Broadcast History
After the success of the movie The Warriors, Hollywood looked to take the youth gang concept and market it to TV. In 1981, Swayze did a TV show, Return of the Rebels, about an aging motorcycle gang who get together to help a friend who owns a popular campground that is being threatened by a band of arrogant groupies. However the show didn't catch on and was quickly canceled.
Brother team Lawrence and Charles Gordon tried to market Swayze's rebel look, combine the gang concept with a police angle and came up with The Renegades. It too didn't do well and due to weak rating ABC pulled the show. The cancellation didn't hurt the people behind the camera. Director Roger Spottiswoode, screenwriter Steven E. de Souza, and producers Lawrence and Charles Gordon went on to make 48 Hrs.. The Gordon brothers and Mr. de Souza went on to create the Die Hard franchise. Lawerence served as President of 20th Century Fox from 1984 to 1986. The brothers then formed Largo Entertainment, which was backed by the Japanese company JVC. This was revolutionary as it was the first time a Japanese company had seriously invested in a film enterprise.
Read more about this topic: The Renegades
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