It has to be nerve-wracking to be a TV executive, responsible for programming decisions that make or break your company. Think of this fall show, The Sarah Connor Chronicles. Pros: A built-in audience, fans of The Terminator, and its sequels; and Internet buzz, building anticipation. Cons: It's probably expensive, The Terminator's glory days are long past; there is no involvement from original stars (no Arnold); it's a serialized drama, which takes audience commitment.
One of the biggest cons from this fan's point of view, is that it further tangles The Terminator continuity. The first film created a paradox, where John Conner sent his own future/past father back in time to protect his mother who would have died otherwise, thus preventing his birth. This headache-inducing time loop is par for the course in time travel stories, and goes with the territory.
Then the second movie (one of my favorite movies ever) played out a story that for the most part stuck to the previous continuity, and pretty much wrapped it up at the end. Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines never felt like a good fit to me. It screws with the neat story line wrap-up of the previous film, without really explaining how or why the previous resolution didn't fix things.
It will be interesting to see if they use the standard movie-to-TV adaptation rule: loose continuity. Most of these sorts of series use the "vague history" method of alluding to the original material. It worked on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Will it work here?
Despite the cons outweighing the pros, I'll be watching. I think I'll just expect it to be short-lived, sort of a multi-part Terminator 4, so that when it is inevitably cancelled early, I won't be disappointed!
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