RE-MAKE/RE-MODEL?

(TBI Vision April 2020)

The trend of remaking or reviving classic scripted shows continues apace

It’s not hard to figure out the reasoning behind the ongoing stream of rebooted and revived scripted shows.

Name recognition and residual affection almost guarantee high initial sampling; although one wonders how many people actually remember the likes of Perry Mason (currently being rebooted by HBO) or sitcom Designing Women (ABC), although copious re-runs of older titles have introduced them to new audiences.

In the UK, we are well-catered for in terms of classic scripted content, with channels such as Talking Pictures, Forces TV, True Entertainment, BBC2/4 and Gold providing a wealth of British archive programming, whilst streamers such as the BBC i-Player, All4, ITVHub and the recently launched pay service Britbox also include a substantial library of older shows.

David Walton, joint MD/Creative Director of free@lasttv, producers of the hit comedy-detective series Agatha Raisin (Acorn/Sky One), offered these thoughts, “Revivals have been going on for years on both sides of the Atlantic e.g. Endeavour, Prime Suspect, Charlie Angels, Hawaii Five 0 – they’re a familiar?brand that audiences can easily identify in a sea of product.

Personally I think these re-boots are only successful in the longer term if they are sufficiently creative and visionary?to initially build upon their past ( by not disappointing old friends, audiences?appreciate the history, the mise-en-scene, the themes, the emotional journey and seek that out in the reboots) but then, very importantly, forge their own future.

The original series should always be seen as springboards rather than straitjackets.”

Free@lasttv are in the process of developing First Frost, a prequel to the hugely successful long-running YTV detective series A Touch of Frost.

Warren Brown (Luther/Strike Back) will be stepping into the shoes of David Jason as a much younger Detective Inspector William Edward ‘Jack’ Frost.

Barry Ryan, David Walton’s co-MD/Creative Director, who gave the following insights into First Frost, Agatha Raisin and their new take on Hamish MacBeth:

“First Frost is inspired by the prequel novels authorised by the RD Wingfield estate and developed for Warren Brown to star in. And we are now developing Hamish Macbeth at the invitation the of late M.C Beaton, who disliked the original (BBC1, 1995-97) but really enjoyed what we did with Agatha Raisin and so offered?us the rights.?

We're also unique in that we essentially rebooted our own show. When Agatha Raisin was cancelled by Sky in 2016, it allowed?us to examine what we didn't like about the pilot and Series 1 in order to address that in Series II. When we rebooted the show for Acorn we made the episodes feature length and embraced our ‘sexy and funny’.

In terms of Frost & Hamish the key for us is to look with fresh eyes on old friends - these aren't lazy legacy projects in television, they are IP led. The original source material is more important to us than the initial television shows. The US doesn't have the hang ups that we have about remakes because they look at story first. The 90s Hamish Macbeth series took the character but not the stories, in the process IMO losing both the wit and the integrity, so with Hamish, it's our intention to go back to M.C Beaton's stories.

It's a privilege when an author allows you to work with their creations and we try to work as closely with the author as possible. Sadly, M.C Beaton died at Christmas and so for the first time we are developing more Agatha Raisin stories and the Hamish pilot without her, ?which honestly feels weird and a bit lonely, as she was very present in what we did - but we will carry her tone and taste forward. Because that is what got us here in the first place.”?

In the UK, there’s an ongoing trend in bringing back dramas from the 70s and 80s, with Dutch policier Van der Valk debuting on ITV (PBS in the States) this year.

Planned remakes of Lovejoy, Rumpole of the Bailey, All Creatures Great & Small and Bergerac are all in varying stages of production/development.

Why these particular shows?

Each has their own backstory in terms of how they came to be returning to the screen, but they all share nostalgia value as part of a shared viewing experience (often on a Sunday evening) for audiences who remember the original shows – although I suspect that Van der Valk may well be a grittier proposition this time around.

The Dutch detective looks to be the first out of the gate, with producers all3media describing the lead character as, "a complex, thoughtful and ‘real’ sleuth, who tackles tough crimes. Set in the lively and enigmatic city of Amsterdam, the series follows Van der Valk’s engaging, unapologetic and street-smart methods as he leads his dynamic team in solving murders using astute human observation and inspired detection.’

David Swetman, SVP Scripted Content, gave us some detail on bringing the series back to the TV screen, “Van Der Valk was a hugely successful brand in the past and we’re excited to combine that heritage with writer Chris Murray’s fresh new take on the books and Michele Buck’s experience of producing detective shows.

?As well as the brand-new cast led by Marc Warren, our Van Der Valk is more at home in the modern, cosmopolitan Amsterdam and is tackling cases that would be familiar to contemporary police forces. We’re delighted to have already partnered with ARD Degeto in Germany, NPO in the Netherlands, PBS in the USA and ITV in the UK to bring the series to air. Reaction to the series has been very positive.

?In general terms of reboots and remakes, it’s great to build on the heritage of shows that have gone before and bring them to a whole new audience.”

Despite the apparent low-risk strategy of reviving ‘classic’ shows, that’s no guarantee of success, as the resurrections of Upstairs Downstairs (2010-12, BBC1) and Minder (2009, Channel 5) attest.

Casting is of course of prime importance; if a show can retain at least some of its original stars this will usually entice viewers, hence the popularity of the returning shows such as Cold Feet, Gavin & Stacey and Open All Hours spin-off Still Open All Hours.

In the light of the success of Still Open All Hours in moving David Jason’s character (Granville) to the role previously occupied by Ronnie Barker as the corner store owner, I wonder whether Euston Films have contemplated a similar trick with Minder - having Dennis Waterman’s older Terry McCann become a Arthur Daley-like wheeler-dealer, whilst recruiting some younger muscle as back-up?

Presuming Waterman is willing to be coaxed out of retirement.

Sometimes producers seem to be on a hiding to nothing when attempting to revive shows that depended on the unique performances of lead actors.

Prime Suspect 1973 (2017) had many flaws, primarily the failure of star Stefanie Martini to successfully evoke Helen Mirren in her role as a younger Jane Tennison.

Nothing can convince me that Martin Clunes taking on Leonard Rossiter’s iconic role of Reggie Perrin In the BBC1 2009-10 reboot was anything other than a bad idea, one which generally poor reviews and mediocre audience figures appeared to confirm.

Writing in the Guardian, Sam Wollaston spoke for many viewers when he said: "Anyone old enough to have known - and inevitably loved - The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin will throw up their hands and ask: why sully the memory of one of the greatest British comedies of all time? It was wonderful, and unique in its time; a copy can only be disappointing.

I feel sorry for Clunes: it's not that he's bad, it's just that he's not Leonard Rossiter. Rossiter was Reggie Perrin. What next? Fawlty Towers with David Walliams as Basil? Porridge with Neil Morrissey? Please, God, no. Come up with some new ideas."

Likewise, GOLD’s ill-advised decision to resuscitate Yes, Prime Minister in 2013, with the impeccable trio of Paul Eddington, Nigel Hawthorne and the late Derek Fawlds replaced by David Haig, Henry Goodman and Chris Larkin.

Perhaps predictably, reviews were scathing, with Radio Times reviewer Jack Seale, saying the reboot was,?"stagey and unsubtle, with nothing new or relevant to say about modern politics and with weaker one-liners".

Further back in time, TV funnyman Paul Merton was tempted to recreate some of his idol Tony Hancock’s most famous sketches in Paul Merton in Galton and Simpson’s…(1996-97).

A pointless exercise, I hear you say.

As indeed it was.

The lesson? Replace an actor’s career-defining performance at your peril.

Which someone really should have said to Steve Martin before he took on the roles of Inspector Clouseau and Sgt Bilko…

There is one major exception to this rule, namely Dr Who which has made a virtue of regularly changing the lead actor.

And last year’s Dad’s Army: The Lost Episodes (GOLD) wasn’t half as bad as It could have been – and was certainly better than 2016’s lame movie, which wasted the talents of Bill Nighy, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Toby Jones, Michael Gambon and Tom Courtenay.

BBC Studios’ Global VOD director Jon Farrar gave TBI his take on the trend, saying, "There was a great piece of research a couple of years ago which found that the average person will spend 2.4 years of their life just looking for something to watch. We are totally overloaded with content from every direction. We need cues – the familiar and the well-loved – to help direct us through that fog.

There’s another trend around nostalgia. In a world that’s getting more complex, angry, and uncertain we have a need to seek comfort. We want to escape into the familiar that reminds of us simpler and, perhaps, happier times. What’s interesting here is also the need to escape to older brands for a generation that weren’t born first time around, but crave warmer, simpler programming. Gen Z’s embrace of Friends suggests older brands have value far beyond the audiences that remember them first time."

Farrar added, "I think there are two approaches that work – a faithful homage to the original or a complete breaking out, taking the bare bones and re-inventing it into an unrecognisable new drama. The dangerous ground is what lies between those two approaches. It’s littered with corpses."

Looking further afield, the US has always been fertile ground for remakes and reboots – in a broadcasting environment where shows can be pulled after a few episodes, name recognition is vital part of the arsenal in attracting viewers.

It must be said that (due in part to the huge volume of shows produced) the States have a stronger hit rate in bringing back TV classics – recast, rejigged and usually with higher budgets.

Streamers such as Netflix have made hay with reviving shows, including Fuller House, Gilmore Girls Lost in Space, The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, Tales of the City and Arrested Development, to varying degrees of critical approval.

In recent years we’ve had successful reboots of Dynasty (The CW), Magnum P.I (CBS), Hawaii Five-O (CBS), Charmed (The CW), The L Word (2019, Showtime) and MacGyver (ABC), whilst Twin Peaks (Showtime), Mad About You (Spectrum Originals) and Will & Grace (NBC) both returned with most original cast members to largely warm receptions.

Too early to tell in the case of freeform’s Party of Five (2020), but reviews have so far been positive.

ABC’s Roseanne made a strong comeback, but as the world knows, the titular star imploded, and the show thence became the Barr-less Connors.

My Spectator piece:

Name recognition is no assurance of success, witness the failure of reboots such as Kojak (USA Network, 2005, USA), The Bionic Woman (2007, NBC), Knight Rider (2008-9, NBC), Ironside (2013, NBC), Dallas (2012-14, TNT), Heroes Reborn (2015-16, and more recently the revived Murphy Brown (2018, CBS).

Future shows said to be making a return include cult comedy-drama Northern Exposure, Battlestar Galactica (for the second time), Bewitched, Nash Bridges, Queer as Folk, Gossip Girl, Sister Sister, Alf, Buffy The Vampire Slayer, the original Las Vegas-set CSI and Frasier.

For NBCUni, the ‘Holy Grail’ of comebacks is of course for Friends to return as either a limited mini-series, TV movie or cinema release, although this looks unlikely, given the reluctance of some cast members to risk tarnishing the show’s legacy with a possibly inferior revival.

It was recently announced that the cast of Friends will reunite this year for an HBO Max unscripted special, but this is unlikely to satisfy fans appetite for new episodes of the series.

Sunder Aaron, former VP Sony Pix, currently Principal of Indian production company Locomotive Global Inc., shared these thoughts with us: 'Viewers form deep emotional bonds with characters they’ve watched before, and therefore we have seen numerous movie remakes of television shows. Many shows (especially sitcoms) just won’t translate without the writers and actors playing the characters that we embraced originally and are already well established in our minds. Who could imagine Cheers, Seinfeld or Frasier being remade with other actors? However, we’d all jump at the chance to see a?reunion?of the original cast. The Friends reunion has been in the works for over a decade now and seems increasingly likely to happen eventually.'

?As a TV child of the 80s and 90s, it’s amusing to see some of those shows revived. We’ve even started tapping into the nineties with Beverly Hills 90210, Will and Grace, and Mad About You, along with the reboot of Roseanne (which went sideways for good reason and morphed into more of a spin off now). Admittedly, I haven’t been able to stick with any of these shows beyond an episode or two. Most shows are just leveraging the well-known brand name to launch what really are entirely new series. For these shows to succeed, they’ve got to develop their own audiences, as if they were completely new and unrelated shows. Of course, the shows are easier to promote at launch (since viewers would have an idea of what to expect), but face a hard time retaining and building an audience if they aren’t good enough in their own right.

Familiarity isn’t necessarily the enemy of creativity – a good example is what the creators of?Riverdale?were able to pull off. A creative, and unique take on the beloved Archie characters.

?In India, we don't have seasons or archival value for scripted series television. Therefore, it's very rare to see a revival of a series, or remake of something that came years before.”

Aaron is the in the process of developing an Indian re-make of Showtime’s hit drama Ray Donovan, with the lead character now a Bollywood fixer.

Sunder comments:

“There have been a number of successful adaptations of premium series in the Indian market, including?Criminal Justice and The?Office. Israeli formats such as?Hostages?and?Fauda?are also being adapted in India. These shows are all incredibly well written. My company, LGI is working on a local language version of CBS/Showtime's?Ray Donovan.?This is only possible because?Ray Donovan?is also an exceptionally well?written series. It also happens to perfectly lends itself to adaptation in India, given the similarities between Hollywood and Bollywood. While Ray will necessarily undergo a transformation when we convert the setting, characters and storylines, I have no doubt that its unbelievably pitch perfect writing will contribute sturdily to the remake's success in India.”?

Outside the States, 2019 saw a return of the long-running Canadian court-room drama Street Legal, back after a break of twenty-five years.

In Australia, a spate of reboots has seen Prisoner Cell Block H reimagined as Wentworth, Northern Exposure-esque drama SeaChange and comedy Pizza all returned after lengthy intervals.

Alex Kessel, head of Russian production company Sputnik Vostok (Better Than Us -Netflix, Londongrad – Amazon Prime) discussed the development with us:

“The best stories are remade with nearly every generation. Not only due to the recognition factor, but because these shows will need updating – especially in Russia, usually with more complexity and faster pacing, so that it can reach? younger generations, who otherwise may treat the originals as old hat. In post-Soviet Russia there’s been around a dozen features remade for theatrical release. Most failed to replicate the success of the original versions, which are often broadcast in the Russian Federation.

That could probably mean that some stories are hard to accept in any new iteration, so deep is their cultural footprint.

This works differently on TV, where the logic of lowering risk supports remakes in a similar fashion to ?based-on-the-book or other IP projects (classic Russian literature, ?such as War & Peace and Dr Zhivago, obviously work far beyond Russia) . Content clutter is increasing at an exponential rate, so that new shows usually require big names, high budgets and other resources to punch through.

Which can happen even within the same broadcaster or platform, where some strong ideas can be buried under heavily promoted in-coming premieres without being given a proper chance.

This is when golden oldies become new again. And again. And again.”

It’s unlikely that the trend for bringing back older shows will end any time soon, as the hunger for product across multiple platforms continues unabated.

Ownership of pre-existing IP and the aforementioned power of name recognition will always be strong drivers for broadcasters and producers to revisit past glories.

Whether this is good news for new writing talent and viewers is another matter.

Stephen Arnell 2020

Roxy Music - Re-Make/Re-Model

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