Entertainment
The 'Ghost' TV Reboot & 4 Other Remakes That Have Us Scratching Our Heads
If you're a television fanatic like me, you've always got your eye on what new shows are in development. (I, for one, want to plan out my 2014 fall DVR schedule well in advance). Recently, it seems that there has been a strange pattern in the TV industry when it comes to developing new TV. What's the apparent "magic bullet" for a TV show these days? Rebooting a fan favorite film or TV show for the modern day audience.
It's worked so far with TV shows like Bates Motel and Hannibal, which provide a fresh take on the characters and plots from Hitchcock's Psycho and Thomas Harris' Red Dragon Trilogy (or, if you don't read, Manhunter, Silence of the Lambs, and all of the Oscar winner's terrible sequels).
But while these shows seem to be gaining considerable success, I can't help but be a bit skeptical when it comes to some of the other reboots that are currently being developed within the industry. Because, seriously, some of these are just plain weird. Here's a list of the most bizarre reboot ideas currently being shopped around the industry.
'American Psycho'
FX has a love for dark-and-twisted TV (American Horror Story, the late Nip/Tuck... okay, so maybe Ryan Murphy is the twisted one here... ) so it's not surprising that they would want to get a jump on an adaptation of one of the most disturbing novels of the '90s. While American Psycho already has a musical and film remake in the works, FX wants a TV show that would follow Patrick Bateman in the modern-day world. The 50-plus Bateman will take on a protege and teach him the ways of serial killing (while still look fantastic in a suit, natch).
There's a whole lotta problems with FX's idea, but perhaps the most obvious one is that there's a great deal of evidence in Bret Easton Ellis' novel and Mary Harron's film that suggest that Patrick Bateman never actually killed anyone. It's pretty well accepted that the murders depicted in the book and film were simply a grand delusion in Bateman's head/metaphor for consumerism and yuppie culture.
Unless Scott Disick gets to play Patrick Bateman again, I see no reason to tune in.
'Ghost'
Confession time: I think I've seen Ghost about 50 times, and I love absolutely every single moment of this ghost-mance drama. But while I may swoon every time I hear "Unchained Melody" (or see a clay pot) I just don't see how a Ghost television series — which is currently in development over at Paramount — could work. Is it going to be a drama? A horror show? Tell me, Paramount, how exactly you are going to get this thing to work itself out. Are we going to have to watch as Patrick Swayze's character learns to walk through subway trains and move pennies? Will we be dragged along for three seasons before finally revealing the identity of Sam's killer? Will it be a Medium-esque show with a new ghost to help from episode to episode? DON'T RUIN GHOST FOR ME.
'Heathers'
I've said it once, and I'll say it again: a Heathers TV show sequel is the worst idea ever. Like American Psycho, Heathers functions as a satire. You know what kills a satire? Adding unnecessary back plotting, a mystery involving a character who died in the original, and a modern-day update that fits nowhere into the plaid skirts and hair bows of 1989. This show was originally slated to air on Bravo (home of the Housewives!) but was passed on by the network, perhaps because they finally realized the error of their ways. But if you are looking for a new version of Heathers, you can go see a production of "Heather: The Musical" in Los Angeles.
'The Wizard of Oz'
But haven't we already had about a billion Wizard of Oz reboots in the form of a mini-series, TV movie, actual movie, and potential subplot on a future episode of Once Upon a Time? Yes, yes we have. Because The Wizard of Oz is fantastic. But one thing that I am a bit skeptical about is the latest reboot idea from the minds of those over at CBS. CBS wants to turn The Wizard of Oz into a — yes, this is a very real thing – medical soap . So this show will be basically like Grey's Anatomy, but somehow also like The Wizard of Oz.
'The Hand That Rocks the Cradle'
The original 1992 thriller — about a woman who takes a nanny position to seek revenge on the woman who accused her husband of sexual assault — kind of sounds like a really disturbing version of Revenge already. But the fact that this show is being developed over at ABC Family just makes it all the more weird. Sure, Pretty Little Liars features murder and blackmail and Twisted does have that whole "Danny-strangled-his-aunt-to-death-with-a-jump-rope" thing going on but all of that seems like kid stuff compared to the stuff that goes down in the original Hand That Rocks the Cradle. Think of the children, ABC Family.
