rebooting TV shows
 

I was listening to The Sports Guy's podcast the other day and an idea was brought up about rebooting old tv shows with new casts. Hollywood already has been doing this with movies the past few years; why not television? I thought that this was an interesting especially since Battlestar Galactica was rebooted successfully. One of the ideas from that podcast was to remake Cheers and set it in Chicago. I know I wouldn't mind seeing what Cheers was all about since it was before my time. It would interesting to say the least although I'm sure all the fans of the original would yell blasphamey.

Any shows you would like to see rebooted?

Re: rebooting TV shows
 

It's been done quite a bit. Cheers itself actually began life as a reboot of Fawlty Towers.

Re: rebooting TV shows
 

They did it just this past season with Cupid....I liked the original, but never got around to watching the new version, even though my friend was in it.

The original version was really good...one of those shows that people bring up as being cancelled too soon, but I hear the remake wasn't too great.

Re: rebooting TV shows
 

Don't they already do this with a bunch of British shows, to varying levels of success?

I'm not sure the concept behind Cheers is all that unique, unless you're going to get other actors playing the same characters, in which case it would be awful.

Re: rebooting TV shows
 

You must be way out of the loop. It's been going on already.

Knight Rider (NBC)----Cancelled
Bionic Woman (NBC)----Cancelled
Eleventh Hour (CBS)--Remake of British show---Cancelled
Life on Mars (ABC)----Remake of British show----Cancelled
Flash Gordon (SyFy)----Cancelled

The only "reboot or remake" that has had any success was Battlestar and not that's over.

Re: rebooting TV shows
 

The Office?

All in the Family?

Re: rebooting TV shows
 

Forgot about The Office.

I actually meant recent reboots/remakes.

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I think a lot of remakes also go to the feature movie route as well. Th Brady Bunch, Flintstones, Miami Vice (soon A-Team) and on and on.

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Oh, and just go watch Cheers on DVD. I grew up with Frasier, but Cheers I think is the better of the two shows (love 'em both).

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i grew up on cheers and cant even watch it. frasier kicks its ass.

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I second the motion to just rent Cheers. No reboot will come close to it.

Wasn't Coupling (NBC) a remake as well?

90210 and Melrose Place are a couple of recent examples as well.

Re: rebooting TV shows
 

If you are going to reboot a show, you have to go with the advice of Michael Caine on movie remakes...remake a flop and you can only go up. The remakes that were previously listed (and canceled) were all of successful shows. The only successful remake was Battlestar Galactica, and for all purposes and intents, the original series was a flop. It had a cult following, but still a flop. That's why it worked better than the other remakes listed already.

(The exception may be the Office, but I think the timing was exactly right on that. The British series was just starting to get attention over here when that premiered so it hadn't become that big of a success here yet. Just my humble opinion...there are always exceptions to the rule.)

I'd like to see a reboot of The Man From U.N.C.L.E.. The first two seasons of the original were decent, but the third season devolved into 60's Batman type camp and ruined it. I'd LOVE to see a reboot of this since it failed early on for stupid reasons out of the control of the creators of the show.

I've said it in other threads and I will say it again... Space: 1999. I found the original episodes to be consistently more enjoyable than the original run of Star Trek, but season two tried to get more into action type stories than the more cerebral scripts that made season one so great. I know the reboot couldn't have the same title, but I'd love to see a reboot nonetheless.

The Critic. What is Jon Lovitz doing these days? Bring back this show...there are more stories to tell and always movies to parody and satire.

While on that topic...Clerks the Animated Series. Like Kevin Smith has something better going on? It would obviously take on a new dynamic since Clerks II or they could just simply continue it after the original series and do fill in stories between Clerks and Clerks II. All I know is on the commentary for the original episodes, Kevin Smith had some FANTASTIC ideas for future episodes that never saw the light of day.

Re: rebooting TV shows
 

Isn't Kevin Smith directing some Bruce Willis action comedy right about now?

ETA: I doubt they could get Alec Baldwin back, either. Gotta have Leonardo Leonardo and Bear Who Drives Car while we're at it.

ETA2: I'd love to see somebody take another stab at Stark Raving Mad. You'd have to replace Harris but Shalhoub would still be available.

Re: rebooting TV shows
 

I would like to see a reboot of Buck Rogers. I remember loving the series as a kid, but I tried to rewatch it a few nights ago and it has not aged well.

Re: rebooting TV shows
 

I read that Frank Miller pitched a movie reboot that based the story off the original Sunday funnies comics, NOT the TV series. It got shot down (probably because The Spirit failed to deliver on so many levels, I would imagine) but the idea needs to be picked up by somebody else. I don't think Buck Rogers EVER got justice on screen.

Re: rebooting TV shows
 

How can it be?!
http://students.depaul.edu/~dshklyar/forums/bear.jpg

Re: rebooting TV shows
 

I'd say there is a difference between reboot/remake and an import (aka The Office into the US or Coupling - Friends into the UK).

Re: rebooting TV shows
 

That's what I was going to say. Remake shows that had a decent premise, but for one reason or another, weren't hits.

Re: rebooting TV shows
 

Yeah he was talking more about BSG-type remakes, not British imports, during his podcasts.

That said, it's been done several times quite recently, as people mentioned. I always wondered if The Bionic Woman would have succeeded on USA/SciFi (er, SyFy). In fact if SyFy is looking for ideas, they might as well raid the treasure trove of cancelled sci-fi shows from network television.

The Greatest American Hero
Nowhere Man
Alien Nation
The Time Tunnel
Supertrain ;)

I also wish Journeyman had gotten a shot on cable. Probably many others I didn't think of.

Re: rebooting TV shows
 

But what's the motivation? Unless you already still own all the rights, you'll have to pay money for the rights to the premise, and if it was a flop initially, why not just come up with something new?

I can see something like Galactica, or even the original Star Trek, where they weren't exactly hits but there was a dedicated fanbase that will turn out for the next iteration (note that this mostly happens with sci-fi/fantasy concepts, for whatever reason). But I can think of very few failed premises that were just so awesome that they need to be remade. I would think the whole purpose of a remake would be to re-attract the old audience and garner new fans.

edited to add: There is also a new Buck Rogers comic coming out, so someone picked up the property...

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Please, please, please let it be a Hudson Hawk sequel!! (I'm f^%*ing sick, I admit it.)

Re: rebooting TV shows
 

I wouldn't count a British show that an idea was taken & used to create a whole new show. Reboots should only be the same name & use of the same characters. Battlestar Galactica & Bionic Woman count for those.

90210 (2008) & Melrose Place (2009) are not reboots or remakes. They are continuations or sequels of the older shows. Everything that happened in those shows counts in this one. Same as Star Trek & Star Trek: TNG.

The 2008 Knight Rider is sort of a weird one. On one hand, it would seem like a reboot but they did hint that Hasslehoff's Michael Knight did work for FLAG before. Story elements did conflict with info from the first show (ex/ KARR's backstory).

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I just don't think new properties are going to make it on the air as easily in today's economy. Networks are less willing to take a chance on a new idea like that considering the expense. Firefly was the last really great series I can think of off the top of my head that was something new but just not big enough to make it for the long haul.

Which saddens me. Because I think there are plenty of great new ideas out there being pitched, just not picked up.

Re: rebooting TV shows
 

Here's the problem, in a chronological nutshell:

The succession on NBC of Cheers to Seinfeld to Friends cemented the notion of an ensemble sitcom as a mainstay. Then, the cast of Friends demanded a cool million apiece per episode, right around the same time that CBS had a hit with Survivor. Friends was still plenty viable, but execs realized that it was far less risky to take a chance on a reality show than a scripted series. Hence, the gluttony of reality series for the last decade.

Now, as the interest in reality programming has begun to wane, studios have another problem: The strike-shortened season last year helped break the viewing habits of a lot of viewers. They'll blame the subsequent down ratings on TiVo and Internet broadcasts, but the truth is that viewers discovered there were other things to do than plop in front of their TV or computer for a series that wasn't there.

Rebooting a familiar--but not too familiar--series sounds like it would be a leg up on a brand new concept, but here's my question: If a series failed to capture anyone's attention before, why would we expect it to work now? Either you're going to be faithful in spirit to the predecessor, in which case you're hedging your bet that what didn't work before will work now. Otherwise, you run the risk that the audience will immediately see that you're only exploiting a familiar name to sell them something new, instead of just admitting that it's something new.

Perhaps what TV needs is contraction. If DVD and Internet downloading are really that big a threat to current ratings, then it seems to me that someone ought to be concerned with the ratings that syndicated re-runs of expired series are bringing in on cable channels.

Re: rebooting TV shows
 

Wow there's another person in this world that likes Hudson Hawk? Soulmate! :lol: