Better To Rerun Than Remake

There are certain television shows that should never be remade. Shows that were so great that they could never be improved upon and it would only be embarrassing to try. Yet they try anyway.

Anyone remember “McHales Navy” starring Tom Arnold?  Car 54 starring Buster Poindexter and John C McGinley? And the granddaddy of the worst  “The Honeymoners” starring Cedric The Entertainer who showed just how far he has to go to even be in the same league as Jackie the entertainer.

These remakes are not only embarrassing for the people who make them but the people who are in them. What drove these shows are the people who originally starred in them. Jackie Gleason, Ernest Borgnine, Joe E Ross and Fred Gywnne who not only had Officer Francis Muldoon remade but his classic Herman Munster taken over by John Schuck. John Schuck!!!!

Sometimes they take the title and completely change the premise of the movie so that only the show title remains the same. As funny as the new 21 Jump Street is, it has nothing to do with the original series which gave the world Johnny Depp. Starsky and Hutch was a parody of the old show, (Personally I wouldn’t be making fun of anything I couldn’t do better than and they didn’t) and now comes Vince Vaughn bringing back Jim Rockford in the remake of “The Rockford Files”

In Jim Rockford, James Garner created a character that only he could play, with a car that only he could drive. When he reprised the role with 6 episodes in the 90’s we questioned why he never got a new car. Had Jim Rockford fallen on hard times?  He may have now.

Better Vince Vaughn should create his own character than be compared to a legend.  Wait I hear the phone ringing. .”Hello This is Jim Rockford, at the sound of the tone please leave your comment below……"