Lethal Weapon Pilot Ordered At Fox, Damon Wayans Sr. To Star

1CK1S
1CK1S Members Posts: 27,471 ✭✭✭✭✭
damon-wayans-sr.jpg?w=620&h=420&crop=1

Fox is moving forward with its Lethal Weapon adaptation, greenlighting a pilot and casting Damon Wayans Sr. as the co-lead.

The 1987 film starred Mel Gibson and Danny Glover as polar-opposite LAPD detectives Martin Riggs and Roger Murtaugh who become reluctant partners.

Wayans will follow in Glover’s footsteps by playing Det. Murtaugh, who, having recently suffered a “minor” heart attack, must avoid any stress in his life. Casting for the role of Riggs is underway.

The project represents a bit of a homecoming for Wayans, who produced and starred in the ’90s smash In Living Color. His last major network series was the ABC comedy My Wife and Kids, which ended in 2005.

Matt Miller, who created and executive-produced ABC’s Forever, penned the pilot script and serves as EP. McG is on board to direct.

Comments

  • BangEm_Bart
    BangEm_Bart Members Posts: 9,503 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited February 2016
  • Max.
    Max. Members Posts: 33,009 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Inb4 cancelled
  •   Colin$mackabi$h
    Colin$mackabi$h Members Posts: 16,586 ✭✭✭✭✭
    At least he got some work again
  • jono
    jono Members Posts: 30,280 ✭✭✭✭✭
  • sapp08_2001
    sapp08_2001 Members Posts: 7,566 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Damn why can't these muthafukas leave good movies alone smh
  • BangEm_Bart
    BangEm_Bart Members Posts: 9,503 ✭✭✭✭✭
    ? McG though? Haven't they learned from terminator salvation that this ? sucks.
  • FishNChips
    FishNChips Members Posts: 1,944 ✭✭✭✭✭
    This a tv show though so hopefully McG's presence isnt felt as much as it would in a movie
  • Broddie
    Broddie Members Posts: 11,750 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Best thing McG ever did was produce Supernatural; but man does his directing suck.
  • S2J
    S2J Members Posts: 28,458 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Stations always 'about to' do some ? . Less we forget they greenlit Beverly Hills Cop too
  • CeLLaR-DooR
    CeLLaR-DooR Members Posts: 18,880 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Max. wrote: »
    Inb4 cancelled

  • marc123
    marc123 Members Posts: 16,999 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited October 2016
    Watched the 1st 10 mins of the pilot. Damon Wayans is still funny, but its way to over the top imo....pass.
  • TheGOAT
    TheGOAT Guests, Members, Writer, Content Producer Posts: 15,916 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I caught half of it.

    Straight garbage.

    Imma bet it gets axed soon
  • dogfromduckhunt
    dogfromduckhunt Members Posts: 694 ✭✭✭✭
    Liked what I saw. It is over the top, but that really fits with how all the movies were. Not sure how that'll hold up over the whole season, but it worked for the first two episodes. Wayans is great, guy that plays Riggs is great. Bonus that they left off Leo and whoever Chris Rock played. Could do with a little less of the shrink.
  • texas409
    texas409 Members Posts: 20,854 ✭✭✭✭✭
    the first episode was good I dont know what yall was watching
  • jono
    jono Members Posts: 30,280 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I give it 90 days before its canceled
  • Broddie
    Broddie Members Posts: 11,750 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited October 2016
    Yeah as a big fan of the movies I was ambivalent towards this. I enjoyed it though surprisingly. Both episodes. No it's not as good as the movie series but it's not supposed to be a film series just a network TV series.

    It's still over the top and unrealistic enough with engaging enough characters (except the shrink/obvious future love interest, ugh!) to be fun. Granted people who love "grounded in reality" would hate that but those of us who grew up with those old Arnold, Sly or Mel Gibson movies get our money's worth.

    This is based on the movies where Mel Gibson surfed a highway on a wooden table and regularly chased moving vehicles on foot in every other action scene. In that regard it doesn't soil the Lethal Weapon name. It honors it well in it's own TV-14 way.

    The biggest flaws of this show is that a lot seems rushed or hackneyed enough that it makes you cringe. The first meeting of Riggs and Murtaugh is dumb. Also when Mel and Danny did more with less this shows forces itself to do less with more. It's not enough that Riggs is on edge cause his wife was killed which is more than enough. They had to add a baby because why not? I guess.

    With Murtaugh it's not enough that he's over the hill and ready to ease up because of old age and decades on the force. Not not only does he need a post-triple bypass surgery subplot but lets add a baby too to make it even more potentially dramatic. Just very uneccessary ? .

    Also the biggest sin of all. No David Sanborn sax licks during the more comedic moments or Eric Clapton guitar work during the poignant scenes. Even Always Sunny took note of that during the Lethal Weapon 5 and Lethal Weapon 6 ? and that was an homage not something that is actually a part of the franchise. Shame on WB TV for cheaping out.

    No bad ass Michael Kamen like music during the action scenes either. Instead they use poor generic rap that undersells the other wise awesome and inspired stuntwork and action sequencing.

    However it's enough like an old action movie to please that type of audience cause it recycles a lot of the classic action movie tropes of the 80s or 90s instead of like Bourne type ? .9

    In an era where every other cop or fed agency show is either overdramatic or a NCIS or CSI type deal we get a return of the classic buddy cop action show. Damon and the white boy got enough chemistry to pull it off.

    I grew up watching ? like Magnum P.I., A-Team, Chips, Knight Rider, Miami Vice and Starsky and Hutch in syndication. Didn't realize how much I missed that type of show. Yes it probably would've been better off on cable (HBO) and is in need of polish but in the context of network TV it worked enough for me that I will continue watching.

  • KingFreeman
    KingFreeman Members Posts: 13,731 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I liked the first 2 episodes. They have good chemistry and can make it work.
    Gonna be interesting to see if they bring in a someone to play that Joe pesci comedic relief role where they just dump on him all the time. And I'm assuming the doctor is gonna double for the Rene Russo role as riggs' chick.
    Not gonna be a big time show but it can have a Hawaii five o type long run. (Hawaii five o is my ? I don't care)
  • TheNightKing
    TheNightKing Guests, Members, Writer, Content Producer Posts: 2,484 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I'm digging it so far! Guy playing Riggs is good. Damon Wayans good as expected. I think they'll pull back on the over the top stuff as the characters get established. Got to pull in the audience some way.
  • MR.CJ
    MR.CJ Members Posts: 64,689 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Keesha Sharp is bad