While some of us are still recovering from the insistent and continuous Les Miserables brouhaha that was the latest Oscar season, it appears that we have yet to see the end of the (oftentimes torturous) Miserables mania. Rob Thomas has teamed up with Graham Norris to develop a modern-day drama influenced by the classic Victor Hugo novel. The project, from Warner Brothers TV and Rob Thomas Productions, has made its way to FOX, and is written by Norris and is described as “a primetime soap about a brilliant lawyer running a legal exoneration program who fights to evade the consequences of his own unjust conviction many years before. He must navigate high society, continue his mission of saving innocent people, and manage his tumultuous family and romantic life – all while staying one step ahead of a ruthless U.S. attorney who refuses to let the ghosts of the past die,” as reported by Deadline.
Though some of us might have hit our Miserables limit with the latest feature film adaptation and all its hype, there are a couple of factors that make this new adaptation somewhat tolerable, and even perhaps something to look forward to. For one, Rob Thomas’ involvement as executive producer is a huge indicator that this might be an interesting project, I mean; the guy did bring us three great seasons of Veronica Mars. Thomas has also brought on fellow Veronica Mars and Party Down collaborators Danielle Stodyk and Dan Etheridge to co-produce the adaptation. For fans of the classic, it will be interesting to see the themes of the novel being explored in a modern context. Also, there’s no singing in this interpretation, definitely a plus. Still, even with all this great talent and intriguing premise, it isn’t hard to succumb to the now inherent ‘Les Mis’ cheese factor that has only been heightened by the recent mania. So we’ll just have to wait and see what the network does with this new material. Would you be excited for a weekly Les Miserables – inspired drama?
