There’s no point complaining about Hollywood’s lack of imagination, so you might as well just accept it. And if you don’t like these brewing shows, you don’t have to watch them. That said, it does make one morbidly curious to know what television executives are up to, and over the past few days, a handful of developing projects has revealed the rather dim process of making new shows.
In the movies-becoming-TV-shows category, we have "Haywire" and "Lethal Weapon." The former is from Relativity TV, taking Steven Sodebergh‘s 2011 movie about a special ops agent betrayed by her organization and left to fight for her life, and turning it into an episodic format. There’s not word yet if Soderbergh will be involved (doubtful) or what the format of the show might be, or even who’s involved, but it’s on the table. If everyone is smart, they should try and snag Gina Carano to star and reprise her roll.
READ MORE: Steven Soderbergh Says "I Don’t Have An Interest In Making Another Theatrical Film"
As for "Lethal Weapon," the project is at Fox, with Matt Miller ("Forever," "The 100") adapting, and actually has a logline: When Texas cop and former Navy SEAL Martin Riggs suffers the loss of his wife and baby, he moves to Los Angeles to start anew. There, he gets partnered with LAPD detective Roger Murtaugh, who, having recently suffered a ‘minor’ heart attack, must avoid any stress in his life. Sounds about right, and to be fair, a buddy cop TV show based on these characters isn’t an outrageous suggestion.
Meanwhile, in the TV-shows-that-were-already-TV-shows there are a couple of doozies. "The A-Team," following a failed big screen outing a few years back, is headed to Fox with a high-caliber team including: Chris Morgan (writer of five "Fast & Furious" flicks) producing, Albert Kim ("Sleepy Hollow," "Nikita") penning the script, and original ‘A-Team’ creator Stephen J. Cannell‘s TV-director daughter, Tawnia McKiernan ("Criminal Minds," "Bones"), also in the mix. The general concept will remain the same, though the main cast of mercenaries will feature both dudes and ladies.
Lastly, "MacGyver" is getting the prequel treatment with a new show to focus on the younger years of the character who could save the day with bubblegum foil, a spork, and pocket lint. Here’s CBS‘ logline for the redo: A reimagining of the television series of the same name, following a 20-something MacGyver as he gets recruited into a clandestine organization where he uses his knack for solving problems in unconventional ways to help prevent disasters from happening. Okay, fine. But the kicker is that James Wan ("The Conjuring," "Furious 7") will produce and direct the pilot. Dang.
Thoughts? Will you watch one, none, or any of these? Let us know below. [The Wrap/THR/Entertainment Weekly]