X

Reboots, Reboots, and More Reboots

If you’ve looked at the TV Guide recently, you may have felt like you were in a time warp. The schedule seems to have reboots of so many shows we used to watch in the 60’s, 70’s, 80’s, and even 90’s. I guess Peter Allen was right, “Everything Old is New Again“. In the past few years, you could watch updated versions of:

  • Battle of the Network Stars
  • Dallas
  • Ducktales
  • Dynasty
  • Full House
  • Hawaii Five-O
  • In Search Of…
  • Lost In Space
  • Love Connection
  • MacGyver
  • Match Game
  • MST3K
  • One Day at a Time
  • Roseanne
  • Sigmund and the Sea Monsters
  • The $100,000 Pyramid
  • The Gong Show
  • The Joker’s Wild
  • The X-Files
  • Thunderbirds
  • To Tell the Truth
  • Twin Peaks
  • Voltron
  • and more…

Apparently, Hollywood no longer has any original ideas or just wants to milk the established fans of old shows for all they’re worth. The number of shows based on original ideas are far outnumbered by the dozens and dozens of reboots. And they just keep coming! In the works are updated versions of:

  • ALF
  • Amazing Stories
  • Bewitched
  • Cagney & Lacey
  • Double Dare
  • The Facts of Life
  • Fame
  • Fantasy Island
  • Frasier
  • Hart to Hart
  • The Jetsons
  • King of the Hill
  • Kung Fu
  • Magnum PI
  • Miami Vice
  • The Munsters
  • Murphy Brown
  • Name That Tune
  • She-Ra
  • The Twilight Zone
  • and more…

Some of these reboots have been scrapped and we’re probably better off for it. Scrapped reboots include The Greatest American Hero, The A-Team, Get Christie Love!, The Honeymooners, Law & Order, Mad About You, Starsky & Hutch, Tales From the Crypt, and Xena: Warrior Princess. It was also rumored that Norman Lear was considering reboots of All in the Family, The Jeffersons, Maude and Good Times. He has since debunked those rumors.

Part of the charm of all of these shows was that they were products of their time, time capsules that defined a generation. The magic that made them what they are can’t be recaptured because time marches on. Any reboot has big shoes to fill since there is already an expectation with fans of what the show should be. In essence, they’re kind of sequels with different casts. As we all know, sequels are rarely as good as the originals. And Hollywood can’t help making changes just for the sake of change, ruining the dynamics between characters, changing backstories, obliterating established canon, and angering classic tv fans.

As it is, the only reboot I would even consider watching is Amazing Stories. Since it was an anthology series, there was no regular cast. I think it has a better chance of succeeding with fans because characters and actors aren’t being replaced. It can be fresh and new with little baggage.

What do you think about all the reboots? Are you looking forward to some? Do you dread the onslaught of more reboots? Vote in our poll below.

Loading ...
Join our Newsletter!

Sign up and get our latest content straight to your email inbox.

You have Successfully Subscribed!

Categories: News
The Keeper:

This website uses cookies.