The Fall Guy Jumps to the Big Screen

HOLLYWOOD, California — Show business is once again digging up its own graves, and this time the zombie it's threatening to resurrect is The Fall Guy. According to Deadline.com, director Martin Campbell is "in early discussions" to create a big-screen version of the early 1980s television show The Fall Guy. You know, the show that featured Lee Majors as Colt Seavers, a stuntman who also worked as a bounty hunter and always seemed to find some excuse (and a convenient ramp) to launch his GMC Sierra up to ludicrous heights and drive away undamaged.

A New Zealander, Campbell has previously directed the James Bond films Goldeneye (1995) and Casino Royale (2006). But his latest work was the truly awful Green Lantern released this past summer. According to AVClub.com, his co-conspirators in re-animating Colt Seavers' corpse include screenwriters Ashley Miller and Zack Stentz — who bashed out the scripts for both Thor and X-Men: First Class — and veteran producer Walter Parkes.

The Fall Guy was created by the prolific Glen A. Larson and ran on ABC from 1981 through 1986. Larson has already seen some of his old series from the '70s and '80s disinterred with good and bad results. His crummy original Battlestar Galactica (1978) was brilliantly reborn as the new Battlestar Galactica in 2004. But his silly Knight Rider from 1982 came back as 2008's truly dreadful Knight Rider. Still stored in Larson's crypt are such brilliant titles as B.J. and The Bear, The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo, McCloud, Quincy M.E., and the immortal P.S. I Luv U. The one Larson show that should come back is Magnum, P.I., which Hollywood must fast track while Tom Selleck can still chew solid foods.

It's still very early in the production process, and there are dozens of hurdles to clear before The Fall Guy movie actually begins filming. So speculate away as to who should play Colt or his doofus pal Howie, and which actress could best fill stuntgirl Jody's tiny bikini. However, if the truck is anything other than a GMC Sierra 2500 4x4 painted brown and gold, and if it doesn't lift off like a 737 several times, here's hoping the film is a total flop that ruins careers and leaves everyone involved penniless.

Incidentally, Heather Thomas, who played Jody, is now 54 years old. And she's probably still a lot hotter than Heather Locklear.

Inside Line says: Glen Larson also created Manimal. Why isn't anyone in Hollywood remaking that?