemble was in large part due to the respect Garner had for his colleagues and his "team building" skills among cast and crew. Maybe a guy like George Clooney could do it, but he definitely doesn't seem interested in doing series TV again. Otherwise, it will take a very strong show-runner to maintain a level of quality comparable to the original Rockford Files, and as far as I'm concerned House isn't even in the same ballpark.

Another important issue: What kind of car will they give Jimbo? I don't see many worthy successors to the old gold Firebird on the market today.

--Justin
 
Christopher said:
Why not? Why did Shakespeare name his villain Macbeth when he totally rewrote the true history of a king who was actually rather benevolent? Why did Chretien de Troyes and Thomas Malory name their king character Arthur when they heavily reworked the original Celtic mythology? Why did so many classical composers base their symphonies on traditional folk songs rather than making up new melodies that just sounded similar? Why did Michelangelo name his sculpture after the Biblical David instead of just calling it Bob?
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I don't know, but I really wish he had named that statue Bob.

The idea that a story can or should be about characters that aren't already known to the audience is historically a fairly recent innovation.
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So are Penicillin and the Space Program. That's called "progress." Printing presses are invented now. :D

That's so counterfactual it would take a long time to respond to, and it's off-topic for this forum.
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:confused:


You're making the assumption that if a story uses different character names, that makes it "original." But even if the character names are new, the story is still going to be built from recognizable tropes and themes and character types.
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I would never make that assumption. What we're talking about is an existing body of work-- the "canon" in the words of Sherlockians and Trekkies-- that is being remade, re-imagined or rebooted to no good reason. Unless this new show is going to be set in the 70s and involve untold stories about the original character, the character and situation will be changed to the point that it is at best pointless and at worst detrimental to invoke the original. By your own estimation, this will be a reimagining because of the original's dependence on James Garner. So it's pretty silly.
 
A cousin of mine played "Rocky" on the original (Noah Beery, Jr.)

An update might be interesting but you MUST have an actor with Garner's charm and prescence -- unless of course it will be "darker and grittier" than the original.

I'm going to create a word here about remakes and reimaginings.

It's "dagged". That means it's going to be "Darker And Grittier" than the original. The trend started by BSG and is now almost a cliche with remakes.

Dagged. You heard it here first.

Used in a sentence: "Man, they really dagged Battlestar Galactica, didn't they?"

Use it at dinner tonight.

--Ted
 
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I loved Noah Beery, Jr.'s Rocky.
But I think there is little to gain from 'remaking' Rockford as opposed to just making a new detective show. The Rockford files is way up there on my all time favorite TV shows, and I suspect even if the new show is good, i won't watch it unless i'm blown away with it, where i might watch a detective show with a different character, may not make sense but that is how i think i'll feel.

I just added it to my blockbuster online queue since it has been a long time since i've seen it. I have recently started to watch Magnum PI so would like to see Sellecks Lance somebody character again
 
It would be nice to see Jim Rockford back on screen.Perhaps this might be a return to more character driven crime shows rather thah the whizz-bang technology of the CSI type shows.
I only hope that the new Rockford is a creditable actor and not some "by committee"choice (think of the godawful recent updating of "The Night Stalker")

Call me crazy,I'd quite like to see Ben Affleck take on the role,he has shown an interest in the genre,witness "Gone baby,gone".
 
Nah, it'll be "dagged." In the first episode, Rocky will be brutally murdered, proving to the twelve-year-old target audience that anything can happen and it usually does! Jim Rockford will get out the brass knuckles he was given as an anniversary present by his "girlfriend" when he was in the slammer, go and buy a sawed-off shotgun with the serial number filed off and proceed to get revenge on all the punks and lowlifes in the world. He'll be followed by a cameraman who's had way too much caffeine and can't keep the steadicam steady.
 
/\Hopefully the producers/writers will resist the urge to burden Jim with a teenage computer-whiz sidekick,or load the show with a demographic-pleasing lineup of secondary characters.Rockford should be just a lone gumshoe out just to secure truth and justice(but mostly a paychecque).
 
Is Dennis Quaid too big to do a tv series? Can also imagine him in the lead, carrying off a nice Garner-esque vibe and persona.
 
I'd like to see James Gandolfini play Rockford alongside Garner as Rocky. Are they busy?

Hopefully, the show won't be terribly dagged... detective shows work better when they are fun (IMO). :)
 
/\Maybe,but I think Gandolfini would be great if Lt.Colombo was ever to be remade.Not as quirky or tic-tastic as Peter Falk but I can see him snooping about,acting the mook.
Besides which,it would be good to see him on the right side of the law.

So,what other screen detectives would you like to see recast?
Jeff Garlin as Frank Cannon?
 
This will fail and it will fail big time. They ought to just cast Ted McGinley as Rockford and get it over with.

Some of these old shows are so good, and so much of the new stuff is utter crap they should just give up. What I think would be interesting if NBC (or any other network) were to just show the original Rockford Files every week, just bury it in the schedule on a Friday or Saturday night, and I will certainly watch it, or at least DVR it and watch it later. They could do 2 or 3 of these classic shows in a row and call it old school detective night or something. They could create a big marketing campaign around it, bring out the stars of these shows and make a big deal out of it. I know there are reruns around, but one of the bigger networks could do a better job than TV Land, and probably get more of the older, original viewers and they could market it as hip and retro so that the younger crowd could get into it. Plus, it would be cheaper than creating new shows and better than Dateline NBC 18 times a week.
 
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