This is at least the fourth incarnation of La Femme Nikita that I’m aware of. Luc Besson produced the original stylish French film in 1990. The American remake was called Point of No Return. (1993) and starred Bridget Fonda. The Canadian TV series was first telecast in North America on the USA Network in 1997, and ran for four and one-half seasons. The first two years La Femme Nikita was on USA, it had the highest ratings on basic cable. Now, the CW Network brings back Nikita, a rogue spy and assassin, in a series with the same name. Nikita (played by Maggie Q), a woman with a troubled past, was recruited by a super secret organization called Division which trains young people to be spies and killers. Nikita escaped Division and now wants to destroy the evil organization. Expect plenty of explosions and gun-play. Hey, a woman who looks like a super-model who knows how to handle an Uzi…what’s not to like. I’ll be watching tonight at 9 P.M. Check your local listings and the trailer below.
One wonders why they do the same thing over and over, when someone must be able to come up with a new idea for a show people want to watch. This is much about the sexy babe as anything, right? I never saw any of the shows.
Well, sex sells, Rick. A sexy super-model spy…plenty of guys will tune in to check that out. Sam’s Club is selling the DVDs of LA FEMME NIKITA TV show cheap. I’m tempted…
I saw the original movie and liked it but having sunk time into Covert Affairs, which got worse every week, I am not sure I want to stick my toe in the water of this.
Diane likes COVERT AFFAIRS more than I do, Patti. As you say, the episodes grew steadily worse as the summer progressed. I’m ready to bail out.
Looks like they “re-imagined” the story as SALT.
You’re right, Bill. But a SALT rip-off is Not a Bad Thing.
Patti, maybe you can give us your opinion on the fashion choices on COVERT AFFAIRS: every week Jackie asks if I really think women wear cocktail dresses to work at the CIA.
At least this week had nice scenery of Niagara Falls, even if they didn’t stop at George’s pizza place.
Rick, you’re kidding, right? There is no more originality in Hollywood than there is in the music industry. I say this after hearing a totally superfluous remake of the Temptations yesterday.
George, this one got a pretty good review in the NY Times and Daily News but I’m jsut not interested. I bet Jackie wants to try it, however. Hey, anything has to be better than the Bridget Fonda version.
And whatever happened to Bridget anyway? For a while there she seemed to be flavor of the month and seems to have totally disappeared these days.
I’m guessing drugs were involved in Bridget Fonda’s disappearance, Jeff. Yes, I saw those positive reviews of NIKITA. I’ll be watching tonight and flipping over to the Vikings/Saints game durning commercials.
I was right – Jackie wants to see it.
Tell Jackie I’ll be watching NIKITA, too, Jeff.
Maybe not, George. According to Wikipedia:
Fonda has not appeared in films since 2002. On 29 November 2003 Fonda married film composer and former Oingo Boingo frontman Danny Elfman.[3] They have a son Oliver, born in mid-January 2005.
Also, she’s 46, a tough age for women to get work in Hollywood.
I like Danny Elfman’s soundtracks, Jeff. And, you’re right: 46 is a tough age for a Hollywood actress. They can’t play the femme fatale, and it’s too soon to play the caring Mom.
ROOKIE BLUE has managed to improve a bit as it goes along…I’ve been letting COVERT AFFAIRS go as it got worse already, but was hoping for improvement. As a former staffer at ASPRS, whose biggest clients for our publications included the USGS and the CIA, I can assure the assembled that representatives of neither wore cocktail dresses, nor looked like Piper Perabo nor Valerie Plame, when they visited our offices. Darn the luck.
After watching the first episode of NIKITA, Todd, I confess I’m on the bubble. There was some interesting action, but there were also stretches of backstory. I’ll watch a couple more episodes before I make my decision. But I do like Maggie Q as Nikita.
If Fonda married Elfman she’s probably been duped into joining the Scientology Organized Crime Family. Poor fool.
Maybe that’s why she’s dropped off the radar, Bob.
We recorded it but haven’t watched it yet, George.
Thanks Todd for confirming the dress thing. It’s Perabo’s boss, played by Kari Matchett, who always dresses like she’s on the way to a cocktail party. She is still affectionately known in this household as “Evil Lisa” (so named by Dave Barry), for her turn as Powers Boothe’s mistress on 24.
I’ve always liked “Evil Lisa,” Jeff. Powers Boothe…not so much.
As we were watching NIKITA last night, I kept thinking, “I’ve seen every bit of business and heard every line of dialogue a thousand times before.” Then the twist at the end caught me by surprise. It wasn’t stunningly original, but I wound up interested enough to watch another few episodes, at least.
I had the same reaction that you had, James. Standard spy format, but with a few interesting wrinkles. I’m going to continue watching to see if NIKITA develops some originality.
I agree with you guys. About three-quarters of the way through Jackie asked why we were bothering but then the twist at the end made it much more interesting. We’ll definitely give it another couple of weeks to see where it goes.
Without that twist at the end, I would have stopped watching NIKITA, Jeff. Most of it was pure formula.