We’re not big believers in remaking TV shows, but since TV execs seem determined to do it, we thought we’d offer up some suggestions. And since THE VAMPIRE DIARIES, SUPERNATURAL and TRUE BLOOD have the audience thirsting for blood, why not focus on a few short-lived creature features we think might be a hit the second time around!
HIGHCLIFFE MANOR
This sitcom originally aired in 1979 and starred Shelly Fabres as Helen Straight Blacke, whose creepy manor was overrun by a variety of weird scientists and supernatural occupants. Think SOAP meets DARK SHADOWS. Speaking of which…
DARK SHADOWS
ABC’s gothic daytime sudser went from snoozefest to sleeper hit after introducing self-actualized vampire Barnabas Collins a year into its run. In 1991, NBC launched a lavish primetime version (with Ben Cross as the brooding neck nibbler), but the pre-Twilight timing may have doomed the project from the start. In 2004, the WB filmed a younger-skewing remake which never hit the airwaves. With VAMPIRE DIARIES a big hit for The CW, maybe it’s time for them to revisit this seeminly-perfect companion piece.
MANIMAL
A guy who can shape-shift into any animal helps cops solve crimes. Sounds like a joke, right? Well, that punch line aired from for about four months on NBC back in 1983. Anybody else out there think CSI: MANIMAL — in which a mild-mannered zookeeper morphs into snakes, birds and the occasional rhino to crack tough cases — sounds like just the kind of thing some network exec would be crazy enough to green light?
PREY
Before she became famous as the female half of WILL & GRACE, Debra Messing played a scientist tracking a new species of humans who were more cunning, vicious and bloodthirsty than the rest of us… and killing us as the key to their survival. Messing’s available again, so perhaps the series could pick up where it left off.
KINDRED: THE EMBRACED
GOSSIP GIRL’s Kelly Rutherford was a human reporter caught between warring vampire clans in San Francisco. This was THE VAMPIRE DIARIES for grown ups. Hmm… give Stefan and Damon an older cousin and this could be a spin-off. 