Most of the actors you listed agreed to return to the film series that boosted their careers, or to a film that had them working alongside one of their favorite co-stars of the past. That's not the same as an in-demand Hollywood actor agreeing to do a TV series. Franco did a very short term guest stint on GH, he didn't join the cast. Kevin Hart earns about 10-20 million per picture. No TV show is going to pay any actor even half as much, and I doubt he'd trade down just to participate in the rebooting of a TV classic. The most he'd probably do is agree to guest star in some episodes. Maybe he can be one of Lamont's sons who shows up from time to time, but I seriously doubt he'd sign on to be a regular on a weekly series while his film career is in peak mode.
Far as TV reboots are concerned, most of them that are too close to the original series fail instantly because they can't recreate the past. Demond Wilson, himself, starred in a horrible 80s reboot of The Odd Couple with Ron Glass, which immediately tanked. And as I mentioned in the last post, Redd Foxx attempted to reboot Sanford and Son in the early 80s - without Lamont - bringing back many of the same actors/characters from the original 70s series...and having the character of Fred Sanford living and doing exactly the same thing as before, but it didn't work. TV viewers wouldn't accept Sanford without the Son. If Redd Foxx couldn't make it work, only roughly 3 years later, no way could Demond Wilson do it 40 years later.
Audiences don't want to see a revamp of what already was if it doesn't have all of the central original players. There can't be another Sanford and Son without Redd Foxx, LaWanda Page or Whitman Mayo. All it would do is make long time fans yearn for what was, but can never be again, and instead opt to just watch reruns of the original series. It's the spin-offs/continuation series, that use the original series as a springboard, but ultimately go in a direction that is more its own that are more likely to succeed. Nostalgia only really works when you get the original lineup (and even then it's dicey, because time still changes things.) It doesn't work with new players trying to recreate the past. That feels counterfeit. A now 70-something Lamont in that original house/junkyard without Fred, with some new sidekick (even if it's his son) and still basically a poor junkman, would not only feel incomplete, but would also be sort of depressing to see. In the 40 years since we've seen him last, he's still in basically the same place? He didn't become more than that?
That being said, hey...if the concept of a near identical reboot is what you'd like to see, then have at it. I'm just saying that when I fantasize of a next generation reboot of Sanford with Lamont, I like to imagine it showing him in a better place. As having excelled to a higher plateau - doing something that, yes, recognizes and honors his "roots" that we saw in the 1970s...but on a more successful, more grandiose and slightly more original level. I'd like to see a latter day Lamont living his own life, not basically being his father.
reply
share
Tiberius27-1
8 years ago
"Franco did a very short term guest stint on GH, he didn't join the cast."
Actually he DID.
It wasn't permanent but nobody on a soap opera ever is.
"Kevin Hart earns about 10-20 million per picture. No TV show is going to pay any actor even half as much, and I doubt he'd trade down just to participate in the rebooting of a TV classic."
Aside from the fact that your doubt doesn't prove anything whatsoever, and the fact that Hart could continue to make high paying films AND do the series at the same time (Just like many others have and continue to do), even if he wouldn't do the show there are plenty of others who could take his place like Craig Robinson, David Allen Grier, Keenan Ivory Wayans, Chris Rock, or Jay Pharaoh just to name a few.
"Far as TV reboots are concerned, most of them that are too close to the original series fail instantly because they can't recreate the past."
So Star Trek The Next Generation just didn't exist or what? Or just wouldn't qualify for your arbitrary rules? Or it's the exception? Same for Battlestar Galactica & Highlander The Series.
Also you mentioned an all black version of the Odd Couple as having tanked like you were suggesting that it was one of the ones that was too close to the original? :/
"as I mentioned in the last post, Redd Foxx attempted to reboot Sanford and Son in the early 80s - without Lamont - bringing back many of the same actors/characters from the original 70s series...and having the character of Fred Sanford living and doing exactly the same thing as before, but it didn't work."
No,someone other than the original show's creators attempted to revive the concept and they were able to get Redd Foxx, Lawanda Page, and the guy who played Rollo back for it. Not only is 3 not "many" from the original show, great writing was always a staple of Sanford & Son and the derivative Sanford was wanting in that category to a major degree. Plenty of films come out with big stars who've been in big hits just to find themselves in big flops shortly thereafter because they didn't give their due diligence in making sure it was a talented group on the production end of things. Sanford didn't have it and even if they would have gotten Demond Wilson I don't think that that particular incarnation would've lasted because unlike the original it just wasn't funny. People weren't boycotting the idea of a follow up without Lamont, they were staying away from a badly made follow up.
"If Redd Foxx couldn't make it work, only roughly 3 years later, no way could Demond Wilson do it 40 years later."
Pure conjecture on your part once again.
Demond Wilson with the same creative team as before or an equally talented one would have a much better chance of finding success (In my opinion) even all these years later with my suggested follow up than Redd Foxx did with his hacks.
"Audiences don't want to see a revamp of what already was if it doesn't have all of the central original players."
Again,
Star Trek The Next Generation
Battlestar Galactica
And Highlander too.
"In the 40 years since we've seen him last, he's still in basically the same place? He didn't become more than that?"
Maybe he DID?
Maybe he got divorced and his ex wife got everything but the junkyard?
Maybe he made some bad financial dealings and lost everything but the junkyard?
Maybe he IS rich and just decided to return to his roots to try to re-learn what he had learned from his father so long ago?
Or maybe he's just doing it for his son to teach him the same kinds of valuable lessons that he once learned?
Or maybe it's a bet that he made that he could turn a profit with even THAT junkyard where someone in his country club or whatever said that there no one on Earth who could make a success out of that place.
The possibilities are endless.
In summation you're as free to prefer your version to mine or even prefer that a follow up is never made. Myself much like I would have preferred that Ralph Macchio would have taken over as the teacher in "The Next Karate Kid" rather than just having Mr. Miyagi teach AGAIN because my way advances the story in both cases, I think that letting the son become the father as the father becomes the son in a manner of speaking would both re-live some of the greatness of the past while simultaneously charting new waters as well.
"Be nice until it's time to NOT be nice."
reply
share