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by Cathy Miller

Created on: March 17, 2009

Growing up in the 1970's, there were many popular television shows that my sister and I both had to watch each and every week. These shows ranged from superhero shows like "Batman" to sci-fi shows like "Lost In Space" and "Land of the Giants." There were also favorite family shows like "The Brady Bunch," and "The Partridge Family," cartoons like "The Flintstones," westerns like "Bonanza," or "Here Come the Brides," and cop shows like "Starsky and Hutch" or "S.W.A.T." Thinking back to these shows or watching old reruns always brings a smile to my face.

Over the past few years, it seems the movie industry has gone blank on new ideas to make movies about so they are turning to the old classics. We have seen remakes of such television shows as "Lost In Space," "The Brady Bunch," "Batman," "The Flintstones," "Miami Vice," "S.W.A.T.", "Starsky and Hutch," and "Mission Impossible." For the most part, these films have left me disappointed and wishing for the good old days when these television shows were still on the air.

There are many reasons that classic television shows should not be made into big screen movies. The actors portraying these characters, no matter how good they may be, can never fill the shoes of their predecessors. Let's face it. No one can play Marcia Brady better than Maureen McCormick or Sonny Crockett like Don Johnson.

There is also the fact that the ensemble casts of these television shows seemed to click really well. No other cop show had better partners than David Starsky and Ken Hutchinson. Paul Michael Glaser and David Soul had a chemistry between them that made this show a hit and could never be copied. This was the first real "guy partner" show where the two main characters did not appear to feel awkward in showing their love for one another. The chemistry between the two actors shone bright on the screen and you could actually believe that these two partners had a brotherly love wherein they would die for one another without a moment's hesitation. The show was funny while facing serious problems. However, in the movie, Starsky and Hutch was more a comedy than an action-drama-comedy. The chemistry between Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson was good but not up to par with Glaser's and Soul's, nor was Snoop Dog as believable as "Huggy Bear."

Another major problem with producing a re-make of a great television show is the fact that most of these movies seem to try to distance themselves from the original show while still copying them. Characters of shows are not the same in the movies. They are "dumbed down," or completely changed altogether. S.W.A.T. was one of my favorite television shows. I loved watching Hondo and crew each and every week. When I heard they were making a movie out of this show, I was excited. However, my excitement soon turned to disappointment when I realized that the characters had been changed.

I love Samuel Jackson and his acting is second to none. However, seeing a black man playing the part of "Hondo Harrelson," when I was used to a white man named Steve Forrest was hard to overcome. My favorite character on the show was Dominic Luca, portrayed by Mark Shera. Luca wasn't even in the movie. Instead, he was replaced by some woman named Chris Sanchez, portrayed by Michelle Rodriguez. Again, nothing against the actress but if you are going to remake one of my favorite shows, please keep all the same characters and pay attention to details. There wasn't a woman on the original S.W.A.T. team and even though this is a new decade, I would prefer to keep the original characters instead of adding a woman for the sake of - well, adding a woman. And T.J. McCabe, the most lovable, kind and loyal member of the team during the original show was turned into a character who betrayed his fellow team members. Watching one of my favorite characters being changed and desecrated like that left me with a sick feeling and a wish that they had never tried to copy this great show.

"Miami Vice" was another disappointment, although in all fairness, this could simply be due to the fact that no one can carry of Sonny Crockett's wardrobe better than Don Johnson. Colin Farrell, while good-looking, could not pull off the look. And Jamie Foxx as Ricardo Tubbs? Phillip Michael Thomas must have been shaking his head and wondering, "What the hell?" Foxx and Farrell did not have the chemistry that Thomas and Johnson had, nor were they as well suited for the parts they were portraying. Once again, there were many characters from the original show that were not mentioned, and if they were, they were changed. Trudy living with Tubbs? Hmmm. Okay, maybe. But where were the other characters that were so loved on the show? Martin Castillo, Gina Calabrese, Stan Switek and Larry Zito were nowhere to be seen. Sure, Zito died in the show, but they could have revived the character by making it appear that the movie occurred during a time previous to his fatal drug overdose given to him by a drug dealer. Again, if you are going to remake the show into a movie, keep the characters or else the movie is not going to go over well with loyal followes of the television show.

Cast chemistry, keeping the characters the same as they were in the original shows while going with the times and making sure the whole cast of characters are the same may be hard, but if producers and directors insist on regurgitating old shows, they should do it right. Otherwise, these movies pale in comparison. My personal opinion - stay away from trying to remake these shows and try to think up new concepts and characters.

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