Should Hasbro Approach the Military Channel About a Live Action JOE Series?

Fred Broca

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Jun 2, 2012
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Since a lot of cable channels are breaking out and doing t.v. series, but seems that it would only make sense for either Hasbro or the Military Channel to get together and do a live action JOE series and not necessarily a series based on ARAH, but just a series based on an SOF Unit fighting terrorists. Maybe COBRA, maybe not. To me it seems like a good way to put a little life back into the franchise.
 

MAJOR BLOOD

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Mar 13, 2011
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Nope. Movies did not do a thing so I highly doubt a tv series would. They could not even get a cartoon to last in recent years so I highly doubt a live action would work.
 

Vindicare86

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I'd be all for some sort of live action series, but I feel like doing it on the Military Channel would be a bad decision on Hasbro's part. The channel just doesn't reach enough people for it to be viable. The shows that everyone talks about that are on cable are on the channels that are much less niche. AMC, TNT and the like are all much more heavily viewed. The USA network might be a good fit, I feel like it'd be a good replacement for Burn Notice now that that's over. I will admit, the Military channel would be perfect theme-wise though, especially since they're now the "American Heroes Channel".
 
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NSA

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Nah. There is no reason to tag on the "GI JOE" name on to something at this point unless you're going ARAH vs Cobra etc.

You can do just as well, or better, by creating your own IP. Like The Unit for example.
 

Brickhead

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I think that's not a bad idea. But I'm also wary of what the public (other than GIJoe fans) would think of it.

3 of the biggest shows IMHO are/were:

Breaking Bad
The Walking Dead
Game of Thrones

People want complex interweaving situations and detailed character development.

GI Joe is pretty cut and dry. Good guys vs bad guys. It wouldn't get the attention of most people these days who like shows they can submerge themselves in.

...Unless Vince Gilligan get behind it...I already know for a fact that he likes GI Joe.
 

K-Tiger

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We already had a good live action Joe show. It was called The Unit.
 

WVMojo

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the only way to make a GI JOE show would be to make it a reality show, have them fight each other, and vote people off. That's all channels are looking for these days, quick buck making reality shows.

yeah but HT already has the "who is the 87th greatest figure" so that's already been done.
 

NSA

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Anything CAN be done, but why?

I am sure some talented writer could infuse the classic Joe vs Cobra story with actual depth and character, with a myriad of twists and turns.. but... why? If you're spending that much time and effort you might as well come up with something original.
 

K-Tiger

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Eh, the ARAH storyline wasn't all that compelling. At this point we need to go the way of 12" Joe collectors.
 

Videoviper

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Anything CAN be done, but why?

I am sure some talented writer could infuse the classic Joe vs Cobra story with actual depth and character, with a myriad of twists and turns.. but... why? If you're spending that much time and effort you might as well come up with something original.

Now picture this with GI Joe characters

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mq3HlBy1aFM"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mq3HlBy1aFM[/ame]
 

G.I.*EDDIE

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How popular it is would be no concern of mine...

Having said that, I would love to see a live action JOE show...
 

Monkeywrench

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Sure. I would watch it.

Like a few people have already said in here, The Unit is probably about as close as we'll ever get.

Make a show like that with a small Joe force, get rid of the wives and add in a HQ with folks like DT, LJ, MF and a few others and then have the Unit be something like Duke, BH, GH, RB and SW. Add in a random cameo at times and every few years kill off a dude and add a new character.
 

Vortious

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I think that after seeing what MAoS was able to do a GI Joe live action series COULD be very good, but you'd have similar issues of people tuning in a couple of times expecting it to be one thing, and then when they see that it isn't EXACTLY what they were hoping to see they'll loose interest. However those who are able to keep an open mind will really enjoy it like those of us who like MAoS.

In fact in all actuality S.H.I.E.L.D. IS GI JOE. Well Marvel's version of it at least. I know that Marvel did GI Joe comics back in the day when they had the comics license from Hasbro, and they never crossed them over, but in all actuality the 2 organizations would be a perfect compliment to each other. S.H.I.E.L.D. would do the covert espionage type missions while the Joes would do the direct assaults. Though they ARE both shown doing both, and having teams for both, so like I said before they are basically the same KIND of team. The only real difference is that S.H.I.E.L.D.'s leader has an eye patch, and they have different names.
 

K-Tiger

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I'd rather the right combination of Japanese creative team got together and did a Joe anime.
 

Brickhead

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F that anime crap right in your hentai tentacle porn hole!

tentacles... hmm. You're onto something...

 

Dropshipbob

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I think a live action Joe show could be done...but those code names? I don't know, I just don't think people can go for most of them outside of a cartoon.

But you guys tell me that have watched military type shows, do their characters have Joe style codenames and are people able to deal with them?

When I watched the movies, I was able to hide away my sense of disbelief until they whipped out some of the code names.

But of course, what would a Joe movie be without it's code names??
 

Monkeywrench

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I think a live action Joe show could be done...but those code names? I don't know, I just don't think people can go for most of them outside of a cartoon.

But you guys tell me that have watched military type shows, do their characters have Joe style codenames and are people able to deal with them?

When I watched the movies, I was able to hide away my sense of disbelief until they whipped out some of the code names.

But of course, what would a Joe movie be without it's code names??

The Unit had callsigns. I haven't watched it in years but I'm pretty sure they called each other both their code names and real names. It varied.

A couple callsigns I remember were: Snake Doctor, Betty Blue and Hammer Head.
 

K-Tiger

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The Unit had callsigns. I haven't watched it in years but I'm pretty sure they called each other both their code names and real names. It varied.

A couple callsigns I remember were: Snake Doctor, Betty Blue and Hammer Head.

As well as Cool Breeze and Dirt Diver. They also used the Mr. "Insert color here" from Reservoir Dogs, too.
 

Tria

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I ve tried to watch "the unit" but it was boring, predictable and cheesy. I believe strike back is much better (especially season 2 and beyond)

I believe that a gi joe series would work, but as someone said before, it will require a more complexed script, detailed controversial characters etc