6 for 2! 6 for 2!

First the bad news, AMC is remaking The Prisoner. And it's going to star the guy who played the son o' God in Mel Gibson's torture porn epic about how the evil Jews killed Jesus. I know. Ick.

Now for the good news, AMC on Demand is running the original series before the new abomination hits the airwaves. For those of you who are not familiar with The Prisoner, it was the epitome of 1960's conspiracy cool. It was a show about a spy, referred to only as #6, who resigns one day, gets gassed by a mysterious group, and then wakes up in a village that he can't escape from. Everything in the village is tightly controlled by the people in charge. Of course #6 tries to break out and be free from the insidious village and of course the agency in charge tries to keep him contained inside the village. It's all very symbolic and yet it's a very engagingly hip well told story. I remember watching it when I was a kid. My older brother Charlie loved it and when he deigned to let me watch it with him I was happy as a clam. Until that big white killer balloon thingy was unleashed that is, then I'd get scared and run off to find Mom.

If you have digital cable you can find it on your 'On Demand' channel. Or you can rent the series DVD. Either way I recommend the original with Patrick McGoohan and that's the one I'll be watching again. I'll give the one with the dude who played Jesus a pass and I'll forgive him for fucking it up when he inevitably does.