There’s been a lot of speculation concerning CBS’s order of a new series adaptation of the Jackie Chan/Chris Tucker-headlined buddy action/comedy franchise, Rush Hour from Scrubs‘ and Cougar Town‘sBill Lawrence. However, after months of silence the writer/producer has finally unveiled some new details.
At this past week’s TCA press tour, Lawrence went on record about what the plot of the Rush Hour TV series will entail, plot-wise. He also provide some insight on what the character dynamic would be like on the show.
Said Lawrence in a statement to Nuke The Fridge:
[The ‘Rush Hour’ series has a] new plot, same characters, a little younger, a little different, fish out of water… It’s a cool script. I’m psyched about it.
He went on to add:
The character [Lee] will be a martial artist but you know how TV works… I’m going to go with the best actor and then I’ll make anything work.
At the very least, it’s reassuring to hear Lawrence is thinking about acting chops first and physical ability second; the act of martial arts can be faked much easier than the art of quality acting.
Of course, the biggest hurdle for Lawrence is going to be producing a series that steps him outside of his comfort zone – remember, this is the guy that gave us Scrubs, Cougar Town and Spin City. An action-comedy is hardly something we’d expect from this guy – something he’s very much aware of, thus leading to this statement about his love for the genre itself:
My favorite genre is action-comedy. Midnight Run, favorite movie, Beverly Hills Cop, any of those old movies that had stakes but were still funny. I don’t think anybody’s done one in a while. I’m dying to. It might not work but the closest I came was I was supposed to write and direct the new version of Fletch at some point but I bailed on it in the middle of it. The movie business is complicated.
You got to love Lawrence’s self-awareness to the whole situation. However, it’s interesting he referenced Beverly Hills Cop when CBS recently attempted a series adaptation of that franchise as well with Shawn Ryan; and, even though that show had the involvement of Eddie Murphy, CBS still opted not to move forward with it.
At the moment, the odds are very much stacked against Lawrence and Rush Hour, especially since CBS’s biggest new drama hit of the season is Scorpion – a series that can only be called an adaptation because it’s supremely loosely based on the real life fourth smartest person in the world.
Do we need a Rush Hour series? No. Is it going to get a pilot order? Probably. Is it going to go to series? 50/50. At any other network the odds of seeing a Rush Hour series in the fall would be damn near certain, but at CBS there are just too many factors at play to be sure of anything.
We’ll keep you posted on the status of the Rush Hour TV series as the story develops.
