Vince Vaughn New Show In Development As Well

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 Vince Vaughn Looks Poised For A Comeback

Word around the campfire is Vince Vaughn is currently developing an original series for television, alongside Lawrence Konner, whose writing credits include such shows as The Sopranos and Boardwalk Empire.  This news is hot on the heels that Vaughn is to star in a film version of the old James Garner P.I. show, The Rockford Files.  It’s looking like Vaughn is poised for a comeback that no one had been clamoring for, but after which everyone will be grateful for.

According to Deadline, the show is to be focused on “global private security operatives,” which I’m taking to either mean either balls-to-the-wall soldiers of fortune, or a buncha over-caffeinated guys in vans listening to a lot of hidden microphones.  Vaughn’s statement doesn’t do much to clear this ambiguity up: “This compelling yet secretive world we are exploring is one that most audiences don’t even know exists.  We’re excited to share its rich and heroic stories.”  “Compelling yet secretive” sounds like a high-end sorta domestic spy show; “Rich and heroic stories” sounds like black-ops.  But hey, it’s early yet.

The new series doesn’t even have a title yet, nor any casting, but I’d be very much surprised if Vaughn was putting this together for anyone else to star in.  He’s also producing alongside Peter “Ralphie from A Christmas Story” Billingsley, who is pretty tight with the Vince Vaughn/Jon Favreau mafia that’s been in effect since the late ’90s (Billingsley produced the first Favreau-directed Iron Man flick).  So don’t ask me why, exactly, but with Billingsley on board, this feels like a Vaughn vehicle.

And why the hell not?  If you’re anything like me and you hit your early 20s about 15 years ago, Vince Vaughn was the guy you wanted to be.  I know I and many of my friends attempted (and largely failed) to pattern our pick-up skills after Vaughn’s character in 1996′s Swingers.  Jon Favreau and he teamed up again in 2001′s Made, which just doubled my enjoyment of his work, Vaughn playing that sleazy sorta character he does so well, but this time in a full-on crime movie.  Of course, he played an even darker sleazeball in the mostly underrated Clay Pigeons, which featured a pre-nutball Joaquin Phoenix.  Be Cool, while technically a crime-y caper-y flick, is also technically a gigantic turd, but I will allow as Vaughn was well cast, if nothing else.  His character was pretty majorly overhauled from the book, if memory serves, but Vaughn went at it with his usual gusto, and the results were fair (which is more than I can say for the over-all film).

So if Vaughn is good in crap, then it only makes sense that he’ll be great in non-crap.  Here’s hoping a show like this goes to premium-cable; I mostly hate seeing film actors I like end up on networks.