When “Nash Bridges”Don Johnson, series star and creator of the series, felt that they had been let go in 2001. “didn’t get a chance to finish the story.”
This detective drama has been on air for six seasons. “political circumstances”An actor recalls that it was cancelled because of differences between CBS and Paramount Network Television. (Paramount determined that the production cost was too high despite the series’ decent ratings for CBS. Twenty-five years later, the series is still a hit in syndication. As TV’s nostalgia boom has led to reboots and revivals of dozens of late-20th century titles, the door was opened for Johnson in his titular Special Investigations Unit captain role in a new format and on a new network.
“I felt like there was more to be mined in these characters; plus, I love the tone — being able to do something that is incredibly dangerous and demanding, but is also comedy inside the four walls of a cop show,”Johnson says Variety.
The revival “Nash Bridges,” which begins with Johnson’s Nash getting suspended from the force and then jumping forward to a year later when he gets back into the action, originally started as a chance to re-pilot the crime drama for the 21st century. Johnson and Bill Chais, the writer/executive producers of the story, wanted to tell too much.
The end result is a two-hour movie which will air on USA November 27th. Johnson was the executive producer of the telepic which reunited Johnson with Cheech Marin, his co-star in the original series.
“We’re picking them up where we’ve left off from, and then something crazy happens and he’s away from the force for a year,”Chais speaks of Nash “During that time, he’s had some time to reflect and had conversations with Cheech’s character [where he was] deciding whether he wants to come back, and realizes he has to because the city’s in terrible trouble.”
As in any episode of the original series, there is a crime that needs Nash’s attention — specifically a “surprising murder of someone you don’t like,” Chais previews. “The whole thing would have just been about solving his murder, which would have been like a really satisfying hour of television, but what it spins off to is what gave us the scope of a two-hour movie.”
Nash is reunited with Joe Dominguez, his ex-partner (Marin), but he also needs to work alongside the next generation law enforcement, Steven Colton (Joe Dinicol), whom Nash initially labels as a “millennial snowflake” and butts heads with because of Steven’s insistence that Nash need not be so quick to draw his weapon.
The story should be told. “Nash Bridges”Chais states that he was thinking a lot about today’s police work and how it differs from 20 years ago. He still wanted to capture that same feeling. “’80s buddy cop”Tone of the original series, but he also saw “an opportunity to tell a show about a person who was in ascendancy and the master of all that he surveyed and just kicking ass and everything in one era, and now it’s 20 years later, and it’s a different era and how is he going to function?”
“The difference between the millennials and the boomers”Johnson believed that Johnson’s unique mix of comedy and conflict gave the story its unique flavor and inspired him to return to the world of the show.
“There’s a line I ad-libbed that I think encapsulates what we’re talking about here,”He says. “We’re checking our guns and Steven says, ‘What are you doing?’ and we say, ‘We’re checking our guns.’ ‘What for?’ ‘To be ready.’ And he says, ‘Have you ever thought about talking to people?’ Nash goes, ‘Yeah, I love to talk to people if they’re not throwing hot lead at me.’”
The key, both Johnson and Chais say, was showcasing the differences in Nash’s old-school ways with today, but not presenting one to be better than the other.
“The idea is someone who’s older and came up a different way actually has something to teach and actually has a lot to learn. And we felt that it went both ways,” Chais explains. “We never wanted to be preachy; we always wanted to be sensitive to the issue that that the world is different. He wasn’t part of any problem, but the world has changed and maybe there is more he could do to be part of that.”
Another thing that needed to change — at least slightly — was the way Nash carried himself. He is also decades older.
“I stay fit and I do it for the mental part of my being, more so than the physical part — although the physical part is incredibly important for flexibility and just a good, healthy life. So, I felt that it was important to bring that to the character, but I also felt like it was important to say, ‘OK yeah, you can still bring it, but he’s going to wait a minute or two before he brings it.’ He’s wiser, he’s less likely to be the testosterone-filled dude that would kick in doors and be the first one through the door and all that he was back then,”Johnson.
But he’s still quicker than most to jump into action, and creating action sequences for the “Nash Bridges”Johnson encouraged Chais to make movies more often. Chais, who is a specialist in procedurals, was asked to do more. “Franklin & Bash”To “Unforgettable” “Bull,”Was excited to use character banter in such explosive situations “car chases, gunfights and oil trucks blowing up.”Although the conversation around law enforcement has changed, one constant is the danger involved in the job.
“Nash Bridges”This is what he does: he creates a movie antagonist who is “universally bad,” Chais says, “so that wherever you’re coming from, you’re rooting for the bad guy to get got, quick and hard.”
Although the story is not included in this two-hour long project, Johnson and Chais hope it will bring new dynamics to the world. With the exponential increase in streaming options, Chais and Johnson believe that these characters can be expanded.
“I’m not a guy that looks back,”Johnson states. “Opportunities lost are just opportunities lost. Do I feel like that there’s stuff that we can mine out of some of the other original characters and out of bringing some of the people back that I had on in the first place? Yeah, I do. And I’ve got some wonderful ideas,”Johnson states. “In this day and age, I can do them any way I want: I can set it up as a four-part miniseries that has close-ended episodes within the hour but the miniseries has a runner in it that takes us through four episodes. It’s so freeing, and it gives me such a broad palette and canvas to work with.”
“Nash Bridges”The program will air on USA at 9 p.m.