David Mamet May Helm Reboot of ‘Have Gun

Reboots are not exclusively contained to the movie world, as we can see by recent upgrades of venerable TV shows like 'Hawaii 5-0' and '90210.' Now CBS is looking to remake one of its oldest and most successful Western shows -- with David Mamet in charge.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, the network wants to launch a new version of 'Have Gun - Will Travel,' which originally ran on CBS from 1957 to 1963 for a total of 225 episodes. The show starred Richard Boone as Paladin, a refined, well-educated, gentlemanly resident of San Francisco who enjoyed good food, the opera and fine clothes -- yet dressed in black and carried a gun, which he only used when absolutely necessary, whenever hired (usually every week) to solve someone's problem.

The hit show landed in the ratings top five for the first four of its six seasons and was also spun off into a radio show -- a rarity in the days when it usually went the other way around. Many episodes of the program were written by a pre-'Star Trek' Gene Roddenberry.

With TV Westerns on the upswing again -- NBC and Fox are also developing frontier projects -- CBS has hired Mamet, the Pulitzer-winning playwright, screenwriter and director behind plays and movies like 'Glengarry Glen Ross,' 'Wag the Dog' and 'The Untouchables,' to pen a pilot script for a new 'Have Gun.'

Mamet will also executive produce and direct the pilot, if it's given the green light, and will serve as executive producer if a series is ordered. This isn't Mamet's first time doing that gig for CBS, since he also worked for the network on the series 'The Unit.'

Does the idea of David Mamet running a new Western series based on an old classic sound enticing enough for you to tune in?