Old TV shows being revived

[Lencoboy]

Since around the latter half of the 2000s there seems to have been a growing trend for old TV shows to be brought back from the dead, often only to be instantly ripped to pieces as 'not being a patch on the originals' and inadvertently cancelled again. 'Fawlty Towers' is the latest 'historical' TV show slated to be making a comeback, despite many of the original cast members no longer being alive, and 'Minder' also tried to come back in 2009 despite being pretty much 'in name only' with none of the original cast members present and basically bombed, and was then cancelled for good.

There's also been speculation on and off fairly recently about various other old chestnuts being brought back from the dead, e.g, Brookside, The Bill, Grange Hill, X Factor, etc.

Surely many of these 'old chestnuts' were cancelled for a reason in the first place, most obviously due to dwindling viewing figures, so apart from primarily appealing to nostalgia (at least initially), what's the point of attempting to bring back a lot of these old programmes that may not even bear quite the same relevance to the present time as the originals?

The same also applies to the many older musical acts attempting comebacks with fresh studio material over the same period, and their respective fans often being vastly disappointed with the new offerings and the inevitable 'not a patch on the earlier classics' being uttered.

[Carnation]

I'm not keen on revivals of classic tv programmes. It doesn't work for me.

[Fishmanpa]

And this causes anxiety because? Watch or don't watch.

FMP

[Lencoboy]

And this causes anxiety because? Watch or don't watch.

FMP

It doesn't necessarily cause anxiety per se for me. I'm just of the opinion that this 'revival' bandwagon since around the mid 2000s is generally a waste of time (and money) as the new iterations of many of these 'heritage' shows, programmes, musical artists, etc, rarely seem to be positively received and are often met with derision and cynicism.

For instance, I can't for the life of me see the UK soap opera 'Brookside' being resurrected and restored to its full former glory after being off air for 20 years, especially as the original Brookside Close has since become a 'real' private housing estate and a new 'mock' Brookside Close probably just wouldn't cut it as the original 'Close' was so unique.

And cue the inevitable (negative) comparisons with the original if it all came to pass.

[Fishmanpa]

It doesn't necessarily cause anxiety per se for me. I'm just of the opinion that this 'revival' bandwagon since around the mid 2000s is generally a waste of time (and money) as the new iterations of many of these 'heritage' shows, programmes, musical artists, etc, rarely seem to be positively received and are often met with derision and cynicism.

For instance, I can't for the life of me see the UK soap opera 'Brookside' being resurrected and restored to its full former glory after being off air for 20 years, especially as the original Brookside Close has since become a 'real' private housing estate and a new 'mock' Brookside Close probably just wouldn't cut it as the original 'Close' was so unique.

And cue the inevitable (negative) comparisons with the original if it all came to pass.

So?... Who cares? (besides you). Watch or don't. Easy as that.

FMP

[Lencoboy]

I'm not keen on revivals of classic tv programmes. It doesn't work for me.

Absolutely. Most are just best left alone in the past where they belong, especially as they were 'of their time' and not necessarily representative of present-day culture.

[Lencoboy]

So?... Who cares? (besides you). Watch or don't. Easy as that.

FMP

I'm sure lots of people care, even if they're not necessarily admitting it in this thread right now.

Plus there's no evidence of masses of folks literally pining for the return of many of those 'heritage' UK TV shows I mentioned in my opening post of this thread, and pleading with the original production companies to bring them back. Nor would I be in any hurry to watch them.

But those who do watch them and happen to enjoy them if any of them do actually come back, then great, and fair enough to them.

[ankietyjoe]

One thing I really do like about having multi channel Virgin TV now is that a lot of the shows from my past are being re-run. Over the last few years I've casually re-watched episodes of Knight Rider, Airwolf, Fawlty Towers and even some obscure British sitcoms from the 80s. It's a nice hit of nostalgia, and a reminder of how good some old TV used to be. I think there is merit is the idea that newer shows aren't as good as they used to be as my eldest son got hooked on 80s TV for a while, suggesting to me that it was just more fun and watchable than the newer stuff.

I have dabbled with some remakes/rehashes as well, but they tend to be poor imitations of the originals and just a cynical exercise is 'free branding'.

The one exception (albeit not really a rehash of an old show from history) was the US version of The Office, which was a spectacular success, and far superior to the already good UK original.

[Darksky]

My eldest loves US The Office. He thinks it’s far better than the UK original.

Now me, although I can watch US I don’t think it’s a patch on the UK version. But I love Ricky Gervais, I think he’s hilarious and he plays to the camera better than his US counterpart. But we’re all different and Ricky Gervais is like Jeremy Clarkson…marmite.

[BlueIris]

My eldest loves US The Office. He thinks it’s far better than the UK original.

Now me, although I can watch US I don’t think it’s a patch on the UK version. But I love Ricky Gervais, I think he’s hilarious and he plays to the camera better than his US counterpart. But we’re all different and Ricky Gervais is like Jeremy Clarkson…marmite.

Clarkson is certainly like something sticky and brown...