There are times when my mind kicks into overdrive on a subject and just seems to worry it to death until I come to some sort of conclusion. Recently that topic has been the new "Prime Suspect" that's due to premiere this fall.
Helen Mirren's, DCI Jane Tennyson opened the doors for female characters in crime dramas to actually be in charge. In the course of thinking about all the new female characters that have followed in Mirren's footsteps it occurred to me that American TV has already remade "Prime Suspect".
What? Yes, and they were smart enough not to tell viewers that the show was a remake and smart enough to call the show "The Closer". That's right, Deputy Chief Benda Lee Johnson is America's answer to Jane Tennyson. A woman walking into a man's world and taking charge. And having to fight to win their respect by proving she can do the job she was hired to do.
And yes, I'm going to give Maria Bello a chance to step into Tennyson's shoes and hope she does as well as Kyra Sedgewick. The sad thing is Bello has to overcome a whole lot of baggage being saddled with the chore of stepping into Mirren's shoes, something the creators of "The Closer" managed to avoid.
4 comments:
In some ways, I think DAMAGES might be the natural successor to Helen's PRIME SUSPECT. I'm definitely going to give Maria a chance but I wish they'd ditch the hat...Kelli Stanley can rock a fedora but in the promos, it comes off more like Maria's an extra from CHORUS LINE.
I always thought of Damages as a lawyer show. Glenn Close really rocked that part, and she would have run right over Mirren. I never knew whether to love or hate her:)
Yeah, I could do without the hat, too!
I'm looking forward to the USA version of Prime Suspect. Thing is: unlike "Life on Mars," why could they not just change the name. Love, love, love (!) the BBC version. I will probably like the US version, too, but it'll be different enough that I'll likely think of it separately than the the UK version.
I think that's the hardest thing for most viewers, Scott, being unable to separate the two. The original was just so amazing in its time, but we're nearly twenty years down the line and doing an American version. The times and people are very different, and the new show is going to reflect that difference. And in that regard it can never be the same as the original.
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