Pop Culture Extra: A New "Ironside"!

This week, NBC announced its Fall 2013 TV schedule, and one of its new shows is "Ironside", a remake … or maybe reimagining … of the classic "Ironside" starring Raymond Burr. The new Ironside will be played by Blair Underwood.

The Internet Movie Database says:

"Centers on Robert T. Ironside, a tough, sexy and acerbic police detective relegated to a wheelchair after a shooting who is hardly limited by his disability as he pushes and prods his hand-picked team to solve the most difficult cases."

Here is the trailer for the new "Ironside":

It looks like they are staying with all of the main elements of the original series, while sort of amping up the gruffness and unpredictable brilliance of the original Raymond Burr Ironside. The new Ironside may be a bit more physical, and possibly less cerebral, though he may be both, we'll see. Apparently, he's also "sexy", which I don't think was ever something that would be used to describe Burr's Ironside. He will still have his team of investigators, though I'm curious to see whether, being African-American himself, he will have any equivalent of Mark, the helper guy in the original series. I loved the little musical allusion to the original series theme … that short siren-like electronic passage.

Like all remakes, this could either be a big improvement, or a disaster. I'll be watching!