phrelin said:
Sometimes it's well to leave a past fictitious name in the past.
I agree ... while there is some value in giving credit to the past much of that benefit is lost when the remake cannot live up to the memory of the original. Have a story about an ex-con detective that works cases the police have forgotten about out of his home/office trailer by the beach. Older viewers (or those watching in syndication) might recognize the character as a ripoff of Jim Rockford ... but put that name on the character and it better be a good movie.
Some remake/rehash shows have turned out better than expected. Mission Impossible was a decent movie that has spawned sequels. Hawaii Five-O manages to do well on TV (although I cannot imaging using the premise for the show without the title - the main characters are modern versions).
Personally I like what Star Trek did with "The Next Generation" - not trying to recast the 60's show but using it as a springboard where they eventually had several overlapping series that all tied together as one. Unfortunately the latest Star Trek was a rewrite/reimagining of the original story that breaks that cannon sigificantly ... which is a pattern that has been followed with the Batman and Superman series as well. Forget everything you know, we are going to retell the story with different facts.
I don't see the point with Rockford. A similar character is an easy creation and Vince Vaughn is no James Garner. Vince has been in too many crappy movies to play Rockford as anything less than a farce.
