Can you think of any? I’m not talking about extended version of the original show like A Very Brady Wedding or Return to Gilligan’s Island, I am talking about the remake of a show with different actors.
The only ones I can think of are Perry Mason - It was remade with Monte Markum a few years after the original went off the air. No I am not talking about the made-for-TV Movies with Raymond Burr as Mason about 20 years after the original. And Twilight Zone. and Kolchak: The Night Stalker.
Would the different incarnations of Star Trek count? Nah, probably not completely different characters and actual references to the earlier Star Trek. How about Saved by the Bell - The New Class? Never saw much of either one, so I don’t know if it was a spin off or a remake.
Were there any other attempted series remakes of a series and no, the new Maverick really doesn’t qualify since it was the same actor playing Maverick in both series.
Sorry about the length of this. I originally was just thinking of a simple question and I kept adding on.
Battlestar Galactica, in its current incarnation, is the “re-imagined” version of the original. While it does happen to have one of the original actors in a recurring guest role, it’s as a completely different character.
PS - I like your explanation, differentiating “series continuations” vs “spin-offs” vs “remakes”.
There was “The New Odd Couple” from the early '80s starring Ron Glass as Felix Unger and Demond (Lamont Sanford) Wilson as Oscar Madison that, if I recall correctly, was not only a remake but used the exact same scripts of the original TV series.
There was a second, syndicated version of WKRP in Cincinnati that had only one or two of the original cast members–Les Nessman and Arthur Carlson, I think? I might be wrong on that. Anyway, it starred Mykelti Williamson as the bewildered station manager, filling the same function as the Andy Travis character in the original series.
Of course, there are many American that are remakes of British series (Three’s Company, All in the Family I think, The Office, and a billion less successful ones.)
Basically what I am seeing is that remakes don’t seem to capture that lightning in a bottle that the original did. One could argue that the closest to a successful remake has been Battlestar Galactica and one wonders if it would have survived if it weren’t for the expanded cable market.
Did any of the others even make it two seasons? (a good number of them did not even last a full season)
Of course, when the remake has not been seen before, like the British *Steptoe and Son *to the U.S. Sanford and Son, I guess it can work. I guess not having to live up to a previous incarnation in the same national market is easier.
There was briefly a remade of Alfred Hitchcock Presents a few years after he died. They would redo the stories and use Hitchcock’s old intros. It was about as good as the other shows mentioned so far.
Herb Tarlek was also in the updated pile of shite, I mean program. Irritated me no end that he drank, since he was an alcoholic in the original.
There was a New Monkees show which, if it had been presented as something other than an attempt to update the Monkees, wouldn’t have been terrible.
Not sure if this should be included, but Wonder Woman jumped networks after its first season and also changed time periods from WW2 to the present, so it was sort of a new show with the same actors, one of whom played the same character. You could shoehorn Buffy in here too I suppose, with its network jump after its fifth season.
Saved By The Bell was originally a Disney Channel show called Our Miss Bliss, then it changed names and networks (NBC) while retaining at least some of the actors and characters. Kinda sorta fits partway. And Baywatch was initially an NBC show that lasted I think just one season and was then revived to become the most successful syndicated show ever.
Would Family Guy be included, having been cancelled and revived?