kernie
09-02-2011, 11:06 AM
In 1980 they were on a mission from god, but fastforward more than three decades and The Blues Brothers are on a mission to find a slot in the primetime schedules. According to reports in the US (http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/blues-brothers-tv-project-development-229476), the comedy (http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/comedy)-music duo made famous by Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi could be making their way to a small screen near you.
The brothers bleu originally started life on television before graduating to cinemas (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1ehMrK3itM) – another example of Saturday Night Live's comedy production line – and one of the soulful siblings' original scribblers, SNL staffer Anne Beatts, is apparently involved in bringing them back. As is Belushi's widow Judy who told Variety (http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118042012): "We want to keep them alive. We chose to introduce them as new characters but do it in an way that they have some history, have some life behind them."
Let's overlook the frankly awful Blues Brothers 2000 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ESdH-CRUAE), a film that's about as enjoyable as waking up on fire, but nevertheless is a Blues Brothers series – especially one described as "Route 66 meets Glee" – really a good idea?
It's certainly on trend. Earlier this year another remake of an 80s cult classic, Teen Wolf, somehow found its way off the silver screen and on to the schedules; while reimaginings of hit shows such as Dallas (http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/tvandradioblog/2011/jul/12/dallas-80s-shows-reviving), Bewitched (http://insidetv.ew.com/2011/08/09/bewitched-remake) and The Munsters (http://www.slashfilm.com/tv-bits-munsters-remake-development-warehouse-13-in-plain-sight-suits-leverage-renewed-dexter-season-6-poster-revealed-kurt-sutter-talks-amc) are all also in development. So is this wave of nostalgia just an example of lazy programming? Or an acknowledgement that old ideas are better than any of today's programme pitches?
Perhaps the answer is more simple: in an age of austerity remakes perhaps offer about the closest thing to a safe bet (http://www.pajiba.com/seriously_random_lists/12-reasons-80s-remakes-are-the-safest-bets-in-hollywood.php), with movies such as Karate Kid and The A Team making money (http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/filmblog/2010/jun/14/karate-kid-a-team-box-office) even when critics were less than impressed.
Part of the appeal for programme makers is that these shows already have a captive audience, a hardy band of nostalgic fans who are ready to be tapped – a far more appealing and indeed affordable prospect than building a following from scratch. So you can rest assured that we haven't reached the bottom of this particular barrel just yet.
But perhaps we're doing Jake and Elwood a disservice. Maybe the series will provide a much-needed antidote to Glee's jazz-handed cult of clean-cut programming? And wouldn't a Blues Brothers series, even a bad Blues Brothers series, be preferable to another monster mystery MacGuffin with an ever more tenuous link to JJ Abrams' fettered imagination? (http://marquee.blogs.cnn.com/2011/08/04/overheard-at-tca-you-cant-go-wrong-with-j-j-abrams/)
Let us know what you think in the comments section below. And remember, people, that no matter who you are and what you do to live, thrive and survive, there're still some things that make us all the same. You. Me. Them...Oh you know the rest (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCTJeT2i9QU).
:beer:
The brothers bleu originally started life on television before graduating to cinemas (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1ehMrK3itM) – another example of Saturday Night Live's comedy production line – and one of the soulful siblings' original scribblers, SNL staffer Anne Beatts, is apparently involved in bringing them back. As is Belushi's widow Judy who told Variety (http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118042012): "We want to keep them alive. We chose to introduce them as new characters but do it in an way that they have some history, have some life behind them."
Let's overlook the frankly awful Blues Brothers 2000 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ESdH-CRUAE), a film that's about as enjoyable as waking up on fire, but nevertheless is a Blues Brothers series – especially one described as "Route 66 meets Glee" – really a good idea?
It's certainly on trend. Earlier this year another remake of an 80s cult classic, Teen Wolf, somehow found its way off the silver screen and on to the schedules; while reimaginings of hit shows such as Dallas (http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/tvandradioblog/2011/jul/12/dallas-80s-shows-reviving), Bewitched (http://insidetv.ew.com/2011/08/09/bewitched-remake) and The Munsters (http://www.slashfilm.com/tv-bits-munsters-remake-development-warehouse-13-in-plain-sight-suits-leverage-renewed-dexter-season-6-poster-revealed-kurt-sutter-talks-amc) are all also in development. So is this wave of nostalgia just an example of lazy programming? Or an acknowledgement that old ideas are better than any of today's programme pitches?
Perhaps the answer is more simple: in an age of austerity remakes perhaps offer about the closest thing to a safe bet (http://www.pajiba.com/seriously_random_lists/12-reasons-80s-remakes-are-the-safest-bets-in-hollywood.php), with movies such as Karate Kid and The A Team making money (http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/filmblog/2010/jun/14/karate-kid-a-team-box-office) even when critics were less than impressed.
Part of the appeal for programme makers is that these shows already have a captive audience, a hardy band of nostalgic fans who are ready to be tapped – a far more appealing and indeed affordable prospect than building a following from scratch. So you can rest assured that we haven't reached the bottom of this particular barrel just yet.
But perhaps we're doing Jake and Elwood a disservice. Maybe the series will provide a much-needed antidote to Glee's jazz-handed cult of clean-cut programming? And wouldn't a Blues Brothers series, even a bad Blues Brothers series, be preferable to another monster mystery MacGuffin with an ever more tenuous link to JJ Abrams' fettered imagination? (http://marquee.blogs.cnn.com/2011/08/04/overheard-at-tca-you-cant-go-wrong-with-j-j-abrams/)
Let us know what you think in the comments section below. And remember, people, that no matter who you are and what you do to live, thrive and survive, there're still some things that make us all the same. You. Me. Them...Oh you know the rest (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCTJeT2i9QU).
:beer: