I can only recall a few films turned into
small screen concepts that didn’t become a short lived excercise in TV disappointment- MASH, Buffy the Vampire
Slayer, Stargate and… that’s about it. (RIP Alien Nation, Ferris Beuller, My
Big Fat Greek Life, Clueless, Freddy’s Nightmares, Tremors and Young Indie). Is it time to add another attempt to the pyre of highly-likely small screen sacrifice? Fall will tell, as
ABC has said “GO!” to the TV adaptation of Mr. & Mrs. Smith.
Without the hype machine of baby-crazed hottie-pants duo Brad
and Angelina, there’s got to be a hearty dose of good, old-fashioned skepticism on any kind of long term success for this adaptation, despite the fact
Doug Liman, (producer of Mr. & Mrs. Smith and the Bourne flicks) and screenplay
script, Simon Kinberg are on board. Remember, Simon also wrote XXX: State of
the
flammable liquids all over my smoldering sense of righteous anger over what was
wrong with 2005.
While two key players from the film at the helm of this
project is well and good, the success of this TV launch is going to depend on
more that the crazy shenanigans of a couple spies whose film felt like it was
really only a one-off. To Kinbergs credit, he realizes small screen success will
depend on two things:the Mr. & Mrs. Smith. Still, the movie leap to the small
screen is seldom pretty. The novelty and buzz have all but died by the time
they usually come around. Mr. & Mrs. Smith is no different.
Either way, ABC must have some real faith in the project, as
they picked up rights for the TV series a year ago, but have allowed some
month-spanning development time (thanks to other projects for Kinberg, like the film
Jumper). You’ll have your chance to prove them right or wrong when Mr. & Mrs. Smith: The TV Show! arrives on your TV screen later this year and picks up 6 months after the Smiths took down a Home Made and
about 300 bad-guys in need of some serious target practice.