Actually, the idea of an action drama that involves improvisation and on-the-spot gadgeteering is pretty much what The Martian was all about.
Except that's the gimmick — the trick is what you do with the a character. As with any reboot / retread, MacGyver could be crap or greatness. In some ways, to the extent that the title character is remembered most for his inventiveness, vs. his personality / relationships / story arc / fellow cast (with apologies to Dana Elcar), it makes the workability of a reboot even more likely.
On the other hand, there's this:
'The new MacGyver, like the TV versions of Taken and In the Line of Fire, will revolve around a younger version of the show's central hero. So in MacGyver's case, a man in his 20s.'
Yeah, I know, viewer (and spending pattern) demographics. And there's nothing wrong per se with a younger MacGyver still learning in the improvisational ropes. But I'm finding myself wishing for more shows I like that have protagonists a scosh closer to my own age cohort (and, no, Forever doesn't count, ha-ha, and it was canceled anyway).
Like you say, could be great, could be crappy. The cynical / realistic part of me says that the younger MacGyver isn't to capitalize on "learning the ropes", its to appeal to YA audiences via a hot male lead and give an excuse for him to do stupid stuff (extreme sports or even shoot someone). So where I will remain cautiously optimistic, I hold very little hope.
+William Altman As I recall, MacGyver was chronically opposed to guns. If they reversed that, it would be a significant character change (akin to Sherlock carrying around a .44 Magnum).
While RDA's character was physically fit, that wasn't what set him apart. The fact is, we have eleventy-dozen other shows about uber-performing athlete/agents. I hope that wouldn't be the approach taken here.
Not sure this is possible in the post mobile phone/Google world.
+Dave Hill IIRC the anti-gun stance didn't appear until late first season or second season. Like with Batman, it also didn't stop him from using improvised rockets and explosives against people. That first season was very much a relic of the cold war, a theme that was only intermittently used in later seasons. The Phoenix Foundation appeared at the start of second season, which also ushered in several refinements to character and show.
Special thanks to Amazon Prime for allowing me to re-watch the first five seasons free several months before I left the country. I <3 that show.
A bit more expanded story on this here: http://deadline.com/2015/10/macgyver-series-remake-cbs-james-wan-henry-winkler-1201566340/ (including a link to the always delightful series main titles).
Thanks for the links. Chasing a link from your original article proved somewhat worrying. Its what the director would have done with a movie version. http://www.ign.com/articles/2015/03/24/furious-7-director-james-wans-macgyver-movie-isnt-happening
Ultimately we'll see. Can't be worse that Bay's Transformers, right? =)
+William Altman Well, MacGyver is about the only legit use for Bayesque explosions I can think of … but, that (far) aside, agreed.
Yeah, they tried changing the lead character to a young hunk in the Night Stalker reboot. It lasted 10 episodes.
Will they never learn?