Cupid (2009 remake)

"Love is passion. Love is heat, chemistry, sex." -Trevor, Roman god of love

That's just what this remake lacks. What the original Cupid had plenty of. Passion, heat, and chemistry at least. I love they tried to remake this show. It had a lot to offer, and the cult success of Veronica Mars could help creator Rob Thomas create some fresh interest in his first TV project's potential. It's just a bloody shame they crashed and burned casting.

Jeremy Piven was believable in the original role, and his passionate ways helped sell 'Cupid's point of view on love. And Paula Marshall was equally brilliant as his opposite, creating scenes that actually sparked on screen. The duo, and some great writing, was the original Cupid.

Bobby Cannavale is an awful cast as 'Cupid'. I never believe in his character. I don't believe anyone in the singles group would consider taking the advice from this guy. He's just too boring, and lacks the charisma needed. I like Sarah Paulson. She was great in Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, but she never manage to come across with the same grace and heartfelt convictions Marshall did a decade ago. It sure doesn't help she'll have to act of Cannavale, while Marshall had Piven, but she's not that convincing on her own either in scenes 'Cupid' isn't there.

The dynamic between the two leads was incredible in the original. In this remake it was quite honestly forgettable. The banter never sparks, their opposite views never come to life, they make me wish someone never hire that casting director again and worst of all; I notice the writing is actually good, but they can't bring life to it.

As mentioned reviewing the original, I never enjoyed the 'Champ' character there. Here they learned, and the two siblings hired to play supporting roles is much more convincingly played and spent. That was a good cast, and a great improvement on one of the originals few flaws.

The writing is also in many ways more polished, which makes it work well these days. It's more focused, while it keeps the banter and references. A shame they didn't have a duo to perform it. Also a shame they chose much of the material I disliked most from the original, to recycle here. 'The Linguist' was never my favorite, and I didn't enjoy a revisit. Overall this version somehow didn't attract as interesting guest stars either. Connie Britton, Lisa Loeb and Tiffany Thiessen among those I remember fondly from the original.

I applaud those who decided to pull the plug on this show, because Cannavale ruins the good writing. I'll rather remember the original and the intentions of the show, and who knows. Maybe a third one day sees the light with an equally good cast as the original duo.

Cupid

"You ever watch Fame? You know what I have in common with Bruno, Leroy and Coco? I'm going to live forever. What about you? You going to live forever? See, it would saturate my pleasure gland to rip your skin off and make ponchos for the kids. So keep your paws off my shrink here, because I'm a frustrated taxidermist and I'd love to go deep on you. We on the same team, butter bean?" -Cupid, Roman god of love

Back in 1998 Rob Thomas got his first TV show creation picked up, long before Veronica Mars, his writing on Dawson's Creek or anything else TV related. The show was about a man claiming to be 'Cupid', the Roman god of love, sent to earth as punishment, having to get hundred couples together without his trusted magical bow and arrows. Thrown in jail and skipped to a psychiatric hospital thanks to telling his story, he's faced with the psychiatrist, 'Dr. Claire Allen', who's assigned his case. He eventually fakes getting over being 'Cupid' and is released in her care, but immediately after released admits to her he's sticking to his cause of getting hundred couples together. Not only together casually or sexually or anything like that, as only 'true love in the eye of the gods' count towards his tally.

Jeremy Piven and Paula Marshall was cast as the leading duo in question, and their chemistry and abilities are undeniable. Both very much needed to pull off this kind of show. While 'Dr. Allen' works to figure out who this delusional 'Cupid' really is, our 'Cupid' works hard on getting couples together.

Paula Marshall as 'Dr.Claire Allen' and Jeremy Piven as 'Cupid'/'Trevor Hale'

The chemistry between our leading duo is a huge part of why this show worked so well. With two opposite views on matchmaking, as 'Cupid' was aiming for fire and 'Claire' for commonality, there's always something to disagree or argue about. Their relationship is evolving throughout the show, and to me this duo ranks quite high up there amongst TV show duos of all time.

The writing shows several signs of typical Rob Thomas thing to come in later works. His pop cultural as well as highbrow references, the dynamic banter and the general feel of the dialogues are all very similar to what I've come to love later in Veronica Mars, a show I've never made any attempts to hide my love for. Unfortunately the directions shown throughout the season, 14-15 episodes, Cupid got, also proved Thomas' lacked TV experience and good advise on this show.

I hated the 'Champ' character. He got way to much airtime, and was almost less important than 'Ms.Dent' in the earlier mentioned Veronica Mars were he did the same mistake. In Cupid the actor obviously had a lot longer contract than he should have had, as it had to be easy to spot for the writers they had very little useful to write him into.

There's a couple of other wrong directions chosen, but avoiding spoilers I'm not going to mention them here. And I'm looking to avoid spoilers, because I really recommend checking out the episodes made of this show. It's lighthearted and heartwarming at the same time, it's witty, the leading duo is great in every way and there's a lot of good guest stars attempted to be coupled up during the episodes. With this leading duo cast and a few changes, this show could really have become something amazing. Last year a remake was indeed launched as there was obvious more people than me spotting its potential, but the remake had other issues which I'll get back to in its review later.