Bring back Skyways

Skyways, Frontline, It’s A Knockout, Midday, Frontline, The Late Show, Backchat, Race Around the World, and Blankety Blanks -just a few of the shows that Michael Idato says would be worth bringing back.

The always-fascinating scribe at the Sydney Morning Herald has certainly thrown up some interesting formats ripe for a remake, in an article worth a good read.

On Skyways he notes, “Rebooting a drama is tricky. There are so many contenders, including the fantastic Prisoner. Skyways, however, has an edge. In a post-9/11 world, where programs such as Border Security and Sea Patrol have made a splash, the airport has become a hub for a rich tapestry of human, social and political stories.”

Idato also dubs The Late Show, “Unpredictable and brilliant, this was entertainment without peer,” Frontline was “Mike Moore, with bouffant hair and high ideals, was a pastiche of hosts Stan Grant and Ray Martin and, more than a decade later, seems more relevant than ever.” And It’s a Knockout was “was ludicrous fun and one of the few television programs parents and children could watch together.”

Proposing a remake of Seven’s current affairs lasagna (it’s hard to think of a suitable metaphor!), The Times is an inspired idea -even if it didn’t fly the first time.

“It seems curious (if not downright impossible) that this brilliant current affairs program, which took to its subjects with a ferocious wit, came from a commercial network,” says Idato. “Yet Seven cancelled it because of sluggish ratings and resistance from politicians who were uncomfortable filling the role they so deserved – the butt of the joke. The Times dissected its subjects with a beautiful sense of style and, in a post-Chaser world, now looks as if it was before its time.”

Read more of his wild and wonderful propositions here.