Another Retro TV Show to be Dragged Kicking and Screaming into Theatres

Hasn't the world suffered enough? The news that an "A-Team" movie was being developed made me shake my head in wonder. I have found that there are very few, if any, good adapations of old television shows, and that most are just plain awful. Get Smart, The Dukes of Hazzard, Bewitched, Charlie's Angels, I think the world would have survived without being subjected to Hollywood's attempts to update respectable, if not always the greatest fares from the days of old. But unless this project continues to keep stalling (directors have been hopping in and out of the chair like a hot potato), we may not be rescued anytime soon from our plight. Though Fox has said they're trying they're best to avoid making it campy, and are updating the characters from Vietnam vets to Iraqi vets, I'm not holding my breath. Slash Film contributer Peter Sciretta is more hopeful with the recent addition of director Joe Carnahan to the project, citing his "intense visual style" as a reason to believe that perhaps Carnahan can steer the film away from a train wrek. As with many things in Hollywood, we can only wait and see what the creative forces-that-be will bring us.

JERICHO and PUSHING DAISIES to Return as Films?

This certainly has been a week for TV rumors. First off, on Wednesday, Slash Film posted a conversation co-star Kristen Chenoweth had with TV Guide Magazine about the possibility of a movie to wrap-up loose ends of the canceled show Pushing Daisies. This would be welcome news for fans, including myself, as at the midseason cliffhanger, all kinds of shenanigans were going on, with explanations apparently to be forthcoming. Three episodes have yet to be aired and their fate is currently undetermined. It would be wonderful if ABC would allow the show to reveal all of its secrets, even if it was only in a TV movie or a direct-to-DVD release. The cult following of the show should be worth the effort.

On Saturday, Slash Film also broke the rumors of a film-version of Jericho. This particular show had the honor of being revived from cancelation after great protesting by fans, albeit for only a short while. As Slash Film puts it, the show "refuses to stay dead." The movie adaptation would take the apocolyptic setting beyond the small town and spread it across the nation, putting everything on a much grander scale. While I have never watched Jericho, I wish the fans best of look as we watch these rumors unfold.

3-D Looking to Become a more Permanent TV Fixture

Readers must forgive the Vault for its inundation of 3-D posts of late, but news just seems to be pouring out of the wood works. Just take a gander at this Monday Los Angeles Times article, which discusses moves that are being made to potentially make three-dimensional pictures a more regular feature on television. The Consumers Electronics Show this weekend will be featuring several televisions from various companies that are "capable of displaying 3-D like pictures." Part of the recent interest comes from concerned movie studios who want to make sure they get the most bang for their buck for investing in expensive three-dimensional escapades by allowing consumers to purchase a 3-D version for home. The studios have an excellent point. 3-D is all fine and dandy on the big screen, but how will that translate to the box in your living room? Current technology means you either opt for the "flat version," or try out a 3-D version complete with old-school red-and-blue glasses, like in The Polar Express remake released late last year. Unfortunately, the attempts to translate the technology from one screen to another have failed; scroll down to "Customer Discussions" on the above link and you will find some very unhappy people who switched off the format ten minutes into the movie. The new televisions that are being displayed this weekend are supposed to be taking a step forward towards smoothing out the major kinks in home-viewing experiences by adapting the advances made in theatre to these smaller venues. Philips even has developed a TV that doesn't require glasses to view the three-dimensional format.

It seems unlikely that a 3-D wave is going to come crashing into the television market anytime soon, especially with the dubiousness of the success of the technology in film. That won't stop TV execs from trying to hook audiences: look for a 3-D episode of Chuck to air after the Super Bowl! Apparently NBC thought that all the glasses wandering around for the Monsters Vs. Aliens trailer that will air during the game were too good an opportunity to pass up and announced last November that they would be putting together a special episode in that format. As a fan of Chuck, my question is this: will the transmission of a 3-D picture mean that those who don't want to watch it in that format will be stuck with a blurry picture? As much as I'm interested in seeing how the technology fares for an entire hour, I'd hate for people to turn away from the show because they can't view it. Check back for more details here as they emerge.