My relationship with Hollywood has always been very love/hate, but recently it’s been more strained than usual. I’m upset by many topics that fuel most people’s hatred of the business, but I just can’t shake it at the moment and, thus, need to vent. I’m hoping some of you will chime in and let me know how you deal with the parts of the business that disgust you and/or what you think of what I have to say. Perhaps you will guide me to the light and give my mind some relaxation.
Well, it seems that there were just a bunch of things that got me all fuming this week. First was hearing that “Hawaii 5-0” was being remade for TV. *Sigh*. It’s already bad enough that our movie theatres are riled with second rate remakes but now TV? There’s already too much saturation of Reality Shows, now we’re going to have unneeded remakes like “90210” and “Knight Rider.” You know people rag on George Lucas (myself included) on ruining his legacy, but doing this is exactly the same. Even some respectable people in the business aren’t immune to it (I’m looking at you Robert Rodriguez). Especially now in the DVD age where we can obtain any show from any generation, do we really need these remakes? For those who think there aren’t any original material out there, they’re wrong. I obviously don’t know every unproduced idea, but just look at what great shows have debuted recently, especially on AMC. Both “Mad Men” and “Breaking Bad” are terrific and both shows were conceived years ago and only realized recently. Plus look at the two Judd Apatow shows “Freaks and Geeks” and “Undeclared.” Sure, they’re treasured today, but in their time they were merely looked over by the public. And yet we’re getting “Knight Rider” which no one really liked when it debuted!
On the same page I think it’s ridiculous that “Che” has still not been picked up. I haven’t seen it and I may hate it, but I still want the opportunity to see it. It’s ridiculous that Hollywood is willing to release “Swing Vote” but not “Che.” But I guess I should be taking up my gripe with the public. There’s obviously no real solution to this problem. I mean Hollywood only cares about the $$$ and the general public is devoid of real taste. I guess it’s not their fault if they’d rather watch “Dancing with the Stars” than gems like “Arrested Development.” But for those of us who don’t turn to TV or film as just a distraction from the daily routine and turn to it for productions that really make us think and feel, we’re stuck with crap like “Denise Richards: It’s Complicated.” And it is complicated. It’s complicated in that the bland public gets to dictate what those of us who truly care have to put up with. It’s the reason Nickelback sell millions of albums despite never having a postive review in any respectable publication. I know it’s an unavoidable problem, but it’s so frustrating to see geniuses like Mitch Hurwitz (Arrested Development) get pushed aside while some idiot gets to remake “Hawaii 5-0.”
Ok, and one last point. I think the problem with remakes in general is that, sure, a lot of them are probably made with good intentions. It’s like covering your favorte Dylan song on an album, but the movie business isn’t similar to the music business. They can’t just throw a song on an album. The don’t have anything similar to a “live show” to showcase their influences. Instead if Gus Van Sandt wants to pay his rights to Hitchcock, he has to waste time and money making a big production of crap. It sucks, but just save your shout outs for interviews. We don’t have time to see your subpar interpretation.