7 Classic TV Shows That Need A Reboot

With the upcoming release of a film based on the hit 60s show The Man from U.N.C.L.E., and the popularity of reboots of any number of great TV shows from the past, one does begin to wonder what other series might be worthy of a contemporary remake. It's always good to have some originality on TV, when you can get it, but there are some shows whose innate qualities lend themselves to the landscape of contemporary television. In updating characters, formulas, and exploiting the opportunities offered by a new generation of great television, it's perfectly possible to do something new and very interesting with classic shows. So, on that note, here are 7 classic television series that could definitely use a reboot. Remington Steele It was the show that made Pierce Brosnan a viable contender for James Bond – it’s also the show that stopped Pierce Brosnan from playing Bond back in the late 80s. Running from 1982-1987, Remington Steele combined confident tricksters, crime solving, comedy, and a post-Backlash feminism to create a show that, while not exactly the last word in television quality, was great fun in its own right. Brosnan played the charming (and otherwise nameless) con-man who becomes the great detective Remington Steele, a creation of actual detective Laura Holt (Stephanie Zimbalist), who learned that people don’t want a female solving crimes. In exchange for generally keeping him out of the grips of the police, Steele poses as the titular detective to clients, allowing Laura to get on with her work. The conflict – and long-developing romance – between the pair might have grown strained after five seasons of crime-solving shenanigans, but like its sister show Moonlighting, it managed to keep things fresh for most of its reign. NBC actually announced a reboot of the series - as a half hour comedy featuring the daughter of Remington and Laura - back in 2013, but we have not heard much more about it since. Why reboot Remington Steele? There are plenty of people who still remember the show, but it’s also the sort of concept that can be developed and expanded. The 80s were a great time for these kinds of detective shows, with none-too-serious crimes and cookie-cutter villains, but this one has the added element of your leading man not being quite trustworthy. With the rise of feminist heroes like Agent Carter, it would be nice to update Laura Holt and her masculine partner to the new millennium. Dark Shadows We could talk about the attempt that Tim Burton made to turn this into a feature film, but you know and I know that no one wants to discuss that. Instead, let us consider the possibilities of a Dark Shadows reboot more along the lines of the original show that ran from 1966-1971, combining soap-opera plotlines with vampires, werewolves, and witches. The original Dark Shadows began life as a mostly real world (if Gothic-tinged) soap opera about the desiccated Collins family. It did not really get going, however, until the producers decided to introduce Barnabas Collins (Jonathan Frid), a Collins ancestor who just happened to be a vampire. From there, the show became an amalgam of contemporary themes and Gothic decadence, tossing in vampires, werewolves, witches, and even a parallel universe. It spawned several films and a massive fan-base that still exists today Dark Shadows has already received one reboot, when NBC did it again in 1991; then Tim Burton tried to Burtonize it with Johnny Depp as Barnabas with predictably poor results. I say that it’s time to give it another shot though. With the current popularity of Gothic-themed television shows – and the opportunity to make this bloodier, crazier, and even darker than the original – a new version of Dark Shadows is practically a gimme. We all love tortured romantic vampires, now don't we? The Twilight Zone The 1950s and 60s were the early years of television and that meant experimentation with the medium. No shows were more successful than Rod Serling’s fascinating The Twilight Zone, a series that opened up television’s potentiality for telling short, frightening tales directed towards adult audiences. The Twilight Zone was a showcase for all kinds of talents, from brilliant writers (mostly Serling) to some known (and unknown) future stars like William Shatner, Charles Bronson, James Coburn, Dennis Hopper, and Robert Redford. The Twilight Zone aped some previous science fiction-themed shows, but brought with it political and social commentary to stand right alongside its sci-fi elements. It was one of the first truly adult forays into the science fiction television genre. We’re never going to replicate what Serling did with The Twilight Zone, but it would be fascinating to reboot the format and structure of the series. Most TV series now are ongoing, with complex plot arcs and recurring characters. The Twilight Zone is the short story format of television, and as such it could be a great opportunity to get some high profile directors to come on and do a single episode. Imagine a series of science fiction and horror stories coming from the likes of Guillermo del Toro (who loves television, after all) or Ben Wheatley. Tell me that wouldn't be awesome. The Wild, Wild West Once more, we must ignore the risible excuse for a feature film and go back in time to the original TV series The Wild, Wild West. It ran from 1965-1969, and became notable for its weird steampunk combination of Western tropes and science fiction motifs, basing a number of episodes on stories from Edgar Allan Poe and H.G. Wells. I mean, let us look at the plot of this weird Western that starred Robert Conrad and Ross Martin. The pair are James West and Artemus Gordon, two Secret Service men under the guidance of President Ulysses S. Grant, who head out to the Old West to protect the President and foil evil-doers with an array of high-tech gadgets and disguises. It’s like Wyatt Earp meets Inspector Gadget, complete with an arch-nemesis in the person of Dr. Miguelito Quixote Loveless, a brilliant but insane scientist on the scale of Professor Moriarty. The Wild, Wild West is tailor-made for our contemporary obsession with pastiche. It's a grand opportunity for steampunk stylings, Bond-esque gadgets, and old-fashioned shootouts. Ignoring the dreadful attempt at a big screen adaptation, let us bring this one to the smaller screen. I don’t think we have a good steampunk TV show running right now. Moonlighting Moonlighting made Bruce Willis a household name and reinvigorated Cybill Shepherd’s flagging career. Despite only running for 66 episodes, it was one of the biggest hits of the 1980s, blending drama, comedy, mystery, and a will they/won’t they romance that remains a model for TV shows of today. Willis and Shepherd are David Addison and Maddie Hayes, who run the Blue Moon Detective Agency. Maddie is a former supermodel who loses all her money and winds up running the agency that she originally purchased as a tax write-off. The arrangement at first angers David, but as time goes on the two bicker, battle, and finally fall for each other (as we knew they would), all while solving comedic crimes that occasionally break the fourth wall. Like Remington Steele, Moonlighting offers many opportunities for a contemporary remake. The battle of the sexes motif might be a trifle outdated (it was in the 1980s, too), but the chemistry can still work with the right stars. What’s more, a new Moonlighting might provide a bit of respite from the darker than dark police procedurals and detective shows that now litter television. Solving crime could even be fun again! The Avengers The British television show The Avengers is one of most influential series to come out of Britain in the 1960s, making international stars of its first two leading ladies Honor Blackman and Diana Rigg, and providing a template for sexual and gender equality in television. The show follows the adventures of gentleman spy John Steed and his series of female partners (Honor Blackman, Diana Rigg, and Linda Thorson) in the not-quite-realistic world of 1960s Britain. Most of us know The Avengers as John Steed and Mrs. Peel (Rigg), him with his iconic (and lead-lined) bowler and umbrella and her in her leather catsuits and kung fu fighting. They battle diabolical masterminds bent on world domination, nefarious international criminals, and even a man-eating plant or two. The fun of the show lies in the outlandish plots, peppered with spy motifs and parody, and the interplay between the two main characters. The Avengers is very influential, as I stated before. Films like Kingsman borrow heavily from it, and Emma Peel is the template for Black Widow in that other Avengers franchise. While this may make it difficult to remake on TV without it becoming a parody of itself, it is possible. Simply set the show in the contemporary period and give our heroes new gadgets, weird new masterminds, and a healthy dose of British humor. We may even be able to bring back the brolly and leather boots. The Addams Family The Addams Family was a staple of 1960s television, then later of 90s films. With a number of TV movies and a cartoon show under the belts, it’s amazing that no one has tried to properly bring back the live action show. For those who don't know, the series focuses on the lives of a weird family living in suburban America. Their penchant for stealing road signs, exploding trains, and consuming poisons for tea makes them terrifying to their neighbors, but they’re also lovely (if slightly deranged) people with a strong sense of family. Gomez and Morticia are role models for a happy marriage and good parents to Pugsley and Wednesday, while the extended family of Uncle Fester and Grandmama, plus butler Lurch, add some gunpowder to the fire. Many shows enjoy puncturing suburbia nowadays, but none do it with the loving and somewhat malevolent glee that The Addams Family did. The original cartoons by Charles Addams were much darker than either the original show or the later films, so why not return to Addams’s initial vision of the strange family? TV can walk the line between darkness and comedy much more clearly – and dangerously – now, and The Addams Family is a perfect Gothic comedy.