The Outer Limits series will not be remakes for the most part, though
I hear they may consider one or two. Demon will definitely not be among
them. I had great hopes for OL, because I'd like to see some good SF
being done on cable, but I don't think so...first, they dumped Joe Stefano
and Leslie Stevens, froze them out of the show, pretty cold thing to do
to the producer/writers who created the thing (legal maneuvering now
complete, I understand, and they'll finally get their proper credit on
the show)...Michael Cassutt finally bolted from the show as primary
writer/producer a while ago, wanting nothing more to do with it....

When B5 went on hiatus over the summer, the new OL team -- the same
people who brought you Space Rangers -- called me in to become a consultant
or producer on the show, even though they knew it'd mean dividing my time
(which was why consultant was better). I met with them, and saw a
breakdown of the stories they were planning to do. I can't remember the
last time I was so completely appalled. I felt I could have nothing to
do with the show in any way, manner, shape or form; I felt they had NO
understanding of what the Outer Limits was supposed to be.

Here's just ONE example of the stories they were putting forth (and
I feel that I can quote this one because I know it didn't get used, for
the singular reason that Cassutt, when he came aboard, insisted that it
NOT be done, having the same horrified reaction that I did. But it's
nonetheless emblematic of the rest of the stories.

A guy's hang-gliding. Caught by a wind, he rises higher and higher
until he passes out from lack of oxygen. Comes to descending toward a
military base. He's captured by American soldiers, put in a cell...and
in the cell across from him...is John F. Kennedy, who *didn't* die when
the assassin's bullet hit his head. He was cryogenically suspended until
he could be fixed up. Now this has been done, but Kennedy insists that
they won't release him. Together, the two manage to escape...at which
point the guy discovers that the reason that they had him in a cell was
that Kennedy came through the surgery a homicidal maniac determined to
destroy the world...and now it falls to this guy to kill Kennedy a
second time.

Go ahead...guess what the guys' last name just *happens* to be.

Yep. Oswald.

I told the producers, "If you do this story, the entire american
viewing public will descend upon your offices, drag you out into the
street, slap two telephone poles together and crucify you. And I will
personally hand them the nails."

So we'll see...I don't know how much Cassutt was able to deter them
from their path, especially since he bolted, which means he probably
wasn't able to do much. I'll take a look at it, because hope endures in
the face of reason...but I think this is gonna be problematic.

jms