A Look at Ten 80s/90s Sitcom Reboots

 

When I was young in the 80s we had reunion movies. Where classic sitcom casts would reunite for one last hurrah in two hour format. Everything from Gillian’s Island to The Brady Bunch to Andy Griffith. But in the last ten years as 90s shows are now old enough for reunions, someone decided “hey why not another run with a series?”

Ok it’s not that strange. In the 90s we had “New Leave it Beaver” and “New Addams Family” and even “New WKRP in Cincinnati” to name a few (we won’t mention “The Brady’s). But thanks to streaming services, Though some were network, we got several reboots. I mentioned a couple before but a lot I’ve never gone over. So now that this trend seems to finally be waning, let’s briefly discuss ten reboots and whether they were worth the reboot.

Roseanne 

Ok let’s get this one done first. Putting real world stuff aside, this reboot wasn’t bad. It felt like a natural continuation of the series and retconned the awful season 9 including the final episode. Win! I went into more detail elsewhere. One thing I said before was the show felt like a copy, but after seeing done of the other shows on this list that doesn’t seem so bad in hindsight As for “the Conners” I never watched it regularly but the few episodes I’ve seen were fine. 

Will & Grace 

Again I’ve mentioned this one already so I’ll just say that I loved how it really felt like they had never left. And a retcon of the last season, nice! The show was good though I admit it started losing me it’s last season. But it was great to see the four together and at least it ended on a nice note. 

Murphy Brown

This one, hurt. I’m not going to lie. They managed to get the cast back but the show was just, wrong. It’s as if Diane English forgot that while the original show had political satire in it, there was a whole lot more to it. It’s also a different world then in 1989 where you could gently poke at politicians without it being the end of the world. I guess Murphy at 70 just wasn’t as interesting as she was at 40 because the series just quietly went away. 

Night Court 

I’ll give this one an A for effort but overall…eh. It wanted to capture the wackiness of the original but there really was something special in those early years. Heck even the original show couldn’t recapture it near the end! The characters never felt fleshed out, Dan had lost everything that made him fun, and adding Wendie Malick was a mistake. I love her but she was totally wrong for this show. I was watching season 2 but man I checked out in season 3 and was kinda glad NBC gave up on it. 

Mad About You 

This one had my attention. This was a chance to scrub away the crap of the last two season of the first show and get back to the magic of the first three years. Did it? Eh, it kind of landed somewhere in between. It’s to bad it didn’t get a second season (what is it with streaming services giving up on these so fast?,). I hardly remember anything about the show, which kind of sums it up right there. 

Saved By The Bell

What a confused production. Is it a reboot or a reimagining? It actually tried to be both. With a focus on the original cast and the new cast. The nostalgia stuff was fine but the new stuff was weak (it’s like the were rebooting the awful “New Class” show right down to the bad actors). I pretty much passed on it except for the episode where they acknowledge the tragic passing of Dustin Diamond. 

Punky Brewster 

I was amazed this only got one season. What the heck else is on Peacock?? I watched it and it was fine but definitely didn’t grab me. It was nice to see the reunions but I never really got into the new characters. But I can’t complain because this show reunited Punky with her mother, something I had been wanting to see for 40 years! 

Frasier 

This show managed two seasons before Paramount inexplicably pulled the plug. Seriously, why??? I think it deserved a third. Was it great? It had potential. I wish the supporting cast had been stronger. But I stuck with it and never skipped an episode of got bored. I really felt like it was starting to get its act together at the end, it’s to bad the stupid streaming service couldn’t give it a chance (hey remember when shows were allowed to last a few years until they found there audience??)

Boy Meets World

Bravo Disney for giving Girl Meets World three whole seasons before inexplicable cancelling it. So what if people liked it am I right? At least it got a proper final episode. I was never much of a BMW fan so I didn’t really gravitate to the new show either. From what I saw it looked decent, the new characters seemed to click just fine. I did see the episode where Mr.Feeney returned. How could I not? Man did any of these last more than three years??

Full House 

Now we’re talking! Not only did Fuller House get five seasons but the creators ended it rather than Netflix cancelling it for no reason. I did an entire article on season 1 that you can find elsewhere so what about the rest of the series? It seriously lost me in season 2 with the silliness getting to be way too much. Yes Full House had its moments but it had lots of heart too which Fuller House seemed to forget. The last two seasons got better and I liked the episodes even if I don’t remember them at all. The finale was simple and sweet and yes im still annoyed the Olsen Twins couldn’t be bothered to make even a token cameo. After Bob Saget passed away we’ll probably never see a reboot again so I’m glad we have this. 

As for Fresh Prince, that wasn’t a reboot it was a reimagining. And a really bad one at that. Kind of like how shows like Magnum PI took the name but had zero to do with the original. And I never saw Sex and the City so couldn’t care less about the revival show.  

So what one thing do all these shows have in common? None of then could 100% recapture what the original series did. Even Will & Grace and MAY which were decent still did not feel like the original shows in there heyday. That kind of magic seems to be impossible to recapture even when the same creators and stars return. These shows,  much like the reunion movies from my day, will fade away while the classic shows they were based on will be beloved and cherished for eternity.