In the US: Wednesdays, 9pm, The CW In the UK: Not yet acquired
When it comes to books, today’s kids never had it so good. The range of fiction for children and young adults has never been so vast. Back when I was a kid, the choices were much more narrow, meaning my generation ended up reading more or less the exact same books as each other, and to some extent, previous generations.
The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew books were old when I was young, but we still all read them. Originally devised in the 1920s and updated with new books over the generations by a succession of authors using the pseudonyms Franklin W Dixon and Carolyn Keene, they featured teenage detectives solving crimes while dealing with standard teen issues – parents, boyfriends, girlfriends, parties and kidnappings.
Such perennial favourites were they that they had a 1970s TV series dedicated to them that naturally everyone my age watched. Perhaps because it featured teen heartthrob David Cassidy of The Partridge Family fame, but perhaps also because of its spooky title sequence.
However, what worked in the 20s, 50s and even 70s might not necessarily work now, as many a TV writer adapting classic formats has discovered. That hasn’t stopped people trying to find the magic formula.
There have been many attempts of late to adapt the Nancy Drew books in particular, with movies and TV pilots all trying to take the titian-haired teen detective and bring her up to date, leave her as she is with the world around her changed, and turn her into an adult.
Now we have the latest effort, which attempts to do for the Nancy Drew books what Riverdale successfully did for the Archie comics – bring her up to date and make her relevant to a young, spoilt-for-choice, modern audience, by Twin Peaks-ingher.
Every Friday, TMINE lets you know when the latest TV shows from around the world will air in the UK
So here’s a developing trend – shows being acquired before they’ve even been made, of which we’ve had quite a few this week. The drawback of these is that you can’t tell when they’re going to air because they’ve not aired in their native countries yet. And, of course, you can’t read my reviews of them to see if they’re worth bothering with.
Still, it is what it is. But we do at least have a couple of shows with actual premiere dates, you’ll be glad to hear.
TV3 (Norway)’s Wisting
Acquisitions
The BBC has picked up Viaplay/TV2/SVT (Scandinavia)’s Utredningen (The Investigation). That’s still being made
Walter Presents has acquired Één (Belgium)’s De Twaalf (The Twelve). No airdate yet, because it’s Walter
Amazon’s got hold of the latest spin-off from AMC (US)’s The Walking Dead. That’s so new, it doesn’t even have a title yet, so the best guess is “some time in 2020”
This very day, BBC Four has acquired TV3 (Norway)’s Wisting. That’ll air some time this year.
After the jump, though, details and premiere dates for Jason Bourne spin-off Treadstone and Scandi Noir Sthlm Rekviem (Stockholm Requiem).
