Are there any fresh ideas left in Hollywood?
Do they have to take every show, whether good or bad or indifferent and put it through the ringer?
We’re putting our foot down with 13 shows that should never get the reboot treatment.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Buffy the Vampire Slayer ended on a completely perfect note. Sunnydale was destroyed, every future Slayer was awoken, and Buffy was finally free of the bondage that she always felt as the one Slayer. To reboot the show would be foolish. There can only be one Buffy: Sarah Michelle Gellar. (Let’s pretend that movie never existed.) To revive it would cheapen the impact of it’s perfect ending. Let’s leave this perfect piece of television history alone.
Sex and the City
Sex and the City was a great, campy look at four gal pals and the ups and downs of their sex lives. When it ended, Carrie Bradshaw had more or less gotten happy ending but if it were to be brought back, where would it go from there? The women as part of married couples complaining about their lack of sex? Would Samantha suddenly be the new Blanche from the Golden Girls? Best to let it go…
Burn Notice
Burn Notice ended on the perfect moment of Michael and Fiona raising Michael’s nephew, and him telling him the story of his life with the opening line from every episode “I used to be a spy…”. It was poetic, touching, and perfect. Let Michael and Fiona have their “happily ever after” and leave them be.
How I Met Your Mother
How I Met Your Mother. They ruined an entire 9 season run in the series finale. It should remain dead and buried forever.
The Sopranos
Despite the fact the ending of The Sopranos was clear as mud, there was beauty in the ambiguity that allowed for viewers to determine the true fate of Tony and his family. And with the passing of James Gandolfini, The Sopranos should rest just as he is.
The Golden Girls
The Golden Girls are seared into our memory and portrayed to perfection by the original actresses. While there could be different characters, we’re never letting go of Dorothy, Blanch, Rose or Sophia.
Cheers
Cheers is another one that they just got so right the first time that we can’t imagine others taking up the barstools of Cliff or Norm, anyone other than Rebecca, Diane or Carla toying with boys, Woody or Coach behind the bar of Sam being the one to tie them all together. But the closing shot of the finale, suggesting Sam would continue on without his faithful regulars, is comforting.
Quantum Leap
Scott Bakula and Dean Stockwell of Quantum Leap were far too perfect together to try replacing. Sam Beckett and Al Calavicci were complex, beautiful characters, and Bakula and Stockwell just own them. Not to mention the show was ahead of its time back in the 90s, with a great balance of fun episodes and fantastic social commentary. No attempt to recreate the show could capture the magic of the original.
Charmed
Charmed ended on a great note: the underworld said they’d leave the sisters alone as they rebuilt and then it flashes to a time when their children are fighting demons. They show ends in the future, with Piper reading the story to her grand daughter. As much as I’d like to see the sisters interact with Prue again, and for Paige to finally meet Prue, it wouldn’t make sense to go backwards in time to show that and void the truce that the sisters made with the underworld. Because there wouldn’t be the show if they weren’t fighting a demon.
H.R. Pufnstuf
H.R. Pufnstuf was Krofft’s first live-action, life-sided puppet program, and though it was only 17 episodes total, ran on Saturday mornings for about 15 years beginning in 1968 and can still be found on MeTV. They’ve already bastardized Land of the Lost and apparently want to do the same to Sigmund and the Seamonsters, so leave this one alone.
M*A*S*H
Since we’re still trying to scrub AfterMASH from our memories, we think we can all agree nothing will ever capture the magic of the original.
My So-Called Life
My So-Called Life was cut down too early, but it should also never be rebooted. They had the best cast and the best scripts. Claire Danes, Jared Leto and Devon Gummersall ARE Angela Chase, Jordan Catalano and Brian Krakow. There is no doubt the network messed up when they gave up on the show only for it to live on, spawning some of the best artists of their generation, but they get no do over.
Beverly Hills, 90210
Beverly Hills, 90210. What? Too late? They already tried and totally messed it up and now young people think of the awful CW version when they hear “90210?” Damn.
