Demi Moore film 'Ghost' may be adapted as a TV show
The classic supernatural romance movie听Ghost听left behind a legacy that includes floods of tears and endless parodies of that 鈥淯nchained Melody鈥� pottery scene. Despite its chick-flick stigma,听Ghost听is a extremely memorable movie that struck just the right balance between Sam Wheat鈥檚 (Patrick Swayze) comedic banter with psychic Oda Mae Brown (Whoopi Goldberg) and his romance with Molly (Demi Moore), which is tragically cut short after his demise at the hands of a mugger.
With a movie as perennially popular as听Ghost, an eventual remake seemed more or less inevitable, especially since the original movie remains the second highest-grossing romantic drama of all time, beaten out of the top spot only by听. Currently, however, the most popular home for ghosts, ghouls, vampires, werewolves, witches and all other breeds of supernatural creatures is on TV rather than in movies, with shows like听,听听and听dominating the airwaves.
With that in mind, it鈥檚 not too surprising that听Ghost听is apparently now headed to the small screen.听听reportsat th Oscar-winning writer/director Akiva Goldsman (A Beautiful Mind) and veteran TV writer Jeff Pinkner () have been tapped by Paramount TV to co-write a pilot for a TV series based on听Ghost. Pinkner and Goldsman have previously worked together as both producers and writers on the Fox sci-fi drama.
But a commission for a听 pilot, especially one without penalties, is no guarantee of a full series commission. Paramount TV also recently made a TV pilot based on the听series, which co-starred Eddie Murphy in a reprisal of his Axel Foley role and Brand T. Jackson as his son, Aaron Foley, but CBS ultimately听听and it was听听by other networks as well.
That said, there鈥檚 no reason that a听Ghost听TV show couldn鈥檛 work, especially with a dynamic as rich as that of a psychic and a ghost. Since much of听Ghost鈥榮 plot revolved around solving the mystery of Sam鈥檚 supposedly random murder, Goldsman and Pinkner could focus on the detective aspects and come up with something similar to the British private eye show听Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased). This would leave plenty of room for a romance plot but would also give the writers something to shape the episodes around.
Then again, perhaps I鈥檓 just yearning for another听Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased)reboot.
H. Shaw-Williams blogs at .
