TVSquad

What are the odds that a big screen adaptation of ABC's 1980's hit MacGyver will be a success? Judging by the success-to-failure ratio of TV-to-movies, I'd say it's 50-50 at best. For every The Fugitive, there's The Wild, Wild West. A Mission: Impossible reboot works well enough as a Tom Cruise vehicle, but a live action Speed Racer is an unmitigated disaster. Still, the optimist in me will hope that New Line's MacGyver to the big screen will work. They first mentioned this about a year ago, but it's picked up some traction now.

There's no star attached as yet, but a lot of De Laurentiises -- Dino is exec producer, Raffaellla and Martha are producing for Raffaella Productions. (Giada is sticking to the Food Network.) Fortunately, the series creator, Lee Zlotoff is attached, too.

He's also worked on NCIS of late, so let me be the first to suggest that Michael Weatherly would make a great MacGyver. He's got the same kind of good guy/wise guy thing that Richard Dean Anderson has, and he's the right age and look.

Of course, this being a big screen production likely means that a big star might be the direction for the filmmakers. I can't see any action guy in the role -- no to Mark Wahlberg, Dwayne Johnson, Vin Diesel and Jason Statham. Would a Matt Damon, Leonardo DiCaprio or Tom Cruise be tempted? What about an off-beat choice, like Owen Wilson, Patrick Wilson, or Rita Wilson? Don't laugh, MacGyver could be a woman in a remake, couldn't he/she?

The bar should be high for MacGyver because nowadays we have so many creative shows inspired by the original -- like Burn Notice -- that the science in the film had better be top-notch. The gum wrapper, paper clip and credit card will have to solve big problems like superior security systems and high tech computers.

New Line is searching for an A list scriptwriter -- which will lead to an A list director, presumably -- because they envision MacGyver as a franchise series. Maybe they should also consult with Henry Winkler; his company produced the original hit show.