Shows That Need a Reboot

Sliders. Alternate History has a huge amount of untapped potential. Plus the premise is begging for a more thoughtful take.

Alien Nation. I’ve been rewatching this on Tubi and while the second half of the season falters a little, it still holds up. I would love either an update set in the same world but thirty years later or a true reboot where the premise is shifted to today.

Once Upon a Time. Just make a Fables TV series already!

What are some you would like to see?

I would like a return of the original Law & Order. SVU is terrible. All of the other spin-offs were not great. I don’t give a fuck about these peoples’ personal lives. In the original formula, we knew almost nothing about any of the main characters’ private lives and that’s how I liked it.

Xena: Warrior Princess Apparently they were considering it for a reboot, or even a new season of the original series, before COVID. Swords, sorcerers, and skimpy outfits for all!

I agree about Law & Order. I liked that it was episodic, with no season or series-long story arcs. The original CSI, set in Las Vegas, started off that way but later they introduced super-villains (the miniature killer, for example). And they’re reviving CSI this year. We’ll see if they manage to avoid the curse of making every show involve long story arcs.

I want to see some of the old matinee serials done with big budgets and modern special effects.

Buck Rogers or Flash Gordon, done with a Game of Thrones budget.

Dick Tracy or The Shadow, done with a Boardwalk Empire budget.

I would like to see Brimstone get another chance. John Glover was one of the great cinematic Devils.

I want a re-make of The Phantom Empire. A combination of Western and Sci-Fi. Both the 1935 version, with Gene Autry, and the 1979 version, with Geoffrey Scott, were just so damn silly they were fun.

The X-Files. There has been a lot of technological changes and reporting from the government since the original series. Lots of geopolitical changes as well could be worked in with North Korea, China, Pakistan and Russia. If done right it could be like Star Trek the Next Generation.

Only if it a true reboot and not a sequel. I don’t want anything to do with alien black oil, super soldiers, and Mulder and Scullys Notalienmiraclebaby ever again. The original alien invasion (well, not really) arc of the first should be burned, buried, then dug up and burned again.

And another agreement for L&O. There was no reason for Mothership to end its run. If Squicky SVU can continue why not Mothership? The show could have run forever. There were no original cast left, and no one cared!

eta: OK I could handle ONE L&O/New X-files crossover. Munch needs more exposure!

I think the problem with all of those is that they HAVE been redone since their original runs- Buck Rogers as a NBC show around 1980, Flash Gordon in movie form as well as a early 2000s Sci-Fi channel treatment. Dick Tracy and The Shadow both got feature films during the 1990s- Dick Tracy was well regarded, but The Shadow was a huge flop.

Personally, I’d love to see a modern-day Western series. A straight-up Western- no aliens, no “Wild Wild West” gadgetry, etc… Maybe a remake of “Have Gun - Will Travel” or Maverick for an episodic network series, or maybe Rawhide for a 10-episode streaming/cable show, concentrating on the events of one cattle drive.

Somebody made me watch clips of “Automan” recently, and… my gosh it’s so eighties!

I’d like to see that redone now. Pretty much literally the same character and the same eightiessness of it all. The character would have such a different reception now, it would make for such a radically different show. I suppose my idea would get all of a season, if that.

The show was never quite the same after Jerry Orbach left, and he wasn’t even in the original cast. I think it also took a dip when they moved Sam Waterston to DA. Plus, the show ran for 20 seasons, so I think they were just running out of good stories to tell.

Maybe they could do Law & Order: ME with just Leslie Hendrix making wisecracks for an hour while performing autopsies.

I’d be interested in an 2020s version of LA Law, done correctly, it could be a very interesting show.

I always wonder whatever happened to the Northern Exposure updated series. I think a couple of the original actors were coming back, but I don’t know if the show has been made, is made and shelved, or will never be shown at all. I keep checking and there is no good answer from Darren Burrows (“Ed Chigliak”) who is supposedly behind it…I also wonder if an updated version today would be worth it. The magic of the original series was…well, magical. Alaska today has changed a lot in the 30 years since - climate change, melting glaciers, Sarah Palin and her meth head ilk. Would that sad ugliness be ignored?

Since its stars are going to be William Petersen and Jorja Fox I expect a lot of Gil/Sara soap opera storylines.

Fractured Fairy Tales: Too many modern politicians to roast not to.

New Show ideas:

Time Tunnel: equipment at Tesla’s lab in Buffalo is activated by grad students on an overnight who think it’s just a plasma tunnel behind/through Niagara Falls to get to the other side. Once on the other side they realize that it is 150 years in the past and there is no way back. ( Does not have to be limited to Canada )

Beach Town: Politics, corruption, infidelity, and crime in a small beach town both in and out of tourist season. Bonus points if each season captures the changes of all four seasons in the back drop the way the Harry Potter books always captured the change of seasons… but not as a sub-plot.

So, Baywatch meets Peyton Place? :grin:

I’d love to see a Little House on the Prairie series that is accurate to the books, perhaps more of a mini-series.

American Gothic. This time make it a wee bit darker.

Lovejoy. Though as a sequel with a different cast mix (a female lead would be good), as I do not want to sully the original as to suggest it needs to be remade.

Less twangy guitar and cheesy slow motion running. More like a cross between NYPD Blue and JAWS
( but without the shark ).

The brought back the X-Files 5 years ago too.

I’m sure I’m the only person on the planet, but: Cop Rock.