Issue: January 24, 2026

Do ya remember back when they used to make teevee shows outta movies that had just come out? I don’t mean like what happened with Fargo or Hannibal, which were based on things that’d been around for a while, or any of these “Marvel Cinematic Universe” shows. Nah, I mean more like the shows M*A*S*H or The Odd Couple or Alice, ones that came out just a year or two after the movie came out & they weren’t based on some kinda long-running franchise or whatever.

Another example I can think of is what 1980 comedy that starred Goldie Hawn as the titular military recruit?

Do ya happen to remember Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank, that martial arts comedy that came out a few years back? It was set in a feudal Japan type place where most everyone’s a cat – ’cept for the main character, a beagle dog named Hank, who wants to be a samurai. I never saw it but it sounds ... fine? It sounds fine.

Well, apparently it’s actually based on what ’70s comedy that’s also got a historical setting – just one that’s about 6,000 miles & 600 years separated from Paws of Fury?