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That Thing You Like Is Being Rebooted. Time To Feel Something

Fletch. Married With Children. Bullitt. The Man Who Fell To Earth. King of the Hill. Quantum Leap. Those things you used to watch are coming back so we can all just feel something.

Richard Trenholm Former Movie and TV Senior Editor
Richard Trenholm was CNET's film and TV editor, covering the big screen, small screen and streaming. A member of the Film Critic's Circle, he's covered technology and culture from London's tech scene to Europe's refugee camps to the Sundance film festival.
Expertise Films, TV, Movies, Television, Technology
Richard Trenholm
3 min read
Film and Television

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That thing you like is being rebooted. The streaming service you forgot you pay for is bringing back that movie or TV show you watched in the '80s or '90s or whatever.

This new version is a reimagining that pays homage to the original while taking the franchise in new and exciting directions, according to Variety. It's a sequel or possibly a spiritual sequel, unless it's a prequel.

The main characters have been gender-flipped or race-flipped or they're just the same people but now with kids they don't understand and their text messages appear on the screen. Or possibly the new show explores the emotional journeys of the supporting cast and the original main characters aren't in it at all.

The original stars are back or maybe they're not, and they tweeted how delighted they are about it or pissed off that nobody asked them. The original creators are credited as executive producers and are very excited to be involved with this new opportunity to continue the journey of characters they created, while being paid for it all over again.

The streaming service you didn't know you got free with your phone plan is also planning to expand the franchise with an animated prequel, three live-action spinoffs and a TikTok challenge.

That thing you like was previously rebooted in 2003 but lasted only one season.

Remakes have always been a thing, but reboots have run out of control in the streaming age. New versions of those things you like dominate the big screen, small screen and whiteboards in strategy meetings at media companies. Original content is all very nice at awards time, but it isn't enough, not when massive media monoliths are desperately trying to get you to sign up to their streaming service or go see their movies or preferably both. Name recognition is crucial to cut through the overwhelming torrent of new stuff you can watch on your HDTV, computer, phone or smartwatch, and so the big players are raiding their back catalogs for stuff that can be reinvented to remind us of the good old days.

This latest reboot joins Fletch, Married With Children, Bullitt, The Man Who Fell To Earth, Blade Runner, End of Watch, Beavis and Butthead, Criminal Minds, Flashdance, King of the Hill, Justified, The Santa Clause, Quantum Leap, Bel-Air, Dexter, The Sopranos, Deadwood, Saved by the Bell, Gremlins, Futurama, Ghostbusters, Cobra Kai, How I Met Your Mother, Jack Ryan, The Twilight Zone, Charlie's Angels, The Wonder Years, Charmed, The L Word, High Fidelity, Kung Fu, Lethal Weapon, The Equalizer, Fatal Attraction, The Italian Job, Soapdish, Urban Cowboy, SWAT, Walker: Texas Ranger, Frasier, Sex and the City, MacGyver, Magnum PI, Battlestar Galactica, Halloween, Lord of the Rings, Judge Dredd, Dynasty, Lost in Space, DuckTales, Fraggle Rock, The Muppets, He-Man, iCarly, Amazing Stories, Party Down, Full House, Will and Grace, Love Story, Carmen San Diego, A League of Their Own, Heroes, The Fugitive, Ironside, Grease, Teen Wolf, The Bionic Woman, Dragnet, The Parallax View, The Untouchables, West Side Story, Cruella, The Saint, Cowboy Bebop, She's All That, One Day at a Time, From Dusk 'til Dawn, The Outer Limits, The Boondocks, Perry Mason, Veronica Mars, The Munsters, Knight Rider, Queer Eye, Queer As Folk, Dallas, Hawaii Five-0, Party of Five, Gossip Girl, The Tick, 24, Twin Peaks, Fantasy Island and basically every damn thing you've ever seen.

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