By RODNEY HO/ rho@ajc.com, originally filed Friday, July 1, 2016
Film companies love shooting sequels in Atlanta e.g. "Guardians of the Galaxy 2," "Anchorman 2," "Dumb and Dumber Too," "Divergent," "Hunger Games."
We're getting TV revivals, too. Atlanta recently received the "24" reboot on Fox debuting this fall. Now the metro area has picked up its first CBS scripted show to date: a 2016 version of "MacGyver." The original series aired from 1985 to 1992 on ABC and starred Richard Dean Anderson as the resourceful federal agent who had a knack using ordinary objects to solve serious problems.
On Thursday, I saw a casting call for the show and made a call to Ric Reitz, an actor who helped come up with the current tax credit structure that has enabled all this business to come to Georgia. He confirmed the news.
The pilot, starring 25-year-old Lucas Till ("X Men") as MacGyver, was not shot in Atlanta but has been scrapped. They are prepping to re-do the pilot over again, presumably here. Till remains, along with George Eads, formerly of "CSI."
Till grew up in Atlanta and graduated Kell High School in 2008.
"MacGyver" is set to air this fall on Fridays at 8 p.m. The premiere date is Sept. 23.
According to EW.com, James Wan - director of "The Conjuring" and "Furious 7" - will take over the reshoot of the pilot.
So far, three new broadcast dramas will be shot in Atlanta starting this summer. On top of "24: Legacy" and "MacGyver," Fox is prepping "Star" about three up-and-coming female singers by Lee Daniels of "Empire" fame.
Just for kicks, here are a couple of classic moments from the original "MacGyver":
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