"Paper Moon"--the TV show....HORRIFYING!
If you want to see a perfect example of how Hollywood (of the 1970's) took a hit movie and tried to cash-in by throwing together a cheap-jack "sit-com," version of it, go to YouTube and seek out the "pilot episode" (if this link doesn't take you there): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ix9hXtbiLD4&t=144s It's as if no one from the production team even saw the original film (from the year before--1973). First of all, it's in color..cheap, poorly-lit color, at that. Cast as "Moze" is the now-forgotten Christopher Connally--who seems to be doing a pallid imitation of his former TV brother, Ryan O'Neal (they played brothers on the 60's melodrama, Peyton Place) and they bore a passing resemblance to one another. (I'll bet the proverbial "fly on the wall" in the pre-production meeting for the TV show would tell you that the producers said, "Well, we'll never get Ryan and Tatum to do the show...how about that guy that played his brother on Peyton Place...what's his name?"). After seeing Tatum O'Neal's career-defining performance as "Addie," seeing Jodie Foster try to play the role is just....wrong! As she's since proven, comedy is hardly her "forte"...and judging by this first episode (there were--mercifully--only 13 episodes before the plug was yanked on this fiasco), she was not convincing in her character. Not. At. All.
All one needs is to watch the first five minutes of the pilot, wherein Addie says to Moze, "Moze....I love you..". He responds, "I love you too, Addie!" What made the film Paper Moon the classic that it is today is that it scrupulously avoided such mawkish sentimentality. In fact, it's one of the least-sentimental films, ever! Such a syrupy exchange would have NEVER been allowed in the film version. The sets, costumes, title-fonts....EVERYTHING...simply screams "70's-Does-30's," with that awful, tinny, "faux 30's" soundtrack that was a staple of so many awful 1970's films and television shows, where they tried to "re-create" the style/look/sounds of the 1930's--and failed, miserably (think "Gable and Lombard," for instance). It is a style that is SO dated now...and painful to watch today.
It's an absolute misfire on every level...though still, it's fascinating for any Paper Moon fan to watch--if only briefly. And it certainly does point-up how brilliant the film was, by comparison.