The Italian Job will be racing onto TV screens near you

Last Updated on July 31, 2021

I think the Golden Age of Television is a term that will soon not be applied to the current state of TV. What seemed like a bastion for original, unique content is quickly going down a route many say movies have gone down, one plagued by reboots, remakes, and “reimaginings”. Don’t believe me? Well then take this one example: THE EXORCIST, LETHAL WEAPON, S.W.A.T., and BEHIND ENEMY LINES are all shows based off movies (and in one case, the movie was based off a TV show) currently on the air or are going through the planning stages. Now, we can add THE ITALIAN JOB to that latter group.

Deadline reports the 1969 flick with Michael Caine which became a 2003 hit with Caine’s modern equivalent, Mark Wahlberg, is being developed into a TV show over at NBC. The network appears to be trying to find an action franchise of its own to convert into a TV show, as CBS is taking S.W.A.T. and Fox has ENEMY LINES.

No news on casting yet, but the show is being described as a “noisy, sexy, thrill-ride” that follows a ragtag “family” of robbers who come out of retirement to get their “patriarch” out of jail. The show will follow Charlie Croker (who was played Caine and Wahlberg) as he banters and charms his way through sticky scenarios with his gang.  Wow, they sure were right! It does sound like a noisy, sexy, thrill-ride!

Mocking aside, I have no idea how this show will turn out. The recent reboot of a hit show, MACGYVER, has been critically panned, while adaptations of THE EXORCIST and LETHAL WEAPON have been met with mixed reception. I’m sure the shows have their fans, but one can’t help but enter the World’s Greatest Eye Roll contest when they hear about all these new shows. Who knows, maybe the stunning locales and group dynamic will make ITALIAN JOB an entertaining standout. S.W.A.T. makes the most (sort of) sense, as it was a TV show in the 70’s before being turned into the movie with Samuel L. Jackson and Colin Farrell. Let’s just thank God Tom Cruise is hanging onto the MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE series for dear life as if it were the side of a plane.