If you're a television historian, or just have a good memory of popular programming, you might know the name "Ironside." The role was originally played by long time star of "Perry Mason," actor Raymond Burr, who played the title role, Robert T. Ironside, a veteran police officer who got paralyzed on the job when a sniper shot his lower spine and made him a paraplegic. That original series was set in San Francisco and ran from 1967 to 1975. Most notable was the series theme music, composed by the great Quincy Jones.
If nothing else, the original "Ironside" did a lot to focus on better accessibility for society, something that was severely needed and was a positive for everyone... for example, having sidewalk curbs that dip down to meet the street at corners where crosswalks are, of course benefitted those in wheelchairs, but also helped people who were pushing baby carriages or carts with laundry or groceries. When we improve life for those that need that help the most, we are improving life for all.
In 2013, the character of Robert T. Ironside was reimagined as a NYPD cop, and the role was taken by Blair Underwood. Interestingly, when the original series began, Raymond Burr was about 50 years old. But 50 in 1967 years is totally different from 50 in 2013, as Mr. Underwood was also about the same age as Mr. Burr was when his series debuted.
Underwood's version of Ironside was an act first, base your actions on your gut feeling and let the chips fall where they may kind of cop. He wasn't above pressuring suspects, even brutalizing them at times, if that's what it took to get the results needed to solve the case. Of course, this didn't sit well with Ironside's boss, Captain Ed Rollins, played by Kenneth Choi. PR nightmares, bad press, questionable police tactics and borderline civil rights offenses were left for Captain Rollins to mop up as Ironside's crusade to clean up the streets relentlessly continued.
One controversy the show faced was the fact that an able-bodied actor was playing the role. This was a time when Hollywood was finally beginning to focus on giving parts to people who were appropriate for the character, and why wouldn't or couldn't an actual differently abled actor be cast? The answer was that the show featured flashbacks to Ironside's past, before he was shot, and those scenes had the character ambulatory, as a matter of course.
Ironside's hand picked team included Virgil (Pablo Schreiber), Nate (Jake Picking) and Holly (Spencer Grammer) who were all busy with research on cases, to acquire the intel needed to find the bad guys, but also doing the necessary leg work with Ironside out in the field to track and capture these suspects and bring them to justice.
The problem was that this version of "Ironside," didn't do much to advance the needs of the disabled, the way the original series managed, and often the actions and elements of the plots all but ignored the issues that Ironside faced when it came to his limitations. Underwood's Ironside came off as brash, borderline obsessive and willing to cross the line to get the job done, and that may have offended some viewers of the series.
New York played a part because of the media, the crime, the history of policing in The City and the demands on the members of the force were magnified through the lens of one who had to deal with a problem most cops did not have.
The greatest criticism the show had was that the lead character wasn't presented as a reasonable and reputable police officer, often "going rogue" or reacting rather than thinking. The show also received low marks for its handling of Ironside's disability and how it wasn't always a realistic portrayal of someone with that challenge.
In the end, this remake could never replace the original, but is an interesting curio on the list of rebooted shows that were changed drastically from their source material.
