There is a recent trend happening with television shows. It is the “what was old is now new again” trend. I am of course referring to the current slate of previously canceled shows being revived and revamped. In the past year, the green light has been lit for the return of NBC’s once cult hit, Heroes, FOX’s 90’s smash The X-Files and 80’s cult classic Twin Peaks. Production has also recently started on Fuller House, a spin-off of 90’s family sitcom Full House, which launched Mary Kate and Ashley Olson onto the world. The Disney Channel has also enjoyed recent success with Girl Meets World, a spinoff of Boy Meets World that focuses on Cory and Topanga’s 14-year old daughter. And now comes word that a Fresh Prince of Bel-Air remake may be in the works, produced by Will Smith himself. What is going on? Has the well of creativity and fresh ideas completely dried up?
I mean on some level, I get it. There is a nostalgia factor and more importantly, the name recognition factor with revamping a once beloved show. The truth is, hundreds of pilot scripts get sent to networks and out of those, only a handful get green-lit and of those, in a crowded sea of other freshmen shows and returning favorites, only a very few make it through one season. Many really amazing shows have fallen to the wayside because viewers aren’t even aware it exists and the audience is simply not there. So I certainly understand the appeal of reviving something that was beloved and popular once before and therefore a proven hit. I imagine in the minds of network executives, a revamp or spin-off of a once loved and popular show at least guarantees many will know about it and will at least be willing to give it a chance, if for nothing else, curiosity’s sake.
However I find that the trend reeks a little of laziness. No need to come up with something new and original or take a chance on something different and creative and outside the box, when it is much easier to fall back on what worked once before. Do not get me wrong, I certainly understand nostalgia. However, that is why networks like TV Land, Nick at Nite and Cozi TV exist. For those times when we want to curl up with some ice-cream or hot chocolate and revisit and in some cases discover those once beloved characters and their stories. That certainly does not mean there is a need to have those same characters resurrected and revisited in 2015.
Truthfully, I hold the maybe unpopular opinion that no show, no matter how successful and popular, should run for more than six (maybe seven but not more than that) seasons. Particularly when talking about Primetime network shows which typically average 20-24 episodes a season. After six seasons, that’s 144 episodes and I feel that by that point, the writers have told all the stories that needed to be told with these characters and it is time to let them go. Especially as the quality of the writing starts to suffer at this point. So I see absolutely no point in resurrecting characters that already ran for way more than six seasons. It just feels a little like, “what’s the point?”
Finally, I hold the opinion that while some shows worked for the time and era they were released in, those same characters and stories may not really fit in today’s culture and instead the result is likely to be a bit of an awkward mess. We saw this with the very unnecessary recreation of Beverly Hills 90210, titled simply 90210 and the even more disappointing Melrose Place recreation. While the former show did run for five seasons, it never enjoyed the popularity or cultural resonance that the original BH 90210 did and spent many of those five seasons barely hanging on from inevitable cancellation. What made BH 90210 special and made it work in the 90’s when it debuted, simply did not fit in 2008. The audience had already moved on and even other teen shows that premiered earlier and exploded had started to struggle or had already been cancelled, like The O.C. and One Tree Hill.
Now at the risk of sounding like a hypocrite, I do think revisiting and recreating a show premise can work. I am talking about shows that had a wonderful or really cool premise but perhaps due to poor casting, poor writing, network drama or even a combination of all, just did not work out like it could have and likely was canceled after one season. I can understand networks taking a chance again on the premise but with a different cast, different writers, etc. I think that strategy has the ability to yield some very interesting and exciting shows that perhaps previously did not get a chance to truly shine like it could have.
As I said, I get the strategy behind returning to the well of formerly successful and once beloved shows, but it just feels like a lazy strategy to me and one that I don’t think has proven to be successful enough for how much it’s currently being used. One of my favorite parts of looking forward to the Fall television season is one, having my favorite shows return and two, discovering new shows with new and interesting premises. I don’t want to see a collection of shows that I already saw in another time and place with simply an older version of the original characters. No matter the efforts to make it fresh and new, it still for me personally, feels old and dated. I want to be wowed by a concept and idea I haven’t heard or seen before. And simply repainting over what was old, does not accomplish that.
PoPnOgR@PhY 