If Hollywood studios are going to comb through their attics for old properties that can be relaunched as feature film franchises, they might do well to search for little-remembered TV series better known for a catchy concept (say, a squad of youthful cops who go undercover as high school students) or for its status as a cultural footnote (let’s say, for the sake of argument, it gave Johnny Depp’s career its original launch) than for the show itself.
Only a relatively small die-hard audience remembers “21 Jump Street,” the cop drama, which aired on the nascent FOX network from 1987 to 1991.