Blair Underwood to star in Ironside remakePosted by Wilson Morales
February 4, 2013
Robert T. Ironside is mounting a comeback. NBC has given a pilot order to a reboot of the 1967 detective drama Ironside to star Blair Underwood. The new Ironside, written by Mike Caleo and produced by Universal TV, centers on an acerbic, sarcastic detective in a wheelchair (Underwood) who pushes and prods his hand-picked team to solve the most difficult cases in San Francisco.
The project originally had David Semel attached to direct. He is no longer directing — he just signed on to direct/executive produce CBS’ Intelligence – but he remains an executive producer alongside Caleo, Teri Weinberg of Yellow Brick Road, John Davis and Jon Fox.
NBC’s pickup hinged on Underwood playing the lead. The LA Law alum’s casting stems from a development/talent holding deal he signed with Universal TV in August. He is with ICM Partners and Thruline. The original Ironside series, from Universal TV, ran on NBC from 1967 to 1975 with Raymond Burr as the paralyzed Chief of Detectives.
Underwood, who recently played the lead role of Stanley in the Broadway revival of A Streetcar Named Desire, was last seen on TV playing United States President Elias Martinez in the NBC drama series The Event in 2010. His previous TV series included City of Angels, LAX, The New Adventures of Old Christine, Dirty Sexy Money and In Treatment.
Here is the show’s opening sequence to the catchy theme music by Quincy Jones.
