Saturday, February 27, 2010

The Reincarnation of Jimmy?

Ever since I first heard about the project, I’ve been against NBC remaking the 1974-1980 TV detective series, The Rockford Files. The original show was a certifiable classic, one of the best U.S. series ever made, with James Garner ideal for the role of Jim Rockford, an ever-impecunious ex-con private eye with con man tendencies, a truck driver dad who’s never satisfied with his son’s profession, and too many friends with trouble following them. He had subtlety and charm, but was also a big enough guy to deliver convincing fight scenes such as this one, clipped from the 1974 pilot film. Why would NBC bother trying to re-create such a memorable program, and who could the network possibly find to fill Garner’s shoes?

Well, I have no idea why NBC can’t come up with new ideas anymore (after so many years of being a winning network), but we may know now who is expected to be the next Jim Rockford. It’s 47-year-old Dermot Mulroney, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Mulroney, who may be best remembered for guest-starring on Friends and playing Debra Messing’s male escort in the 2005 romantic comedy The Wedding Date, is supposed to portray Rockford as a “slightly crumpled, wry humored, cynical, world-weary” P.I., who’s “compassionate when it’s called for and easily irritated by morons.” And sure, that job description makes him sound like Rockford. But Mulroney is too small, mumbles too much, and is entirely too retiring to stand in Rockford’s place and throw bullshit along with punches. Who is NBC kidding with this casting choice? Mulroney might be just the ticket for some roles, but not for one so established in viewers’ minds as that of Los Angeles gumshoe Rockford.

Admittedly, NBC was in a losing position, trying to come up with somebody to substitute for Garner. People like me, who continue to be big fans of The Rockford Files, were destined to turn thumbs down on whoever the network tapped for the series remake. But I’m equally opposed to CBS remaking Hawaii Five-O, as it now seems intent on doing. Why mess with perfection? It’s one thing to reimagine Battlestar Galactica or The Bionic Woman, both of which were all kinds of cheesy to begin with; to try re-creating an archetypal series such as The Rockford Files, though, is simply a waste of talents all around.

READ MORE:Dermot Mulroney Is Jim Rockford,” by Jeremy Lynch (Crimespree Cinema); “Dermot Mulroney Cast in New Rockford Files,” by Allison Waldman (TV Squad).

9 comments:

pattinase (abbott) said...

I have not cared for him in a single role' he seems especially vacuous in a land of vacuity. What a shame.

MysterLynch said...

Amen.

Most remakes I would have little interest in, but would not care enough to object.

But there are a few roles that are connected so closely with the actors that redoing them is beyond stupid. Rockford is one of them.

Julia Buckley said...

I could think of a MILLION guys I would cast before Dermot Mulroney. What I'd try to do first is build a time machine, hop in it with James Garner, and go back about thirty years so that he could play Rockford again.

No replacing James.

Naomi Johnson said...

I'll second what Patti said, and add that I expect the new Rockford show will not last a full season. Better they should show Garner's reruns.

Randy Johnson said...

Not a big fan, either. I'm constantly dismayed at any network's remaking such classics as Rockford or Five-O. Can Harry O be far behind?

Richard Robinson said...

Make that six of us, then. Not much of an actor, and too glamour-boy for the role. NBC continues it's slide toward the bottom. Nearly bankrupting themselves by paying 2.2 billion for the Olympics didn't help matters, either. The world doesn't need a ROCKFORD remake any more than it needs a remake of The Howdy Doody Show.

Anonymous said...

The only thing that made Rockford watchable was James Garner. I was able to watch some old episodes recently and they did not hold up well. Plots just as silly and predictable as Mannix and Magnum PI.

Terrill Lee Lankford said...

I'll give the guy one episode at least before I count him out.

Craig said...

Whenever my wife and I see him in a movie, we always refer to him as Slab McMeatface. I remain baffled as to his continued ability to get work in Hollywood. Garner, on the other hand, had a pretty successful movie career and had even been in another successful TV series prior to "Rockford." To paraphrase Lloyd Bentsen: "I totally dug James Garner in the original 'Rockford Files,' and you, sir, are NO James Garner."