Admittedly, I've only been up for 26 minutes, but I can't imagine I'll hear anything better all day (at least, not in the world of teevee): my buddy Joe Adalian at Variety reports that ABC has asked Rob Thomas to remake "Cupid.""Cupid," for those who missed it during its brief 1998 run in two suicidal timeslots (on Saturday nights and then opposite "Seinfeld"), starred Jeremy Piven (back when he had his original hairline) as a man claiming to be the Roman god of love, banished to earth without his powers until he united 100 new couples to prove his worth to the gods; and Paula Marshall (back before the word "showkiller" automatically accompanied her name) as the shrink assigned to convince the guy that he's just a man with mental health problems.
It was romantic, it was funny, it was moving (it fit the Little Bit of Everything criteria that defines my favorite movies and TV shows, from "Midnight Run" to "Freaks and Geeks"), and unlike some other brilliant but canceled shows that have broken my heart (say, "Nothing Sacred," from the previous ABC season), I firmly believe it could have been a big hit under different circumstances. As Rob notes in Joe's story, the ABC of 2007 is far better equipped to support a show like it than they were in '98.
The show's never been issued on DVD (Rob blames it on the studio getting out of the TV business and therefore not caring about its back catalog), but under the "everything is on YouTube" theory, I did some searching and found a poster who has archived every episode of the show, each broken into five pieces. If you don't have time to watch them all (I sure don't, dammit), two of my favorites are "Meat Market" (one of the funnier episodes, with a focus on the supporting cast headed by Jeffrey Sams and Paul Adelstein) and "Heart of the Matter" (probably the most poignant episode). "The Linguist" is also pretty cool.
I don't know if the new version will get on the air, or if they can find leads as good as Piven and Marshall (who wasn't nearly the wet blanket she usually is on the other shows she kills, even though the character is in the wet blanket mode), but this is the sort of thing that almost never happens in the business. I'm psyched.
Also, for fun's sake, anyone want to suggest which actor is manic and yet likable enough -- and willing to do TV -- to play Trevor/Cupid this time around? For some reason (maybe because I liked him in Spamalot so much) I want to say Alan Tudyk, though his energy's quite different from Piven's. Suggestions?
It was romantic, it was funny, it was moving (it fit the Little Bit of Everything criteria that defines my favorite movies and TV shows, from "Midnight Run" to "Freaks and Geeks"), and unlike some other brilliant but canceled shows that have broken my heart (say, "Nothing Sacred," from the previous ABC season), I firmly believe it could have been a big hit under different circumstances. As Rob notes in Joe's story, the ABC of 2007 is far better equipped to support a show like it than they were in '98.
The show's never been issued on DVD (Rob blames it on the studio getting out of the TV business and therefore not caring about its back catalog), but under the "everything is on YouTube" theory, I did some searching and found a poster who has archived every episode of the show, each broken into five pieces. If you don't have time to watch them all (I sure don't, dammit), two of my favorites are "Meat Market" (one of the funnier episodes, with a focus on the supporting cast headed by Jeffrey Sams and Paul Adelstein) and "Heart of the Matter" (probably the most poignant episode). "The Linguist" is also pretty cool.
I don't know if the new version will get on the air, or if they can find leads as good as Piven and Marshall (who wasn't nearly the wet blanket she usually is on the other shows she kills, even though the character is in the wet blanket mode), but this is the sort of thing that almost never happens in the business. I'm psyched.
Also, for fun's sake, anyone want to suggest which actor is manic and yet likable enough -- and willing to do TV -- to play Trevor/Cupid this time around? For some reason (maybe because I liked him in Spamalot so much) I want to say Alan Tudyk, though his energy's quite different from Piven's. Suggestions?
No comments:
Post a Comment