I have mixed feelings about this.
As much I love the original series, I’m not sure the same magic will happen. Besides, the season 5 back in the day already started deteriorating a bit. I’m not even sure it will happen, as I’v been hearing rumours for the last 2 years.
What do you think?
I enjoyed the original series but don’t have high hopes for a new version. I’ll try it but as a rule, I don’t enjoy strangeness for the sake of strangeness.
We’ll see.
Season 5 was perfect, it did the job of me not regretting the series came to an end.
I would enjoy revisiting the characters, but wonder if they can really recapture the magic.
I have fond memories of watching the original show (living close to the filming locations made it more fun), but the few episodes I’ve seen in recent years didn’t hold up for me.
Current mood: mildly interested but not hopeful.
I tried to re-watch the series a year or two ago. I remember enjoying it greatly the first time around, but it didn’t do anything for me this time. I’ll give a reboot a shot, though. Why not?
Didn’t it fade in later years when half the cast left? Didn’t even Joel or Maggie or both?
DVD reissues also lost the magic because there was so much music which they couldn’t afford, so they redubbed the music, mostly…
Only year 5 was lesser.
I hate when shows that carefully select their music didn’t buy the perpetual rights. It really hurt WKRP also.
At least when WKRP was being produced, no one knew that home video releases for TV series were going to be a thing, so I can excuse them.
My understanding is that the most recent DVD release for WKRP (by Shout Factory) has the vast majority of the original music restored (there were still a few songs for which the rights were prohibitively expensive, if not simply unobtainable).
Back on the original topic: I loved Northern Exposure when it was first on (though, I agree, the final season was not great). I think I’ve watched a handful of episodes within the past decade; I’m not sure how well it’s held up, or not.
That said, if a reboot comes anywhere close to re-capturing the quirky joy that was the original, I’ll be stunned. I really think it was a lightning-in-a-bottle moment.
Have any of the recent spate of reboots/revivals come close to the appeal of the original?
If the reboot it, they should go whole-hog on the update. Forget Alaska. Set the new on on an alien world!
Yes, instead of just quirky humans who act like they came from another planet, have quirky aliens who actually did come from another planet. Gives justification for Maurice to be a retired astronaut, and it gives more justification for Holling being an asshole in his fighting if he is actually a Klingon (or equivalent).
I think this would get the “Orville” crowd as well.
Am I joking? Who knows.
Wasn’t for me, but Battle Star Galactica did great in the reboot.
Hawaii 5-0 was less sucky then the original and has been on like 10 years or something.
Doctor Who has been pretty great at times and not so much at others.
Does the Flash count?
The Tick Reboot is pretty good, but never had fans the first time.
I’ve heard “One Day at a Time” is getting lots of critical praise.
Lost in Space reboot > original.
Nope, nope, nope. It will ruin the whole vibe of the original. I ain’t watching.
I would love to see it. BUT! I don’t think it can hold a candle to the original. There is so less ‘magic’ in the world now, and Alaska is probably a horribly degraded place, just not-so-slowly-dying. NE back in the day, the people were quirky and doing their own thing,. Now, I believe, full of methheads, Palins, born losers… and the environment going down the shitter, it is probably a sorry place to be
now,
I have not seen the reboot, so I can’t say, but the original had no appeal. So not a high bar to overcome.
Pretty much the answer. New Lost in Space was distinctly light entertainment. Nothing great but worth watching. Old Lost in Space was dreadful.
You know when you were 17 and once in a while some pop song would come along and blow your mind? “Oh. My. God. This song has all the answers!”
For me, that was Northern Exposure. I was 16 when the series ended, and then I caught it (and recorded the entire thing on VHS) when it went into reruns on A&E. It is, hands down, the best TV I’ve ever seen. Indeed, this winter I’m going through and re-watching the series when I can, this time with my kids (they’ve seen most of it already whenever I’ve watched it over the years). Almost 25 years later and I still have a romantic fascination with Alaska and would love to spend a year there fishing and hiking. My wife recently told me she’d rather spend a summer in Alaska than Hawaii or similar vacation spot, so I just might get my wish one of these days.
The original series hasn’t aged much. Of course, there are no computers or references to the internet (or at least, very little), but that doesn’t seem to matter. It’s a very character-driven show and, like Shakespeare, the beauty of the show is in the characters — including Alaska itself (yeah, I know it was filmed in Washington. Irrelevant). The series was somewhat deliberately placed outside of the modern world when it first ran so rewatching it it feels like every other tiny Podunk town I’ve ever been in. The only jarring things that age the show are when some out-of-towner shows up in a modern car (modern for 199-whatever)
The biggest problem with a reboot is that fact that Peg Phillips, who played Ruth-Ann, has been dead for years. They would have to have someone else run the store (Jack Black had a one-off guest starring spot as a high school senior in one episode, they could have him return as the new general store proprietor which I’m sure would be good for initial ratings. But Black doesn’t have much depth and the humor in NE doesn’t jive with Black’s style.)
Barry Corbin, who played Maurice Minnified, has aged to the point that the character of Maurice would have to be changed I think: Corbin wouldn’t be able to pull off the tough town overlord like he did almost 30 years ago. He got engaged in the final episode of the series, that would make for some interesting new plot lines.
And of course Fleischman left Alaska to return to NYC, leaving the insufferable Phil Capra to look over the town’s medical needs. I’d be curious how they’d write him back into the show. Maybe Capra died in a freak Zabaione cooking accident and has now joined Rick in that great wilderness in the sky. Fleishman, tired of his Central Park West condo and six-figure salary, returns to Cicely for a mental detox.
They could pull it off. Done successfully it would be brilliant. Done poorly it would be a wreck. Regardless, I would kill to see it.
They must include the moose, as well.
Do not reboot it. Turn it on its head. Send our doctor to a quirky Arizona town. Native Americans, Hispanic, an artists’ colony these are all ripe for plot points.
That’s a pretty good idea.
