Friday

'Dragnet' must
escape its history

Few remakes overcome the past. Jack, you there?

By Ed Robertson

   "Dragnet" returns to television on Sunday night, this time on ABC, and by the looks of things, including a positive review in Media Life yesterday by Ethan Alter, the series would seem to have everything going for it: a proven concept, a built-in audience, a bankable producer, and a great lead-in.
   The original "Dragnet" led to "Hill Street Blues," "Law and Order" and the like by portraying cops not as supermen but as regular Joes who got their man the way most real cops do, slowly, doggedly, and often unspectacularly.
   Baby boomers grew up with Jack Webb as Joe Friday during the show’s eight-year run in the '50s and again during its three-year revival in the '60s. Reruns of the '60s "Dragnet" have been a staple on cable for more than 15 years.
   In this remake, executive producer Dick Wolf has Ed O’Neill as Friday, and the the 10 p.m. debut will follow the cult fave "Alias."
   But for all that the new "Dragnet" has going for it, it faces a huge antagonist: history.
   Remakes of classic shows, whether on the small or big screen, tend to fail.
   Often the imprint of the original is so indelible that it's hard for viewers to accept the new show on its own terms.
   That’s what happened two years ago with CBS and "The Fugitive." Older viewers couldn’t stop thinking about David Janssen, who starred in the TV series decades earlier, and younger viewers couldn’t watch without conjuring up images of Harrison Ford, who starred in the more recent movie.
   There was no suspense for either set of viewers, since each already knew the ending. And without suspense "The Fugitive" had little reason to survive, and it did not. Its run was short-lived.
   Come Sunday night viewers may find it difficult to accept O’Neill as Joe Friday, both because the memory of Jack Webb is so enduring and because the more recent memory of O'Neill as Al Bundy of "Married . . . with Children" is no less enduring.
Another common flaw of remakes, in addition to character identification, is that they fail to capture the essence of the original -- or they dare disregard it completely.
   Take "I Spy."
   The first TV drama featuring a black lead, Bill Cosby, opposite a white actor, Robert Culp, the original 1965 show was a sophisticated, thinking man’s action adventure. Cosby’s Alexander Scott was a full equal of Culp’s Kelly Robinson, which was heady stuff considering the show aired during the dawn of the civil rights movement.
   But in last year’s movie version of "I Spy," tailored for Eddie Murphy, the concept was changed into a broad, sassy action comedy in the spirit of "Beverly Hills Cop." The movie's Culp character, played by Owen Wilson, was no peer but rather a dimwitted doofus who served mostly as the butt of Murphy’s humor.
   Cosby was quite angry with Murphy’s approach, and apparently so were viewers. "I Spy" was one of the biggest box office flops of 2002.
   But even staying true to the original is not enough. You must understand what made that show work in order for the revival to succeed.
   In the case of "Dragnet," it’s more than just including the familiar theme song, the voice-over narration (“This is the city, Los Angeles, California”), the trademark one-liners (“Just the facts, ma’am”), and other accouterments that Wolf promises the new series will have.
   For the remake to work, you really have to know the concept. History tells us that the best way to do that is to go back to the source, to the people who made the show in the first place.
   That’s why, as a rule, the only successful TV revivals are the ones that involve the original writers or producers.
   Peter Falk, for instance, knew that the key to "Columbo" was the writing, particularly the clever clues that engage the viewer as Columbo pieces the case together. When he reprised "Columbo" in 1989, Falk made sure series creator William Link and original producer Richard Alan Simmons also were on board to oversee the production.
   Ratings-wise, the new "Columbo" was every bit as successful as the original.
   Likewise, the "Star Trek" films, as well as the four subsequent TV series, are all firmly rooted in the philosophy of the late Gene Roddenberry.
   "Mod Squad" and "Charlie’s Angels" were frothy pieces of camp, but they were both terribly entertaining. Aaron Spelling kept the movie versions light and entertaining and cleaned up at the box office.
   Webb, of course, was "Dragnet." He not only starred in the original, he created, wrote, and produced it. He died in 1982.
   This year’s remake will be the fourth since the series first left television in 1959. The only revival that succeeded was the one Webb himself starred in and produced back in 1967.
   It will be up to Dick Wolf succeed despite the show's history. Let's see if he can.

Ed Robertson is writer from Vallejo, Calif., who covers television.

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