CHIPs is the latest in a long line of TV series to be given the big screen treatment. When this happens, the stars of the original series always have opinions on seeing their series rebooted. This one is no exception. Larry Wilcox played Officer Jon Baker during five of the six seasons of the original CHIPs run and he has an opinion on the new movie. While he admits he hasn't seen the entire thing, the trailers apparently do not have him excited. We don't think he means this as a compliment.
I have not seen the film but the trailers looked like a soft-porn version of Dumb and Dumber. However, I hear the actors are both very talented and funny, so maybe it all works.
It's far from uncommon for fans of particular TV shows to be unhappy when their favorite series gets a film adaptation. This is especially true when the adaptation takes a significant number of liberties with the source material. The original CHIPs series was a fairly standard crime drama for its day, and while the new movie does have a plot which could have been something seen in the series, that's all clearly surrounded by Kristen Bell's cleavage and Dax Shepard's ass, which are things you would not have seen on TV in 1979.
Larry Wilcox's comments, quoted by the Associated Press, do leave the door open for the possibility that CHIPs could still be good. We would agree that Michael Pena and Dax Shepard, who take on the roles of Frank Poncherello and Jon Baker respectively, are talented actors and while the new film may not be an accurate adaptation of the series, that doesn't mean that it won't be a good movie in its own right.
Larry Wilcox's comments come on the heels of Erik Estrada, the other member of the CHIPs pair who, while he did not make any specific disparaging comments about the new film himself, he did retweet some harsh responses from fans who were unhappy that the series was being made into this sort of film.
CHIPs is only one TV series that will get the adult comedy remake treatment this year. Baywatch's film trailers have shown that it's looking to attract the same sort of audience as CHIPs. Baywatch, however, appears to have a much better relationship with its original cast, as both David Hasselhoff and Pamela Anderson will reportedly be appearing in the movie. Although, this follows Anderson also making comments that she wasn't thrilled by the idea of seeing her series remade.
Would you rather see a more faithful adaptation of CHIPs on film, or is a comedy the best possible route to take? CHIPs opens in theaters today.
