Producer Arthur Annechirico thought he'd struck gold when he rebooted The Munsters as The Munsters Today. and got three seasons out of that series. However, when he tried to revive two of Jack Webb's crime dramas, something got lost in the translation.
We've previously covered The New Dragnet. That means it's time to check in on The New Adam-12, which also had two seasons encompassed over 1 calendar year. That's because, for reasons known only to the producers, season 2 began in the spring. Little did Annechirico realize that he had actually started a trend that was later picked up by cable networks.
Peter Parros (ex-Knight Rider) and Ethan Wayne co-star in this update of the original series. It's an update because the original cops, Pete Malloy (Martin Milner) & Jim Reed (Kent McCord) are still with the LAPD, long since promoted to Captain and Lieutenant, respectively. Unfortunately, the chemistry they demonstrated was not revived, as Milner & McCord appeared separately, on back-to-back weeks.
NBC-Universal has no plans to issue this series on DVD, though supposedly it's available on Hulu. The intro was posted to YouTube.
No rating, as I never saw the show.
2 comments:
This was a watchable show - better than most stuff on TV, even if it served as background noise. It was harmless since Wayne and Parros more or less did the exact same schtick as Milner and McCord. The best part about this show and Dragnet (all versions) was that the stories were based on actual cases. Reality is often stranger than fiction.
I don't remember seeing Reed or Malloy on this show - I'd thought TPTB wanted to keep the actors out of it lest they take away the spotlight fromt he current cast. Maybe that's why they appeared separately as you described. If anything I'd have thought the characters of Reed & Malloy would have retired by 1990.
You forgot to mention Ethan Wayne's acting legacy - he's the son of John Wayne! He's since left the acting biz and helps manage John Wayne Enterprises as well as serving as director of the John Wayne Cancer Foundation.
I didn't want to make it that obvious regarding Wayne.
Post a Comment