Now more than ever, it seems like television and film are dead-set on selling us things we’ve already seen before. For the most part, it works out in their favor. Revivals have generally proved to be pretty successful. Will and Grace received plenty of Emmy nominations for its recent comeback, and the same goes for shows like Fuller House and movies like Mad Max: Fury Road.
That being said, not all revivals work. In fact, some of them do horribly. Production troubles, casting issues, or just a general disinterest from audiences have cursed plenty of these projects. For whatever reason, sometimes a revival just flops. The same logic applies to the recent string of television reboots and revivals.
Lethal Weapon
When FOX decided to make a TV show based on Lethal Weapon, many were disappointed we wouldn’t be getting a fifth movie instead. But, given Mel Gibson’s history, it’s probably best not to boost his platform any more than it already has been in recent years. Granted, the television show isn’t perfect. In addition to the struggle to keep steady viewership, the show was plagued with casting issues and fights between its leads. As a result, at the end of the first season, troublesome actor Clayne Crawford was fired and replaced by Sean William Scott in a new role. Additionally, actor Damon Wayans plans on leaving soon. After that, the future of the show is unclear.
Purchase now on Amazon for $18.89.
Girl Meets World
Even though its predecessor Boy Meets World remains a hugely successful pop culture staple, Disney’s attempt to revive the show didn’t last long. Focusing on Corey’s daughter, the show Girl Meets World only managed to last a few years before getting canceled. The network also boasts a That’s So Raven revival titled Raven’s Home and upcoming projects from the Kim Possible and High School Musical universes, so the failure of Girl Meets World clearly didn’t stop them from pursuing revivals.
Purchase now on Amazon for $9.99.
Gilmore Girls
When Netflix announced that cult favorite Gilmore Girls would be returning for new episodes, fans were overjoyed. The show feels comfortable and warm and is filled with witty banter and sweet mother-daughter moments, so its continued success is definitely understandable—this doesn’t explain why the revival didn’t do so well, though. Netflix never releases the numbers for its projects, so there’s no way of knowing how many people streamed the four feature-length episodes that were made, but fans and critics alike seemed lukewarm about them (no pun intended). There are still more episodes planned, so we’ll see if they do any better than the ones put out in 2016.
Watch now on Netflix.
The X-Files
Another cult classic, The X-Files revival should’ve been a surefire hit. People still talk about the show, the theme song is practically a universally known meme, and its success has influenced countless other shows since it ended in the mid-2000s. Yet, like the Gilmore Girls revival, critics and audiences seemed to come away disappointed by the two shortened seasons that FOX made. From bad plot lines to dated politics, there seemed to be more complaints than praises and it might actually be done for good — Gillian Anderson announced she wouldn’t be returning after this most recent season.
Purchase now on Amazon for $9.99.
The Muppets
In what ended up feeling like a bad parody of The Office, ABC tried and failed to make a show about The Muppets for adults a few years back. It suffered from issues in the writer’s room, to be fair, but the show felt uneven and unfunny and off. Even though The Muppets originally were geared towards adults, their eventual shift to family-friendly entertainment is what people really seem to love about them. So, when ABC tried to gear things back to the original Muppets audience, it just didn’t hit as hard as they would’ve liked. The show didn’t even last a season before it was canned.
Purchase now on Amazon for $29.99.
Heroes
NBC’s superhero drama was ahead of the curve in many ways — Marvel hadn’t established their cinematic universe just yet, superhero-themed shows and movies weren’t all-consuming, and they had the privilege of being one of the few shows on television to take advantage of this fact. The show was original, it was hugely successful, and it was eventually canceled. When superheroes got really huge, though, audiences wanted to see more from Heroes. NBC brought it back and it completely floundered.
Purchase now on Amazon for $19.11.
24
Just like Heroes, audiences were begging for more from 24. FOX doubled down and brought back the original series for a truncated season and also created a spinoff series with a new lead. Neither one proved to be very buzzworthy and they were both gone before we knew it. For some reason, though, FOX won’t give up. They’re currently developing even more shows based on 24 and are working directly with Kiefer Sutherland while they create them.
Purchase now on Amazon for $7.99.
Roseanne
Everything was going great for the Roseanne revival… until it suddenly wasn’t anymore. Following a string of incredibly controversial plotlines, the show still seemed unstoppable in the face of critics. Then, one morning, the show’s star Roseanne Barr decided to go on an unacceptable rant on her personal Twitter. She was subsequently fired from the show, the show came to an end, and a sequel series was launched. That sequel, The Conners, is still on the air, Roseanne’s character has been done away with, so it’s only a matter of time until we see what happens with the future of this tumultuous show.
Purchase now on Amazon for $27.99.
Prison Break
It might’ve been plenty popular back in the 2000s, but FOX’s decision to bring back Prison Break in the mid-2010s didn’t work out quite as well. It premiered with little fanfare and allegedly received an order for another season, but nothing has been said in the year since it premiered in 2017. One can probably assume that Prison Break is dead for the second time.
Purchase now on Amazon for $9.99.
American Idol
For some reason, back in the beginning of 2018, the decision was made to sell this once-popular singing competition to ABC, keep the same host, and recast all the judges. The reimagining was more or less a failure, with little a word on whether or not it’ll be returning for another season. This show was probably supposed to compete alongside other hit singing competitions like The Voice, but it never really stood a chance.
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.
