1980 was the year for remaking films as television series, it seems. Yesterdays post featured a show taken from the 1973 film Westworld and this series, of course, comes from the 1953 classic film of the same name. It follows up on a 1979 three part miniseries that retold the story of the film. The series found the characters dealing with life in Hawaii after the Pearl Harbor attack that brought America into WWII. The cast also included Roy Thinnes and William Devane.
This series lasted only 13 episodes and has never made it to DVD. There are a few clips on YouTube, but not much more. Above is a commercial for the show from a St. Louis affiliate uploaded by ziggyelman.
Obscurity factor: 9 (got big buildup at the time, hardy remembered now, not on DVD)
While I had no idea this existed, this is one of the ideas that I don't think is awful. There was so much in the original film that the world of these characters was wide open for exploration.
ReplyDeleteIf M*A*S*H could drag the Korean War for at least twice as long as the real war and over two series, it wouldn't be unreasonable to think they had a good chance to succeed with this. (But to be honest, the cast as listed doesn't interest me at all.)
Yes, the cast has a definite TV quality to them. The original miniseries starred Natalie Wood in the role Barbara Hershey played in the series.
ReplyDeleteI missed so many 1980 series - it must have been that I graduated high school, and started college.
ReplyDeleteThere was a miniseries around 1979 called "Pearl" that starred Angie Dickinson. Not sure if it was related or not.
ReplyDelete