By John Jurgensen
Johnny Lawrence was supposed to be left in the 1980s with a kick
to the face at the end of "The Karate Kid." Instead, the movie's
former teen villain is one of the biggest things on television at
the center of "Cobra Kai," a streaming series that carries on the
"Karate Kid" tale with a mix of satire and sincerity.
"Cobra Kai" vaulted to No. 1 on Netflix's internal Top 10 chart
with the Jan. 1 release of its third season. After "Cobra Kai"
first hit Netflix last August, it spent two weeks as the
most-watched TV series on major streaming platforms, and spent five
weeks total in the top 10, according to Nielsen. Sony Pictures
Television, which produces the show, says "Cobra Kai" draws a
balance of young and older viewers that is rare among today's
diffuse TV audiences.
Johnny is an unlikely character to unite the masses in 2021. The
fictional beer-swilling sensei is clueless about computers and
social media. He's more interested in Ratt and other ancient rock
bands than the shifting social norms that rendered much of his
vocabulary obsolete, including an offensive word for coward. The
p-word is Johnny's go-to descriptor for wimpy trainees, light beer,
and even the unresponsive legs of a star pupil who got paralyzed in
a high-school "karate riot."
"People get to live vicariously through Johnny's ignorance of
the times. That's what's endearing about him," says William Zabka,
the actor who played Johnny in "Karate Kid" at age 18, and again at
age 55 in "Cobra Kai." "He's never heard the term 'cancel culture'
in his life. He's not informed about what you can say, what you
can't say. He's an artifact of the '80s."
In the quest to launch TV hits with cross-generational appeal,
producers are retrofitting vintage Hollywood stories with
contemporary context. In the works: "Bel-Air," a dramatic take on
the sitcom "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" for the Black Lives Matter
era. A new continuation of "Saved by the Bell," the comedic
high-school soap opera from the '90s, has gotten strong reviews on
Peacock for popping the bubble of privilege its characters once
existed in.
"Cobra Kai" takes the ham-handed Hollywood tropes of 1980s
movies and, as if executing some kind of risky martial-arts move,
attempts to flip them in a way that both honors and pokes fun at
"The Karate Kid."
The show is set three decades after the tournament that ended in
Johnny's defeat. He has a messy personal life and simmering
resentment against his former high-school foe, Daniel LaRusso. That
character, reprised by Ralph Macchio, is now a family man who
parlayed local karate stardom into success as a car dealer who
hands out bonsai trees to customers. In each 10-episode season, the
two middle-aged characters circle each other and train young karate
pupils who have alliances and showdowns of their own.
When Johnny scoffs at social-media beefs, or tells his students,
"show the world you're not a bunch of pansy ass nerds," viewers
from the "Karate Kid" generation might recognize a guy out of step
with the times; younger viewers get a comedic twist on the
influences that shaped their parents.
"We liked the idea that there is something in these lessons he
learned in the '80s -- the G.I. Joe, Rambo, Arnold Schwarzenegger
lessons -- that could maybe help some of these Gen-Z kids," says
executive producer Hayden Schlossberg, who created the show with
Josh Heald and Jon Hurwitz.
The producers, all in their early 40s, were previously known for
R-rated movies like "Hot Tub Time Machine" and the "Harold &
Kumar" comedies. They're longtime friends who bonded over their
love of "The Karate Kid," specifically the actor who also played
jocks and studs in other '80s movies such as "Back To School." "All
three of us were obsessed with Billy Zabka," Mr. Hurwitz says.
"I didn't realize the '80s was going to be this crystallized
decade and those things were going to stick for so long," says Mr.
Zabka, who had a role in "Hot Tub Time Machine."
"Cobra Kai" first premiered in 2018 as a flagship series for
YouTube, which commissioned the show's three seasons. After YouTube
pulled back on scripted originals, Netflix acquired "Cobra Kai,"
and has ordered a fourth season.
The "Karate Kid" lineage includes three '80s releases starring
Mr. Macchio, and later movies featuring Hilary Swank and Jaden
Smith. Over the years, various writers had pitched potential TV
adaptations, but those ideas only rehashed a familiar premise, says
Sony Pictures TV president Jeff Frost. He says "Cobra Kai" worked
because "it elevated the original story to another level without
deviating from its sensibility."
For one thing, in "Cobra Kai" the bullies get back stories that
explain why they act like relentless jerks. In the new season,
flashback scenes reveal that the franchise's biggest villain, a
glowering karate instructor with the credo "no mercy," was
misshapen by family trauma and a tormenting commander in the
Vietnam War. The writers say that kind of drama enables the show's
more absurd elements. Like when that same sensei, John Kreese
(played by Martin Kove), commands high-schoolers to wage war on
rival dojos in the San Fernando Valley, telling his teen henchmen,
"Prepare yourselves for combat. Only the strong survive."
"The major thing the audience needs to accept is that karate in
the Valley is like football in Texas," says Mr. Heald. "That one
little buy-in means we don't have to rack our brains saying, 'Is
this believable?' "
In the third season -- spoiler alert -- Johnny starts a new dojo
that he, true to form, dubs Eagle Fang. That opens the plot to a
three-way karate rivalry and new levels of teen combat and
melodrama.
Looking back, Mr. Zabka recalls his concerns during the filming
of the first season. The actor was protective of the legacy of "The
Karate Kid" as a family touchstone, and wanted his character to
redeem his infamy. "I had to let go of my micromanaging of what I
hoped he would turn out to be," he says.
He questioned the producers about bits like the p-word and the
overall tone of "Cobra Kai." "They assured me it was going to be
safe but funny but dramatic, but it was going to have action and
heart and nostalgia. Well, how is it going to be all of these
things?" he says. "In the end they balanced it out."
Write to John Jurgensen at john.jurgensen@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 06, 2021 12:24 ET (17:24 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2021 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX)
Historical Stock Chart
From Mar 2024 to Apr 2024
Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX)
Historical Stock Chart
From Apr 2023 to Apr 2024