So every time I read the news on television in recent times, I've been seeing a surge of old shows being rebooted or renewed after years of being off-air, with the latest release being 'Lost in Space' on Netflix, Roseanne, and another season of American Idol. While, I don't have a problem with well-crafted shows released, I'm curious to know as to why producers are choosing to revisit older shows rather than create fresh new content. Considering the success and fanfare behind the new Gilmore Girls season or Will & Grace, I am wondering what the appeal is beyond the original fan base.
What do you all think?
What do you all think?
I am not sure if this is specific to "our-time" - but I feel like there is such a strong wave of nostalgia in our current culture. Is it that we are subconsciously yearning for a simpler time pre-digital? I am not sure. Part of me thinks some producers are scared to take risks and only want to invest in a sure-thing. If it worked before, and people are nostalgic, it will work again, right? Well, Fuller House proves otherwise... but it certainly seems to be a specific cultural shift in content. I am still grappling with this myself.
ReplyDeleteLauren, I think you're on the right track, and nostalgia is a big part of this. Nostalgia has such an influence even on "new" or "original" content - think Stranger Things or Ready Player One, for instance. I wonder to what extent this has to do with the people who are now in a position where they can be in charge of content creation. I have the (extremely unscientific, I will grant) sense that it's often the people who enjoyed these shows at formative moments in their lives, who are now attempting to tap back into that feeling and experience of (as well as express fan appreciation for) the content that is being rebooted and remade. While I would not doubt that there are elements of exploitation of "sure bets" with established fan bases, I think there is also love on the parts of creators around these reboots.
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ReplyDeleteWhile my go-to armchair explanation for this phenomenon would, like Lauren's, be more along the lines of things like risk-aversion and exploitation, Laurel's point about nostalgia on the part of creators seems really useful. My current fascination in this arena is with a crop of non-reboot but nonetheless nostalgic streaming-native shows that feel glaringly sloppily made (as opposed to, say, the bigger investment and calculated gamble that was the much-hyped Stranger Things). My sample size for this is only as large as two: Netflix's Everything Sucks (2018- ) and Amazon's Red Oaks (2015-2017). Everything Sucks is set in the 1990s and is basically made for people who need something new after too many rewatches of Freaks and Geeks (itself set in the early 1980s and created in the late 1990s). Red Oaks, set in the 1980s, is basically for people who wouldn't mind seeing a bunch of '80s teen movie tropes, thrown together with a few elements of Dazed and Confused (itself, once again, set in the 1970s and made in the 1990s), and recombined into series form.
ReplyDeleteIt's mind boggling? My cynical side says that streaming platforms <3 to greenlight these things because their data indicates that such series' references will make them prepackaged "comfort food" for significant segments of the subscription base. But Laurel's point about creators' nostalgia is important here; it'd be hard to imagine such projects even being pitched were it not for the fact that current generations of creators grew up on content that appealed to nostalgia for a time that they (the contemporary young creators) may not even remember.
I really like and agree with what has been said about the relationship between nostalgia and recycled content, though I do think that there are other types of reboots cropping up today. Kruthika mentioned the new Lost in Space, which I doubt is trying to tap into a nostalgic longing for 60s sci-fi, as much as it is cashing in on the new breed of high-brow sci-fi (thanks to films like Ex Machina and shows like Westworld). I haven't seen the new show, but I imagine the strategy is simply to employ name recognition to give people an immediate idea of what it is Netflix is selling. There certainly will be fans of the original show tuning in, but I can't imagine they'll do so in search of nostalgia, considering that the technological and aesthetic changes will be so drastic. This is also what I find so interesting about the new Star Trek and Star Wars movies. Nostalgia is certainly a big part of their appeal, yet at the same time, there's such an obvious tension between catering to that desire and creating something new. To me it seems the latter is winning, especially considering the latest Star Wars film. In this sense, perhaps studios have realized that although nostalgia may be a legitimate entry point, to sustain a franchise or show, the content must be reinvented into something new.
ReplyDeleteLauren, Lauel, Hannah, and Chris, you all have made excellent points about the nostalgic and risk-aversion that is seeping into today's entertainment market, first with movies and then with television. I do think this trend definitely seems to be booming now but I realized that this trend has always existed, albeit in a muted manner. I think the best example of that is the Dr Who series, which has celebrated over 50 years of existence, but not a lot of people realize that the series originally ran from 1963-1989 and had a failed reboot plan before finally coming to fruition again in 2005. Additionally, there are so many shows that have been adapted from series across the world, as we learned through the informative week on Global television formats. It's really an interesting phenomenon and I have to thank you guys for providing some clarity and feeding my curiousity in this particular area.
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