Yes, I did just admit to watching GILMORE GIRLS. However I wasn't watching it the same way after seeing SIN CITY and BAD SANTA.
R.I.P. STEPHEN J. CANNELL
Stephen J. Cannell passed away this week at the age of 69. I loved this guy's work. He's the guy who created The A-TEAM, and that show is one of my favorite childhood shows. He did a ton of other shows too that grew up with and loved.
The A-TEAM was the first show I was allowed to watch when I was negotiating my bedtime being moved from 8 to 9 when I was a kid. I wanted to stay up later and my Dad told me I could pick one day of the week to stay up late and if I could still get up for school with no problems then they move my bedtime back. Of course I had to pick Tuesday night. It wasn't much later that I got caught up in another one of his, THE GREATEST AMERICAN HERO. It was about a normal guy who found an alien costume that gave him super powers, but he lost the instruction manual. The cheesy scene of him flailing around in front of blue screen as a landscape was shown behind him in what was supposed to be him flying still makes me smile a bit.
Then I got older and 21 JUMP STREET was the most popular show on TV, at least at my school it was. Fox was still a brand new station. Johnny Depp was starring with Holly Robinson and Peter Deluise. I got into that show a bit late, but it was cool stuff. I recently grabbed the first season on DVD an am slowly but surely working my way through it.
One of my favorite shows that he did was STREET JUSTICE. It only went for two seasons and starred Carl Weathers as a cop who teams up with a streetwise martial artist to fight crime. It also starred Marcus Chong who went on to play Tank in THE MATRIX. It was actually pretty slick even though it was pretty formulaic. The fight scenes were pretty cool stuff too. I really dug that show.He did a lot of shows over the years. You'd always know which ones were his because after the credits rolled you'd see him with his popped collar pulling a page out his typewriter and tossing it into the air so it could magically transform into his logo. Thanks for the fun television, Mister Cannell.
TV: WONDER WOMAN?
There's some consideration about a new Wonder Woman TV show. Many of us remember the Lynda Carter show fondly, myself included. SMALLVILLE has had a decent run of things but that's going to be wrapping up this season. That does leave an interesting void to fill. So this obviously is going to trigger the typical hoopla of who will get the role. There's been much hemming and hawing over the years as to casting the live action Wonder Woman movie which will never be made. Frankly I'm perfectly happy with the animated feature Warner Brothers put out a while back, so I don't really have a dog in the fight. What has me curious is that David E. Kelley has attached himself to the project. Kelley is the same person who brought us ALLY MCBEAL, THE PRACTICE, and BOSTON LEGAL. Not the type of shows I would directly relate to the superhero genre. However he was one of the people behind one of my favorite movies MYSTERY, ALASKA.So this is sticky. There are elements of the character that I think Kelley could really run with and make good television. However, the elements that I really like about Wonder Woman seem to be out of his wheelhouse. So will this show be to my liking? I don't know. But there is obviously things that people would hope to see. The relationship with her mother and the others on Themyscira. Her dealings with the Greek Gods and characters from mythology. And of course I have to agree with Gail Simone who wrote the WONDER WOMAN comic for a few years.
"If they do a Wonder Woman television series, there had better be at least one albino gorilla, that's all I'm saying."
And is that really too much to ask? Gorillas are a sure ratings booster, with or without combat spoons. Frankly, I think Kelley would be remiss if he didn't consider the Albino Gorilla Option. It would be great press, and I'm sure the tree hugging, save-every-animal-that-isn't-us crowd could get behind it done properly.
Hopefully though they'll not go with the new Jim Lee design on the character. I understand that they'll probably have to divert slightly away from the classic costume for the show because adaptations usually require a bit of adapting. Still, the new costume is obviously temporary and the sooner its gone, the better. That is a horrid thought though. Suppose they decide to adapt the current JMS run for the show?
Cripes, I just scared myself.
MUSIC!!
That's a wrap on Sunday. See y'all Wednesday.
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