Here’s another entry into the “Hollywood has officially run out of ideas” file. According to The Hollywood Reporter, NBC has ordered a TV reboot of the 1999 movie Cruel Intentions (which just appeared on Netflix this month). The original movie was a modern retelling of the 1782 novel Les Liaisons dangereuses (which was adapted to film in 1988’s Dangerous Liaisons). The series came to be after Roger Kumble saw a Cruel Intentions musical parody at L.A.’s Rockwell Table & Stage this past summer. He was so impressed that he recruited the musical’s writers, Lindsey Rosin and Jordan Ross, to work on the TV version of the popular film.

The new series picks up in the modern day, centering on Bash Casey (what a name), the son of characters Sebastian Valmont, played in the original movie by Ryan Phillippe, and Annette Hargrove, played by Reese Witherspoon. Sarah Michelle Gellar’s character Kathryn Merteuil will also be a major part of the series, trying to gain control of Valmont International and up to many other cunning plans, I’m assuming. There’s no mention of Selma Blair’s character, the naive Cecile, as of yet. From what I can gather, Bash gains access to Sebastian’s journal and is introduced to a “world of sex, money, power and corruption he never could have imagined.” Sounds tawdry, huh?

When will Hollywood learn that making TV series from beloved movies is never a good idea? Remember 2003’s My Big Fat Greek Life? You shouldn’t, it only lasted for a whopping 7 episodes. The list of flops is seemingly endless – no one wanted small screen remakes of Ferris Bueller, Working Girl, 10 Things I Hate About You and Dirty Dancing either. But, hey, who knows? Maybe late 90s nostalgia will garner ratings. Stranger things have happened. (I would totally watch the musical though!)

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