Stephen J. Cannell created or co-created a whole lot of popular TV shows, including The Rockford Files, The A-Team, Renegade, The Greatest American Hero, 21 Jump Street, and The Commish. Somewhere in the mix was the crime drama series Wiseguy, which Cannell co-created with Frank Lupo. That show aired on CBS for a total of 75 episodes over four seasons, running from 1987 to the end of 1990… and industry scooper Jeff Sneider of TheInSneider.com hears that it’s getting a feature film revival, with Jonathan Banks (who is best known these days for playing hitman and fixer Mike Ehrmantraut on Breaking Bad) on board to reprise his role from the original series!
Sneider’s sources inform him that The Pope’s Exorcist producers Sophie Cassidy and Jeff Katz are joining forces with Stephen J. Cannell Productions to bring the Wiseguy movie to the screen. In case you need a refresher, the TV series initially starred Ken Wahl as Vinnie Terranova, a federal agent for the Organized Crime Bureau, a fictional division of the FBI, who goes undercover as a mob enforcer to bring down an Italian crime syndicate, among other dangerous criminals and colorful underworlds. Terranova operates under the supervision of senior agent Frank McPike, McPike being the character that was played by Jonathan Banks. Wahl dropped out of the cast after the third season due to a dispute with CBS and was replaced by Steven Bauer as disbarred lawyer Michael Santana. Since Wahl didn’t come back, the Vinnie Terranova character went missing and was presumed dead… until the series got a TV movie follow-up in 1996 that reunited Wahl and Banks with their series co-star Jim Byrnes, who played information operative Daniel “Lifeguard” Burroughs.
Sneider was told that the movie is expected to “follow a new protagonist in his late 20s to early 30s who like Terranova before him, comes off like a blue-collar James Bond, with the idea of appealing to the audience that made the action movies The Beekeeper ($162 million worldwide) and A Working Man ($98 million) global box office hits.”
Cassidy and Matt Crespy are producing the film for 2.0 Entertainment, while Katz does the same for for Worldwide Katz. Cannell passed away in 2010, but his daughter, Tawnia McKiernan, is expected to have a producing role on the film.
Homeland writer Alexander Cary was working with 20th Century Fox TV and Chernin Entertainment to bring a Wiseguy reboot to NBC back in 2011, but that didn’t pan out. Here’s hoping the feature film revival will have better luck than that project did.
Are you a Wiseguy fan, and are you glad to hear that Jonathan Banks is coming back for a Wiseguy movie? Share your thoughts on this one by leaving a comment below.
