Dave’s Top 5: Worst TV Show Remakes

While Harrison Ford was on the run in 1993, Jim Varney - best remembered as Ernest - The Drew Carey Show star Deidrich Bader, Erika Eleniak - from Under Siege - Cloris Leachman, Lily Tomlin and Dabney Coleman tried to re-invent The Beverly Hillbillies for a new audience. It didn't work out so well. Roger Ebert called it appalling. It's got a a 24% Rotten Tomatoes score with a 31% audience rating. It's on my bucket list of movies to see, I just haven't gotten around to watching it yet... 

Will Farrell's a pretty funny guy. He has more hits than misses. 2005's Bewitched is a really strange miss. Farrell plays a failing actor cast in a remake of the classic '60's sitcom. Nicole Kidman plays the actress cast opposite him - who just happens to be an actual witch. I guess it's supposed to be life imitating art...or something like that. Rotten Tomatoes gives it a 25% score. Audiences scored it a little higher, 28%. It's another one on my list...I just haven't been able to find the time to watch it...

The Mod Squad is what you might call 21 Jump Street. It was more troubled teens given an opportunity to turn things around through "community service". If by "community service" you mean catching bad guys with The Man, John Law. Giovanni Ribisi - who was awesome in Avatar and on Friends as Phoebe's younger brother, Frank Jr. - Claire Danes and Omar Epps, tried for a more realistic, gritty The Mod Squad. The 1999 remake of the '60's classic only gets a 4% Rotten Tomatoes score; but a 17% audience score. Yeah, it's another one on my watch list...

Not only was I hooked on Gilligan's Island reruns growing up, but I was a fan of My Favorite Martian. Bill Bixby was in a lot of shows I liked growing up. He was newspaper reporter, Tim O'Hara on Martian and later he was one-half of The Incredible Hulk. I was really kind of looking forward to seeing Jeff Daniels and Christopher Lloyd in an updated version of the series. What a disappointment! Instead of a newspaperman, O'Hara is now a television producer. Christopher Lloyd is usually pretty funny. He was in Back to the Future. Rotten Tomatoes gives is a 12% score. Audiences are more kind with a 30% score. It's got some cool effects, but it's just not very funny.

These are not the The Avengers you're thinking of. The British Avengers were part of the '60's spy boom that Sean Connery launched with James Bond. The late Patrick Macnee played British agent John Steed. He was paired with a number of female partners, most notably Dame Diana Rigg as Emma Peel. Voldermort, also known as the new "M", Ralph Fiennes and Uma Thurman from Kill Bill were paired as the new The Avengers. Their adversary? The original James Bond, Sean Connery. I'm kind of surprised that The Avengers shows up at the top of every list of worst films. I kinda liked it... I almost feel guilty for liking it. Rotten Tomatoes gives it on a score of 5%! Metacritic gives it a score of 12%. It was nominated for eight Razzies, winning one for Worst Remake or Sequel. It was also nominated for eight Stinkers Bad Movie Awards, winning one for Worst Resurrection of a TV Show. Fiennes and Thurman were voted to be the worst on-screen couple.