While the movie catalogue of American Movie Classics has shrunk since the arrival of Turner Classic Movies, the catalogue of quality television shows on the channel has increased. Last year, I was obsessed with watching each new episode of Hustle. The show lifted narratives from some of my favorite grifter based movies, everything from "The Sting" to the highly under-rated "Traveller" served as inspiration for the series. As I watched each new episode, I felt the joy I felt when I first read Walter Gibson's (the creator of The Shadow) The Bunco Book with its tales of cons and conmen.
Now AMC is partnering with Granada and Sky One to bring to our mind-numbing black boxes a remake of the classic television series The Prisoner. Those who have read this blog for some time know that I used to go by the nom d'cyber Number One, a direct reference to this television show. For those who thought it was a Star Trek reference, let me quote Robert in the wonderful Gen-X film Free Enterprise "I would never live in the 24th century! I fucking HATE "The Next Generation". Only classic!" Needless to say, I am very jazzed about the possibility of a new Prisoner series.
But before some member of Six of One wanders into this website wondering at my Prisoner street cred, let me just set the record straight. I like the show, I don't obsess about it like I do about Avengers comic books (the one with Thor). In fact, I am one of those controversial and strange animals that thinks of The Prisoner as a sequel to Danger Man (aka Secret Agent) and was introduced to both The Prisoner and Danger Man by the Danger Mouse cartoon (though it also borrowed liberally from Holmes and 007).
As a bonus, AMC will run the original series at the same time they debut the new one.
