TheMovieman

I thought about this in the MI Season 2 DVD thread in the DVD Talk section:

What if they (probably CBS I'd assume) put Mission: Impossible back on the air, do you think it would work and who would you like to (reasonably) see in the cast?

One of the reasons I like the original series is that, for the most part, they were self-contained episodes with no season long story-arch. As a template, it'd be like CSI. Even with the MK story on CSI, that still doesn't dominate every episode. Oh, and like CSI, I want it to be more of a suspense-drama than action-adventure like the movie franchise.

As for cast, I liked Liev Schreiber so much that he'd make a good Rollin Hand-esque character, sort of the point man of the group. If Las Vegas were cancelled, then maybe Vanessa Marcil as the eye candy. I'm not sure who'd play the IMF leader, though.

rfduncan

It would end up having some high profile movie director as executive producer (e.g. Michael Bay or McG) and a big expensive cast with splashy effects and big budget and would land on some network with itchy trigger fingers that would would have it yanked off the air after 3 episodes - much like what happened last season with the revived Night Stalker which only aired 6 episodes on ABC (right in the middle of a TWO PART EPISODE NO LESS!).

rw2516

CBS revived it once in '89 or '90. I don't know if today's audiences have the attention span for a show this complex. You pretty much have to watch every second with undivided attention. Remember how people slammed the first movie for being too complex to follow, yet is far less complicated than the average episode. They had to dumb down the sequels for mass appeal. They would have to find some pretty good writers too. Alot of the old show's scripts were written by the same guy, William Read Woodfield, he was also the script consultant for scripts by other writers. Maybe he's still around.

Count Dooku

I'd like to see a new MI starring Jennifer Garner... Oh, wait

TheMovieman

^ lol, I did think of that and then... oh, yeah.

Legolas

They'd probably make it like 24. Maybe Carlos Bernard could be the lead.

Mattrk

I think Warner Bros. attempted that and called it "Global Frequency".

TheMovieman

But the name "Mission: Impossible" is still a viable name and if there was quality behind it, it could be a hit, but sadly I think they'd make it closer to the movie and throw tons of money for it per episode that it would probably only last one season. It'd have to get (per week) CSI-like numbers (21-24m) and I don't think it'd be able to sustain that.

If it were me, I'd go low key with it, get recognizable (but cheap) actors, use the budget for sets/locations and high end writers.

Breakfast with Girls

I'd love to see something like this. Mostly episodic in nature, but with overarching plotlines (say, a season-long mystery) that culminate at certain points, like season finales. Produce it with a reasonable budget (I want helicopters every now and then, dammit). Have it largely be cloak and dagger with occasional action scenes, but every now and then have action episodes. Build a core team of characters that the viewers care about. Don't kill them too often (they are, after all, the best at what they do), but every now and then shock the audience.

I'd watch it.

Jboone

Dream cast:

Briggs/Phelps- Morgan Freeman
Rollin- Jeffrey Wright
Cinnamon- Gina Torres
Barney- Chiwetel Ejiofor
Willy- Michael Clarke Duncan

DJariya

It was actually ABC that revived the show back in 1988. They brought back Peter Graves as Phelps and casted Phil Morris (Greg Morris' son) I believe it lasted 2 seasons and they ended up killing off one of the main characters in Season 2 before the show was eventually canned.

Goldberg74

It would be too expansive to produce, but I would watch it.

rw2516

I was thinking this too. But there are ways around it. First, all unknown actors except the Phelps character. Second , the sets. Since there is no set that could be reused from show to show except the short Phelps' apartment scene I would have a series of five or six 4-part episodes per season. The expensive of building a secret lab, prison, or Hong Kong set, etc. could be spread over 4 episodes. No breaks during a 4-parter.

DJariya

I read an article that said the ABC revival from 1988 was shot entirely on location in Australia because of high costs to shoot it in the U.S.

Super X

The ABC revival in the eighties actually came about in response to the writers' strike. Some execs had the brilliant idea of bringing back old shows and recycling scripts as a way of getting around the strike, and Mission: Impossible was the only one that actually got off the ground. For fans of the original, in addition to Peter Graves and Phil Morris, Greg Morris guest-starred in one episode, and Lynda Day George appeared in a second season episode, both reprising their roles from the original.

Breakfast with Girls

Why does everyone think the characters would have to be the same?