Dude...You're Blowing my Cover!

"True Lies" TV Adaptation in the Works

TV's about to do the Tango

Since I've been spending the better part of my day playing the lovely Halo: Reach, (which I plan to write a review as soon as I'm done with it) I was scouring the internet for something to talk about today and I came across an intersting story churning in tinseltown. Apparently, the 3-D Avatar mastermind James Cameron will be producing a TV adaptation of his insanely huge budget hit "True Lies." Right now the series is being shopped around to various studios, and frankly I kind of hope it doesn't get picked up.

I love James Cameron as much as any other film enthusiast, but I don't think True Lies will be a good fit in the small screen. For starters, TV is already saturated with dozens of spy shows like "Chuck," "La Femme Nikita," "Covert Affairs," and the upcoming Mr. and Mrs. Smith wannabe "Undercovers." I will be the first to admit, I don't really follow many TV series, but the ones I DO follow bring something different to the generic TV formula other than the cliche family sitcom, and police/medical drama. I follow, or will follow, shows like Lost, Dexter, Boardwalk Empire, and The Walking Dead, because each of these shows brings something new to television. You can only re-hash a certain genre so much before it gets boring, and I feel that's what's happening with spy series. It's becoming its own genre in Television, and there is just no more room for it. 

Another problem I have with the True Lies series is going to be with the casting. No cast has been announced yet, but because it's one of Arnold Schwarzennegger's more memorable roles, then the series will hold no clout unless he's in it. And let's face it, I love Arnie but he's going to be busy tearing down California's state budget. Movies being turned into TV series is nothing new, but when you have a film that has such a strong and classic lead character like Arnold's take on Harry Tasker, then it's going to be very difficult to capture that same magic which made the movie such a success.

I'm not saying the True Lies series will be a disaster. James Cameron rarely does anything involving Television and when he does, it's fantastic. He helped produce the 2000 series "Dark Angel," which launched the career of Jessica Alba, and we should all be crawling and worshiping Cameron for THAT marvelous discovery. Cameron has a creative eye for these kinds of things, and I'm sure he'll do fine, but all I ask out of Television shows is to bring something new. If Hollywood wants to keep turning old 80's movies starring Arnold into TV shows, then give me a solid adaptation of Conan the Barbarian (The new re-make of  the film looks atrocious by the way) or the Running Man...hell, I think even Kindergarten Cop could work as an action-comedy TV series. The key in selecting films to turn into TV series is to select films that weren't very successful. Mediocre movies like "Buffy: The Vampire Slayer" and "Friday Night Lights" have been translated to Television with much success, but shows like "My Big Fat Greek Life" or "Terminator" have met audiences with demise. 

There are always exceptions to success in TV, like the "Stargate" series, and honestly, I want True Lies to work. As much fun as it is to rip on awful programming, nobody wants to see a bad show. But if True Lies adheres to the cliche moments found in countless other programs, then I'll tango my way to the remote control and defect to another lame show.