Remakes, reboots, whatever you want to call them, seem to be more prevalent than ever in Hollywood but for as much as we may complain about them, it’s hard to deny that there have been some pretty good ones in recent years (Dredd and the recent Planet of the Apes trilogy spring immediately to mind). However, when it comes to television, reviving old shows seems to be a fool’s errand more often than not, as many rebooted series fail to make it past the first season.
Whether it’s because viewers don’t want to see new versions of shows like Ironside or Knight Rider, or there just being so many better options out there, it’s more difficult than ever for TV remakes to survive, let alone be any good. Fortunately, there have been a handful of revived series over the years that have been as good or even better than the show that inspired them, with the following 10 shows proving that not all remakes are destined to be terrible ideas.
10. Hawaii Five-0
The original Hawaii Five-0 was quite successful in its own right, running for 12 seasons from 1968 to 1980, making it difficult to imagine what a reboot could possibly offer that the original series didn’t. While police procedurals are hardly ever critical darlings, the Hawaii Five-0 reboot has been one of the better offerings on network TV since its premiere back in 2010. It helps that Alex O’Loughlin and Scott Caan both make for worthy successors to the original Steve and Danno and up until recently, the show featured two Asian actors — Grace Park and Daniel Dae Kim — in prominent roles, which was something to be praised (though the news of the pair being underpaid compared to their co-stars definitely shouldn’t be). The show’s best years are arguably behind it at this point, but the fact that a Hawaii Five-0 reboot worked at all — let alone for 7+ seasons — is remarkable in itself.
CBS