“Let’s pray this re-make makes it past five episodes before the network cans it”

Sometimes it seems the rarest thing in Hollywood is a new idea. No-one will have missed the upward trend in film sequels following sequels, rebooted TV classics, and perhaps worse: re-makes of the classic films we enjoyed as kids. At last count, there are at least twelve re-make/reboot projects slated to hit your TV or cinema screen in the next two years alone. Who can keep track?

Welcome to Re-make Mondays, a weekly feature that takes a look at a remake/reboot currently being waved at audiences. I’ll feature the remake, and also what footage or content I can from the original, and then leave the helpless victim for you all to tear apart or cuddle up to in the comments. So, let’s get started:

It’s not just feature films that are receiving the re-make treatment these days, but also classic TV series. This week we take a look at the latest outing for crime-busting trio (or should that be ‘busty’?), Charlie’s Angels.

The show first debuted on American screens in 1976, and made instant stars of the first set of angels.  Kate Jackson; Farrah Fawcett-Majors; Jaclyn Smith; Shelly Hack and Cheryl Ladd all donned the knee high boots in the series’ five year run (only Jaclyn Smith stuck to her role as Kelly for the whole series), aided in their adventures by Charlie’s (voiced by Robert Wagner) liaison Bosley, played by David Doyle.

In terms of stardom, let’s put it into Destiny’s Child speak: Farrah Fawcett was by far the Beyoncé of the group, her stardom soon outstripping the rest, even though she missed the second season altogether, followed by Jaclyn Smith (Kelly Rowland) and finally Kate Jackson (the Michelle Williams of the trio). Cheryl Ladd also deserves honorable mention here.

Here’s the opening to the first episode of Season 1 of the original series (boom chick-a wow wow):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FW_daBHfjag

Few could forget the Angel’s return to the big screen in the 2000 McG feature film, starring Drew Barrymore, Lucy Liu and Cameron Diaz- and a the much more forgettable 2003 sequel. This year, ABC studios in the States has ordered 13 episodes of a re-booted Charlie’s Angels, starring relative unknowns Annie Ilonzeh, Minka Kelly, Rachael Taylor and Ramón Rodríguez as John Bosley, the Angels’ liaison to the mysterious Charlie. As such, the producers are hoping to capitalise on the success of other remade TV shows, such as Hawaii-50, and the re-booted Angels are set to hit American screens in September this year.

Here’s the trailer for the new Charlie’s Angels:

My verdict: It’s difficult to tell which way this reboot will go before at least a few episodes have aired. From the trailer, it appears to have all the attributes of T&A television (rhymes with ‘hits and grass‘) intact, a genre the original series perfected, and hopefully the addition of Smallville scribes Miles Millar and Alfred Gough will elevate the plot beyond getting the Angels into the least amount of clothing possible as fast as the storyline allows, because of course, we’re all going to be watching for the plot (right?).

Hawaii-50 has been an unprecedented success for network CBS the last two years, due mainly to the great chemistry of on-screen partners Alex O’ Loughlin and Scott Caan. I suspect the key to these new Angels’ reaching the dizzy heights in the ratings will be finding similar chemistry between the buxsome threesome, before viewers lose interest.