Now that we’ve talked about movie franchises we’d like to see rebooted (or not), let’s bring the discussion to the small screen. Because whether we like it or not, TV keeps going back to the rerun graveyard to remake old shows; this season, we’ll see new takes on 90210, Knight Rider, Cupid, and maybe The Streets of San Francisco. Such remakes have a poor track record, notes TV Week columnist Josef Adalian, citing such second-time’s-not-the-charm flops as Bionic Woman, Night Stalker, Family Affair, and Fantasy Island. Still, hope must spring eternal in the heart of every TV exec whose seen the rapturous fan response to the reinvented Battlestar Galactica (pictured), so as long as they’re going to keep trying, Adalian offers his list of shows actually ripe for a revival, including Married With Children, Quantum Leap, Eight Is Enough, and Good Times.
I find it hard to add to Adalian’s list because it’s difficult to imagine contemporary actors improving on the iconic roles we associate with earlier stars’ indelible performances. (How could you watch, say, a new M*A*S*H without constantly comparing the new stars unfavorably to Alan Alda, Jamie Farr, and Gary Burghoff?) The way to do it, I think, is to do what Galactica’s creators did: take a second-tier show to which viewers have much less of an emotional attachment, add first-tier writers, and reimagine it radically. A show like Buck Rogers in the 25th Century might benefit from this approach. Or One Day at a Time; let Valerie Bertinelli play Barbara Cooper again, now all grown up, only now, she’s the one who’s a divorced mother of two teenage girls.
Your turn, PopWatchers: Which shows are ripe for reinvention as new TV series? And which should the networks keep their grubby paws off of?
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Just a few off the top of my head:
Small Wonder
The A-Team (with Michael Clark Duncan as B.A.)
Misfits of Science
Who’s the Boss
The Fall Guy
Don’t touch:
ALF
Taxi
Six Million Dollar Man
Columbo
“Alien Nation” would make for a good reboot in the paranoid age of terrorism. Sci-Fi could use it to fill the Battlestar Galactica void.
After yesterday, I recommend bringing back Sledgehammer.
However, the best option for a re-boot show is one that there were plans for at one time — MacGyver.
Spiderman – I think there was a really bad live version in the late 70’s.
I would normally not recommend messing with something so perfect, but what about letting My So Called Life get a fair shake this time. Sure, Claire Danes couldn’t star in it, but I’m sure there is some other desperately melancholy teen out there ready to sink their teeth into a meaty role. What ever happened to shows featuring normal teens? Why do they all have to be filthy rich and over-sexed? Something a little more realistic would be nice.
I’d like to see I dream of Jeannie rebooted, but with role reversals ala BSG. Let a man play the eye candy and the woman be the astronaut. I know this show has fans, but I never loved it like I did Bewitched. I think it would make a passable reboot.
oohhh… I have another one… How about Fame. They could use all of the cast-off dancers from So You Think You Can Dance. I say lets cast Mark and Katee first.
‘Eight is Enough’; Isn’t it reinvented as ‘Jon and Kate plus eight’?
“Friday the 13th: The Series”. A great anthology show that had NOTHING to do with Jason. Was a great horror show with a new cursed item being sought each week. Would love it back on the air!
I can’t be the only one who’s been waiting around for 15 years for “Dinosaurs” or “Herman’s Head” to return to the air. They were clearly such great ideas the first time around.
Seriously though, the show that comes to my mind first is a little unconventional. I think “Where in the World in Carmen Sandiego?” is poised for a huge comeback. There are no gameshows for little geography nerds to turn to anymore. The show made it cool to know where La Paz is. Nowadays, being American and knowing that gets you stoned. Believe me. It’s well-documented.
Aw, “Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?” would be awesome! I used to love that show! Too bad Lynn Thigpen isn’t around to be the Chief anymore, though. Rockapella can reprise their goofy role, though. “Dinosaurs” was good, too. I remember several episodes/quotes pretty clearly…”Not the mama!” and the one where they try to send the mother-in-law to the tar pit or whatever come to mind.
Oops, “Lynne”.
Ok, this time I’m actually serious. I think “Night Court” and “Dear John” are both possibilities. I don’t think you’d have to tweak “Night Court” too much. It’d probably be fine if it was close to the original. The stupid crimes would obviously be a lot more up to date (i.e. Internet scams, Myspace tampering). As for “Dear John,” there’d be a lot of leeway here. It wouldn’t have to be a divorcee support group, but it’d have to center around some kind of support group. The only show I can think of that tried this premise recently was that FX show “Starved” that premiered along “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.” It never made it through its first season, but I think that premise can be successful in the right hands.
Two words: Melrose. Place.
http://moviemartin.blogspot.com/2008/08/nostalgia-pt.html
And people wonder why I constantly condemn the movie and TV industry! Have all fresh and original ideas become extinct? I truly feel sorry for those newcomers who are trying to get noticed in an industry that won’t give them the time of day! Why have people become so content to have everything they’ve ever seen on TV and the screen re-invented, re-imagined, re-booted or whatever other kind of bullsh*t “re” word the entertainment industry chooses to deceive us with.
You know, every time TV and movie watchers help to make all of this recycled material successful, they just continue to prove to these Hollywood executive pimps that they (the watchers) are nothing but their whores!
I’m glad someone else loved “Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?” In all honesty, it would be kind of cool if it came back in soem form, but it probably never will.
By the way, a reboot of “Married with Children” sounds like a terrible idea. Ed O’Neill was way too iconic in that role. I’d only support the idea if they promised to hire David Faustino as a stagehand so that he could afford to buy 2 square meals a day.
I loved ‘Out of This World’ or ‘Small Wonder’ so much as a kid, and they have such potential to be made into something deeper and more compelling. After all, isn’t ‘Small Wonder’ just the ’80s version of ‘A.I.’?
I would love to see “The Wild, Wild, West” with Casper Van Dien as James West and John Billingsly as Artemus Gordan. Because- it would be way better than Wil Smith, cheap to do-You just need effects for the weapons or plot device, and they could cover how the Pinkertons and Secret Service started in the 1800s. Please Sci-Fi Channel? At least a TV Movie?
I think reworks of 70ies British gems The Professionals, Space: 1999 and most of all The Persuaders! would be great. Especially if some of the web rumors were true and The Persuaders! would indeed be remade starring George Clooney as Danny Wilde and Hugh Grant as Lord Brett Sinclairs (and the producers will finance this exactly how?).
The BBC sci fi series The Tripods
Does anyone remember “Quark” from the 70’s staring Richard Benjamin? Weird and wonderful. I’d love to see it again. This was made for Steve Carell.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077066/
OMG!! I would love to see “Where in The World is Carmen Sandiego?” back on TV screens again. What a great choice for reinvention. I’d also like to see some iteration of “Double Dare” also back on the screen.
As for scripted series, can someone re-invent The A-Team? Stay away from stuff like Dallas or Dynasty or Melrose Place. I’m still upset they’re going through with the remake of Knight Rider. They’ve bastardized the entire show and will ruin my memories of the old series with David Hasselhoff.
SPORTS NIGHT!!!
I could also get behind “Night Court” or “Perfect Strangers.”
Totally behind “Where in the World is Carmen San Diego?” I used to watch that all the time!
There used to be a great show on PBS called “Ghostwriter” that I watched every day after school. It was about a group of kids solving mysteries with the help of a ghost that could only communicate with them in writing. It got kids to read and taught them about organizing their thoughts.
Would also love to see an updated “Are You Afraid of the Dark?” C’mon, who doesn’t love telling scary stories around a campfire? I totally wanted to be a part of the Midnight Society!
“Ghostwriter” retooled would be AMAZING! (Though the original had cameos by Spike Lee and Samuel L. Jackson, so I don’t know how you can improve upon that…)
Can we please retool “Mathnet?”
Manimal.
If V is headed to the movies than I have one show that I would love to see return: THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN.
I’ve been re-watching Dallas and rather than remake the show with the same characters/different cast, I think the show would work as a “next generation” type restart, like they’re doing with 90201. While I’ll admit there will never be a character as good as J.R. (or a performance as good as Larry Hagman’s), I still think it could work, especially since oil is back in the news again. The dynamic could be the same as the original, now with Bobby’s and J.R.’s sons this time. Have them duke it out for Ewing Oil and have some of the original cast comeback too.
It could be fun. Or at least better than that rumored Dallas movie.
Moonlighting.
There’s only one person who can write Maddie and David as we love them (Glenn Gordon Caron) and only Cybill and Bruce can play these characters. And since we never got a satisfying ending, and the two stars actually want to reprise their roles, why not, really? The chemistry is still very much there, and a revamped and mature Moonlighting will make everyone else run for their money.