TV reboots rarely work

Nothing I am going to say in this post is particularly groundbreaking or innovative, but I’m going to say it anyway, because sometimes there is a purpose in stating the obvious.

What was my biggest takeaway from the Super Bowl?  That it was one of the most boring football games ever played, but that’s not important.  After all, what can you say about a game that is most notable because it set a record for longest punt in a Super Bowl?  My second biggest takeaway was that I thought I had entered some sort of time warp, based on CBS’ advertisements for its TV shows.

CBS took the opportunity of having an audience of about 100 million people to tout its current lineup of TV shows.  Their line-up includes such cutting edge shows as Hawaii 5-O, MacGyver, Magnum PI, and SWAT.  For a second I felt like I’d been transported to the 1980’s.

Those four shows were never on television at the same time, but it was close.  Hawaii 5-O was originally on from 1968-80, and in fact Magnum, PI (1980-88) was created in part to allow the production facilities that had been used for 5-O to continue to be used.  SWAT was only on for two seasons, 1975-76, but there was a movie version in 2013.  McGyver lasted from 1985-92.

So, watching CBS’ current line-up of TV shows is like being back in 1985, when Magnum and McGyver were on the air and maybe Hawaii 5-O and SWAT were in syndication.  That’s not a lot of progress after 33 years.

Of course, that’s not the end of the story.  Networks are seemingly resurrecting any show that was even modestly successful, and if they aren’t actually bringing the shows back, they’ll talk about it just to gauge the reaction.  The head of ABC programming just talked about rebooting Lost and Alias while announcing that they weren't rebooting Lost and Alias.

I’m not making snarky comments about networks rebooting past successes to make a point about the intellectual desert that is the entertainment industry.  I want to ask, why do reboots fail more often than they succeed?  My answer is casting.

Of course, they don’t all fail; the 5-O reboot is going on season 9 and may very well pass the 12-year life of the original.   But maybe this is the exception that proves the rule.  The original 5-O wasn’t popular because of the fine acting by Jack Lord, James MacArthur, or even Kam Fong, but because of the scenic Hawaiian vistas (still somewhat exotic in the late 1960’s/early 1970’s) and gritty crime plots.  So, plugging Alex O’Loughlin, Scott Caan and Grace Park into the same scenery could work just as well.

Magnum, PI, has been renewed for a second season, but while the original show made Tom Selleck a household name, the same hasn’t happened for the guy who stars in the reboot (I looked it up; it is Jay Hernandez).  MacGyver made a star of Richard Dean Anderson, but I can name the star of the SNL parody MacGruber [Will Forte] faster than I can name the star of the rebooted MacGyver.

Both Alias and Lost benefitted from brilliant casting choices.  Could a reboot of Alias find an actress for the main role as gorgeous as Jennifer Garner who was able to do action scenes effectively AND carry the emotional gravitas that Garner had?  As a side note, the series Chuck had trouble casting the role of Sarah because they couldn’t find an actress who was gorgeous, funny, and looked convincing throwing a punch; thank heavens they found Yvonne Strahovski.

Lost probably hold the record for the best casting ever, largely because when they auditioned an actor or actress whom they liked but who wasn’t quite right, they changed the character to suit the actor.  The conman named Sawyer was originally supposed to appear more smooth and urbane, but when actor Josh Holloway slipped into his natural Southern accent after flubbing a line, they made the character a good ol’ boy.  Recreating the show without the incredible cast that the original had would be an exercise in futility.

I've previously written about my skepticism about the proposed reboot of Buffy, the Vampire Slayer because it would be a miracle if they found an actress with the gravitas that Sarah Michelle Geller brought to the title role.  And then there was the excellent supporting cast, which included then-unknowns Alyson Hannigan, David Boreanaz, and James Marsters, all of whom had successful subsequent careers.

Old TV shows are often successful because of a fortuitous casting choice that can’t be easily replicated.  Good ideas for TV shows are a dime a dozen, but a casting director who can find a Tom Selleck or a David Boreanaz is a rare commodity.  TV reboots (and movies based on old TV shows) often capture the form of the original, but not what made them worth rebooting in the first place.