EXCLUSIVE: In one of the highest-profile reboots this season, CBS is looking to revive the 1960s action-adventure Western The Wild Wild West with former CSI executive producer/co-showrunner Naren Shankar and Battlestar Galactica developer/executive producer Ron Moore. The network is negotiating a deal for the project, which will be co-produced by CBS TV Studios, where Shankar is based with an overall deal, and Sony Pictures TV, where Moore is under an overall deal. The project originated at CBS TV Studios, which has the rights to the original series that ran on CBS from 1965-1969. (My new colleague Michael Ausiello broke the original story about the project when he was at EW and helped with this one too.)
Shankar and Moore are writing and executive producing the remake, which follows two Secret Service Agents who investigate federal crimes in post Civil War America. The original series, which creator Michael Garrison described as “James Bond on horseback,” was set during the presidency of Ulysses S. Grant who served from 1869-77. It centered on Secret Service agents James West, a gunslinger played by Robert Connrad, and Artemus Gordon, a gadget-maker played by Ross Martin, who traveled the country aboard their luxury train, the Wanderer, as they did missions to protect the President.
In putting together the Wild Wild West remake, CBS is taking a page from its recent successful Hawaii Five-0 reboot which also paired well-known writers with sci-fi background, Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, with the co-showrunner of a CSI series, CSI:NY‘s Peter Lenkov. The Rothman Brecher Agency-repped Shankar left the mothership CSI series in April after 8 years, the last five serving as executive producer/co-showrunner alongside Carol Mendelsohn. This is Battlestar Galactica alum Moore’s second high-profile project this season. His fantasy drama 17th Precinct landed at NBC with pilot and series penalties totaling almost $2 million. He is with CAA. Wild Wild West reunites Shankar and Moore who worked together on Star Trek: The Next generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.
Mounting a period drama on broadcast TV is a risky proposition as they are hard to pull off. It’s been easier on cable, with AMC’s Mad Men, HBO’s Boardwalk Empire, Showtime’s The Tudors and the upcoming The Borgias, and Starz’s Spartacus. AMC has a pilot, Hell on Wheels, which is set during the same period as Wild Wild West – it chronicles the building of the Union Pacific Railroad in the 1860s. As for reboots, Wild Wild West joins other high-profile film and series adaptations this year, including True Lies and MI-5 at ABC, Munsters at NBC, the rolled over Charlie’s Angels at ABC and Rockford Files and Prime Suspect at NBC as well as Wonder Woman and Goodfellas, which have not been set up at a network yet. This would be the second remake for the Wild Wild West series following its ill-fated big screen adaptation in 1999 starring Will Smith.
One of the signature elements of the original Wild Wild West series, which started off in black and white before converting to color in the second season, was its animated opening sequence. Watch it below.
Right because Hawaii is such a mega hit
I look forward to the remake- if the cssting is right. The Will Smith movie didn’t work because it was too grim. The key would be to cast 2 opposites as they did on the tv show, and emphasize unperdictability and humor. The Ross Martin role will be harder to cast; he was great at disguises ,dialects,and sense of humor.
H5-0 would be better but the obese guy was turned into a woman which is Ok, but this Dan-O is a whiney Pain in the ass.
Now IF they can redo TWWW without making it too 21th century with the right cast they might actually pull it off.
It would be better than more of the crappy singing/dancing or racing, surviving on a “Deserted” island or any of the other reality CRAP.I say that with the understanding that I have been able to watch more TMC and some of the Great Old Movies.
Here’s to hoping that the new series represents steampunk cool to the 9th degree, and has entertainment value more akin to the original series than the chock-full-of-suck film.
Exactly. Great call. Sounds like shit loads of fun if they do it right. & if anyone can it’s former Star Trek:TNG alums Moore & Shankar.
So CBS is digging in the well after the Five-O update, huh? I guess we’ll be seeing a new “Gunsmoke” just in time for Fall 2012. BARF!
All of this has happened before and will happen again.
Well-played, Tanker.
What if we — Exhume a corpse of a show — so CSI — and spruce it all up android style — Galactica — and make a ‘new’ show. Some creative out-of-the-box off-the-hook brainstorming sessions just want to make one run out into the street and puke your guts out!!
Please stop the REMAKE insanity.
Come up with something frickin’ original, folks. Is that really TOO much to ask? Re-boot madness has afflicted Hollywood like kudzu.
As for the usually ALWAYS astute/brilliant Nellie calling this Hawaii Five-O reboot a “success” … um, shouldn’t such a declaration come after a year or two — NOT after a handful of episodes? Seems a bit premature to shower bon mots on a series that will probably last LESS than three years, which, then, would not qualify it as a “success” in any fair-minded observer’s book.
Just sayin’ to tone down the hype and check yo’ self. Hawaii Five-O is marginal in quality at best, and the jury is out as to whether it will have legs, Nellie.
If this was on any other network I’d give it a shot…
But CBS… ugh, even the execs think it’s bleck.
Interesting. The animated intro from the original series posted here does not bode well for the re-boot. I believe it has been doctored for the nauties.
In the box in the lower east quadrant, the woman James West is ravishing draws a dagger and is about to stab him. If I recall, in the original series, he belted her in the face, knocking her out. In this edited version, she faints for no apparent reason.
Always loved this series as a kid. As I have never seen it since, I have no idea whether it was actually any good or that is just my gauzy recollection. Either way, I hope they do a better job of reviving it than they did with Hawaii 5-0.
Actually, I might be wrong about that. Maybe he only punched the woman in the second and third seasons, after they switched to color.
If I recall correctly, the opening animation was changed from a faint to a punch during the flap over “television violence” in the late 1960’s. Live action violence was supposed to be bad for kids, but cartoon violence was just fine, apparently, so the sequence was changed as a form of protest. (At least that’s what my nephew Artemus told me.)
Actually, the animation was switched to the punch when the credits were redone for color – simply because they felt that the original idea (girl tries to kill West, but he seduces her with his kiss) didn’t really come off.
Actually, there were 2 versions of the opening, one where she socked the woman, and the one where she fainted. They probably thought the sequence with West socking a woman was too violent, or not appropriate.
@Marc: Five-O is the most successful new series this season.
I love the original series, but getting the tone right is tricky as hell (As the movie proved).
And I’ve never seen anything to suggest Ron Moore has the light touch to pull off that high-wire act.
CST has it right in his comments. The movie remake was so bad it made you wonder if the writers and producers ever watched even one of the original series episodes. Getting the tone right in this show is the key to it’s success. Is CBS up to the job? Don’t get me started.
One has to wonder if Julie Chin is calling the programming shots for CBS. Yes I’m taking a shot at her programming talents. Oh what talent you might ask.
I am a huge fan of the original show and have them all on DVD. So if someone asked me what to do I’d say this. GETTING THE TONE RIGHT WILL REQUIRE HARD CORE FANS TO FEEL LIKE THAT IT IS AN EXTENTION OF THE ORIGNAL SHOW. THAT MEANS SOME OF THE QUALITIES OF THE ORIGINAL CAST WILL NEED TO BE SEEN IN THE NEW JIM WEST AND ARTEMUS GORDON. In my opinion this is very tough because both of the actors that were in the original series were very talented.
Next the new show must HAVE ELIMENTS IN IT THAT ARE ATTRACTIVE TO THE MAIN STREAM AND THIS GENERATION OF TELEVISION VIEWERS. If both of these things are not done correctly if will fail just like the movie or even be worse.
I suppose it would be too much to ask that they talk to and consult the people who are still around who participated in the original–Robert Conrad and Bruce Lansbury to name a couple–not to mention the fans of the original.
After seeing Moore’s Battlestar Galactica redux, why on earth would anyone think that with this new series, CBS would try to maintain more than just the slightest appearance of the original?
Cool, it’s always so exciting when a big studio or network bravely digs through their library to decide which leftovers they should re-heat and try serving.
It’s SO MUCH easier than coming up with anything original.
But it’s all about that “pre-awareness!” So obviously cranking out re-heated, 40 year old shows is a great strategy, if you’re looking to build a core audience of 80 year olds…
CBS blows. Film and TV.
I have an idea. Why don’t they reboot shows that haven’t been made yet? That way they can be original and derivative at the same time without having to pay royalties to any estates.
Heck, why bother with the Wild Wild West! Why not remake The Adventures of Brisco County which was an original take on WWW and really start to eat yourself creatively! Really? Is this the best you can do?
Holy steampunk Batman!
This could be interesting if it was appearing on Syfy, or if Steven Moffat was retooling it for the BBC. On CBS, it will probably be another crime procedural filled with jaded crimesolvers cracking wise over rote murders-of-the-week.
It will also draw 10s of millions of viewers.
Here’s another idea for CBS. Let’s showcase a young married couple with some wacky neighbors, living in an apartment in New York City. Sort of a “Seinfeld” and “Friends” idea, ya know? Let’s make the wacky neighbors at least a generation older (like “Everbody Loves Raymond”). The husband should be a minority, you know for diversity. Let’s make him South American. No wait, Cuban! Maybe a Cuban musician type, heck maybe even a bandleader. Then his wife can be a stay-at-home mom-type who still wants to be in her husband’s shows.
CBS can call it “I Love Lucy”.
Oh wait, it’s been done before? Even better!
You might laugh that off, but you gotta know somewhere in Hollywood or New York, that conversation has taken place!
In an industry of creativity and ideas, nothing sells like retreads.
FYI, Moore and Shankar worked together on the Star Trek: The Next Generation writing staff in the early 90s (when they were both new to the business), so they have a history together.
YES! A remake for this series would be awesome! Anything to help people forget about the Will Smith version. What makes the series still fascinating to watch is that Robert Conrad did all, or almost all, of his own stunts. They need to cast someone who can actually be quite physical in the role — a strong presence like Joe Manganiello, Kellan Lutz or Jensen Ackles. I’d even go so far as to say they should consider casting a charismastic wrestling personality from WWE, such as Randy Orton or Evan Bourne.
Loved TWWW went it first aired.I also love westerns & sci-fi,so the steampunk angle can be fantastic,& with what they can do with visual FX today via CGI this revival could look incredible!Reading about the original TWWW,CBS never “got it” about the show,that it was James Bond in the 19th century.The larger-than-life villains & sf technology did not fit into the network’s concept of what a western is supposed to be.Westerns were Gunsmoke,Bonanza,or Rawhide in their thinking & to that end they continually kept trying to turn TWWW into that type of western.Let’s hope they understand it this time around.Ron Moore did a phenomenal job on the Battlestar Galactica reboot.Let’s hope he can do it with this classic from the 60s.
Having worked with Shankar it’s hard to believe such a by-the-numbers writer was handed a show that was and still could be great.
Remember they’re also doing Have Gun, Will Travel too.
Have Gun, Will Travel was such a boilerplate program . . . there’d be plenty of directions for a reboot of that to go in.
Yeah, I worked with Shankar; nice guy, boring writer.
In the original animated opening he punched the woman. It was later changed to the one you posted – a more PC version, reasonable so.
Correct..fact is dead on point!