Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Classic TV: Ironside (1967)

It hadn't been very long since Perry Mason ended its run when star Raymond Burr returned to television, this time on NBC, and playing a very different character in another crime drama.

Ironside began with a TV-movie which explained how former San Francisco Chief of Detectives Robert Ironside (Burr) was paralyzed from the waist down by an assassin's bullet. He's eventually back on the force after a forced retirement, and lands a team of three assistants. Ironside lasted 8 seasons, and in more recent times had aired on Retro when they had the Universal library. The series' current cable whereabouts are unknown.

It has been reported that NBC-Universal is planning a remake of the series, but it looks like they hadn't learned a valuable lesson from USA Network's ill-fated Kojak revival of a few years back. That is to say, they are looking at casting an African-American in the lead role this time around. Blair Underwood (ex-LA Law, The Event) has been mentioned. Didn't they learn anything from casting Ving Rhames as Kojak in that revival? Apparently not. Trying to be politically correct with casting is one thing, but network executives keep making the mistake of forgetting that older viewers still watch TV, and will be wary of such casting missteps.


If the remake goes through, it'll be 20 years since the original cast had reunited for a TV-movie that should've closed the books on the series. We'll see soon enough.

Rating: A-.

4 comments:

magicdog said...

Dad & I loved to watch "Ironside" back in the day. It's also imporessive how Raymond Burr was able to be remembered for more than one iconic TV role. William Shatner and Jack Klugman are but two other examples I can think of to accomplish this.

I remember Vicki Lawrence had organized a reunion with both the "Ironside" cast and the "Perry Mason" cast (well, Barbara Hale, since she was the only other surviving castmember at that point)on her 90s talk show. It was great to see everyone together. One of my favorite behind the scenes stories was that Raymond Burr was quite the prankster. He used to find out what his castmates didn't like then surprise them. Barbara Hale mentioned she hated snakes, and Burr put one in a drawer she was supposed to open during a scene. She opened the drawer on cue, closed it apparently unfazed. Shortly afterwards, she screamed!! Barbara Anderson (who played Eve Whitfield in Ironside) mentioned Burr found out she hated spiders and a realistic one was placed on her set chair! Everyone including the audience was in stitches, but Burr appeared completely stoic and unemotional! Playing serious to the end!

I hate that yet another PC reboot of a good series is being planned! Some things should be left alone. At least Bret Butler didn't get around to that gender reversed remake of "McCloud"

hobbyfan said...

Say what?

Brett Butler (Grace Under Fire) in a remake of McCloud? That one I didn't even know was on the table.

Back to Ironside and Blair Underwood. I'm sorry, but it seems the creative people involved (writers from The Sopranos are attached) couldn't find anyone more appropriate to play the part. It would only work for me, though, if Dick Wolf (Law & Order, Chicago Fire) was the show-runner and found someone that was closer to a physical match for Burr. Underwood is a poor man's Denzel Washington.

Next thing ya know, that McCloud reboot will be back in play, but with Chris Rock in the lead. Ack!

magicdog said...

Chris Rock as McCloud??

Don't give those jerks any ideas!

It's true about Brett Butler. Luckily the project was torpedoed once the network realized the viewing audience wasn't going to accept a black guy as a Greek cop.

How would they like it if Shaft was rebooted using George Clooney or Brad Pitt in the title role?

Yeah, thought so!

hobbyfan said...

Shaft is one of those properties you just can't touch, especially since Isaac Hayes, who won an Oscar and, I think, a Grammy for the theme, is not with us anymore. Anything else would be a poser.

The 2000 remake with Samuel L. Jackson wasn't a hit, BTW, at the box office.