Thomas Edison Getting Rebooted, Crime-Fighting Style

Thomas EdisonThe original Thomas Edison wasn’t bad, you know? He invented the light bulb, he had a cool middle name, he beefed with Tesla — all good stuff. The thing is, he’s been dead for almost 83 years. And you know what that means? It means we’re long overdue for a slick, fast-cut, powerfully-historically-inaccurate Edison reboot! Yes, really: NBC is now developing Edison, a crime drama that revolves around young Thomas as a crime fighter. If this all turns out to be an elaborate prank Bob Greenblatt is pulling, we sincerely apologize. For now, though, we must assume everything you are about to read is real.

From Deadline:

In the show’s fictional storyline, Edison, already America’s greatest inventor, works as a secret consultant to the under-trained and under-equipped New York Police force. Edison, aka the original Tony Stark, uses his inventor instincts and retro-cool devices to deconstruct crime scenes and pioneer new technology. The period show is expected to have a modern sensibility, energy and tone evocative of the Guy Ritchie Sherlock Holmes films.

Is Thomas Edison going to break a light bulb over a guy’s face in the first episode? Is Thomas Edison going to break a light bulb over a guy’s face in the first episode?

Filed Under: NBC

Amos Barshad has written for New York Magazine, Spin, GQ, XXL, and the Arkansas Times. He is a staff writer for Grantland.

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