The MASSIVE problem with Beggerman, Thief was that it followed a character that they totally excised from the original RMPM series: Rudy and Tom's sister Gretchen. She was the main focus of the adaptation of Beggerman, Thief. (Played, I believe, by the incomparable Jean Simmons, who still couldn't save it). I also recall that Lynn Redgrave was cast as Tom's widow--she couldn't have been more different from Kay Lenz, who played the part in the original. (Plus, she was quite a bit older than Lenz, I think).
These kind of event series don't happen anymore because of streaming. I remember SO clearly the reaction to RMPM--EVERYONE talked about it, it was water cooler talk, it was high school lunch room talk, it was college dorm room talk, it was a BIG freakin' deal. So you had an extremely large audience who experienced a different story from what was in the original book.
Sure, RMPM II was a flop, (poor writing and the absence of Nick Nolte being major factors, IMO) but at least it had a connection to the original with many of the original actors.
So it didn't matter if it was a faithful or even good adaptation of the book sequel--the only way Beggarman, Thief could have worked would have been if they had remade the original WITH Gretchen as a major character. Of course, they weren't going to do that.
Whoever at the network made the decision to greenlight Beggarman, Thief just really didn't think the whole thing through. It was a disaster.
By
DeeVee ·
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