During a stop in LA to collect a debt, he falls into possession of an unsold screenplay that he sees as a way to both reconcile with his ex-wife and daughter, and help Amara find a new way to launder her money(*). Our wiseguy for the series (it debuts Sunday night at 10 I’ve seen five episodes) is Miles Daly (Chris O’Dowd), an Irishman somehow working as an enforcer for Pahrump, Nevada crime boss Amara (Lidia Porto). In taking on both the Elmore Leonard novel and the 1995 film starring John Travolta, Dennis Farina, and Danny DeVito, the new version keeps the core concept of “mob enforcer decides to be a movie producer,” but changes everything else.Īnd, in the process, it shows that copying the Fargo model of not copying the film is harder than it looks. Given both the strength and specificity of the source material, it was a show that had no business working, only it did (for two wonderful seasons, at least, followed by a more uneven third).Įpix’s Get Shorty is adapting a slightly less acclaimed, but still beloved, mid-’90s film, and also taking the Fargo “inspired by” approach. For every Friday Night Lights or M*A*S*H or Buffy that actually managed to outdo its inspiration, the TV graveyard is littered with dozens upon dozens of failures that, if they’re remembered at all, it’s only so we can again ask, “Who thought this was a good idea?”įX’s Fargo seemed to point a new way forward, by adapting the spirit of the beloved film, along with some broad details (pregnant Minnesota cop, resentful local salesman), but not worrying about doing a straightforward translation. TV adaptations of movies are often spotty because the films people want to adapt tend to be so good that it’s hard for the shows to live up to their reputations.
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