'Braveheart' Inspired TV Show On The Way; Maybe Someone Can Just Develop 'Best Picture: The Series'?

Here's a pitch: now that we are seeing more than a few television series based on classic or well-known films, how about enabling someone to create an anthology show expressly designed to travels paths worn by the biggest films? One week we could see a black and white musical extravaganza in the vein of The Artist, while the next episode might see what happens when a Union Army officer with a fondness for Lakota Indians meets up with aging gunslinger William Munny.

The reason for this pitch is that the new shows based on Goodfellas (not a Best Picture winner, I know, though it should have been) and The Silence of the Lambs are about to get company in the form of Wallace, a series that explores the life of Braveheart hero William Wallace.

THR announces the show, saying that Mick Davis (The Eleventh Hour) will write, create and exec produced the show. The narrative will "focus on Wallace's back story, his years spent attempting to unify Scotland, his loves and losses as well as his legendary battles with King Edward the Longshank and rival Robert the Bruce."

So this isn't quite Braveheart: The Series, but it seems clear that the development is moving forward with an understanding that audiences will mentally link this portrayal of the Scottish hero with Mel Gibson's Oscar-grabbing film. And while it is easy to shake one's head at the idea of developing shows inspired by classic films in general, the fact is that a show like this could easily go on to establish its own identity. And in this case, the development of Wallace is based as much on the fact that the character is a well-known figure, with his status only helped by Braveheart, rather than established by it.

There is no cast for the show yet, and no news on what company might pick it up for broadcast.