Television networks are searching for proven brands, looking to harness nostalgia among angsty 30-somethings and resigning themselves to an utter lack of ideas.
The result? Remakes galore!!
Case in point of the day: NBC is working on a small screen of Cruel Intentions, a longtime fan favorite of Millennials and Slightly Older Than Millennials.
These days, with the Internet’s proliferation and shows like Gossip Girl, sex, lies, backstabbing, girl on girl action and bullying are the norm on teen dramas.
In 1999, the Ryan Phillippe, Reese Witherspoon and Sarah Michelle Gellar drama was boundary-pushing, and damned if it’s not still sexy as f–k.
A seminal film, if you will. In more ways than one. Anyway, the Cruel Intentions TV series, if it gets the green light, will center around Bash Casey, 16.
He’s the son of Phillippe and Witherspoon’s characters from the original film, Sebastian and Annette, and the show will be set in the present day.
After finding his father’s journal, Bash learns of a family legacy he wasn’t aware existed, and sets off looking for answers, intrigued to say the least.
He swaps his small-town Kansas upbringing (!?) for a scholarship to Brighton Prep in San Francisco, and you can imagine what he discovers there.
Basically, the youngster will be balls deep in sex, money, power and corruption and have to navigate that world without losing his soul in the process.
Cruel Intentions is just the latest in an endless string of reboots, although this season’s remakes and revivals have debuted to mixed results.
Fox’s Minority Report was not the hit the network imagined, and NBC’s Heroes reminded us why the show got so bad it had to be canceled initially.
On the flip side, CBS’ Limitless follow-up has done fairly well, and Netflix has probably struck gold with its upcoming Gilmore Girls revival.