(piano music)

Beware!

I've come from the future to warn you

that a plague will soon wipe out

all originality on basic cable.

I explain everything

on this week's episode of Angry Nerd.

(steam whistle blowing)

So, the 1995 sci-fi movie Twelve Monkeys

is mutating into a series on the Syfy Channel.

About four years from now most of the human race

is gonna be wiped out by a plague.

I asked you what you thought of this

and the kindest comment was that it looked like

a dragged out version of the movie but with worse actors.

Ooh, touche, Ignacio.

This new show worries me, and not because

Terry Gilliam's time travel flick is sacrosanct.

Frankly, I think Gilliam's a heretic

for turning the flawless 1962 film

La Jetee into Twelve Monkeys in the first place.

Twelve Monkeys is yet another time slot

filled by a lazy concept.

Flip around the dial tonight, (chuckles) dials.

And you'll see brand extensions, reboots,

and spinoffs of old public domain stories.

And Twelve Monkeys is just the tip of the derivative berg.

There are pilots in development for shows

based on movies like Westworld, Big,

Rush Hour, Scream, Marley and Me,

and (scoffs) Real Genius, oh!

Lazlo would be furious!

Okay, okay, I'll admit that TV adaptations

of the movies Fargo and Alien Nation and Buffy worked well,

but these new do-overs are far more likely

to turn out like, ew!

Anger Management.

See, we remember the rare successes like M.A.S.H.,

but we forget the all too common dreck,

like the blessedly short-lived series Ferris Bueller.

(chainsaw buzzing)

This is television.

This is real.

Wouldn't the money sunk into licensing

these old properties be better spent

on trying to create, you know, something new?

I'm here to tell you that the media industry

human centipede has officially begun eating its own tail.

Hey, come to think of it, why has no one

made a series out of Human Centipede?

Time to call my agent and set up a backdoor pilot.

(steam whistle blowing)

Saturday morning cartoons came to an end last fall,

but their spirit now seems to be inhabiting prime time.

I mean, think about it.

There were cartoons based on Free Willy, Ghostbusters,

Beetlejuice, Karate Kid, Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure,

Back to the Future, Beethoven, Mighty Ducks,

The Mask, Ace Ventura, Men in Black, Teen Wolf.

What TV show would you like to see turned into a movie?

Let me know in the comments and subscribe

to the Wired Channel.

And be sure to watch an, ah!

Tiny versions of me!

Stay back mini doppelgangers!

Oh, oh, wait, those are just my other videos.

Uh, watch 'em all, they're great.

Are they looking at me right now?

I'm afraid to turn my head.

(upbeat music)

(electronic whooshing music)