Nicholas Sparks has made millions of dollars writing predictable emotion-porn that inevitably gets made into terrible movies; examples include A Walk to Remember, Nights in Rodanthe, Message in a Bottle, Dear John, and The Notebook (which is less crappy but only because Rachael MacAdams and Ryan Gosling are considerably better than, say, Miley Cyrus and Channing Tatum). Anyway, good news for women who like petting their cats and crying: ABC has purchased a drama concept from Sparks called “The Watchers,” the plot of which Sparks shamelessly lifted from the atrocious City of Angels.
The project revolves around the Archangel Raphael, who after spending centuries as a Watcher and invisibly providing support to humans in the time of need, decides to cut off his wings out of love for Sarah, a mortal woman, so that he can truly be with her for the rest of her days.
When Sarah’s life is cut short, Rafe is left to wander the Earth solo as a fallen angel. Dependent on the kindness of strangers and hunted by angels from above and below, Rafe travels undercover, performing miracles as he searches for the meaning of loss and clues to Sarah’s fate. [THR]
Seriously, it’s the EXACT SAME THING as City of Angels (or the European original, Wings of Desire). That’s how Hollywood works. If you’re famous and rich enough, you can just take other people’s ideas and say they’re your own. The only thing worse than an unnecessary remake is a plagiarized unnecessary remake packaged as something original.
