For years, television viewers have been clamoring for a CBS crime procedural where the iconic Mark Twain characters Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn are adults who solve mysteries in modern-day St. Louis. “WHY?,” these aggrieved viewers have shouted to the heavens en masse, “WHY IS THERE NO CBS CRIME PROCEDURAL WHERE THE ICONIC MARK TWAIN CHARACTERS TOM SAWYER AND HUCKLEBERRY FINN ARE ADULTS WHO SOLVE MYSTERIES IN MODERN-DAY ST. LOUIS? WHAT MUST WE DO OR SAY, WHAT TRIBUTE OR SACRIFICE IS REQUIRED, TO MAKE THIS DREAM A REALITY? MUST WE BEG? MUST WE BLEED? TELL US.”
Well, if you were one of those tortured, reasonable souls, today is your lucky day: CBS and two writers from The Blacklist are developing a crime procedural, where the iconic Mark Twain characters Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn are adults who solve mysteries in modern-day St. Louis.
Sawyer & Huck is described as a reimagining of the iconic characters of Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn as adults in modern day America at a time that harkens back to the racial and class divides that inspired Mark Twain’s books. After a murder case brings them together in St. Louis, Tom Sawyer hires his previously estranged boyhood friend Huck Finn as an investigator for his floundering one-man legal firm and together they take on cases for people who don’t have anywhere else to turn.
Perhaps you read that summary and thought to yourself, “Hang on, this sounds an awful lot like Sherlock, but with American rascals instead of British misanthropes.” Which is fair. And maybe you’re a fan of the classic books and this — from the network that brought us CSI: Cyber and Zoo — just makes you feel icky and squeamish all over. But whatever your feelings, I’d ask you to keep them to yourself, at least until I can get my script about Jane Eyre entering the world of modern-day competitive dirtbike racing into the hands of someone at CBS. Gimme a week.
(Via Deadline)
