NBC Wants To Revive The Past!
GROAN! Enough is enough!
I’m completely with the rest of the world supporting the upcoming television revivals of Will & Grace and Roseanne. Along with these fantastic series, Miami Vice, Twin Peaks, Curb Your Enthusiasm, MTV’s TRL, Arrested Development, That’s So Raven, Full House, American Idol, and Dynasty are being brought back. That is just a handful of them- there’s still more in the works. Including Golden Girls/Gays and Murder, She Wrote. Don’t even get me started on the endless amount of film remakes that have been hitting the big and small screens. According to Deadline, Bob Greenblatt, NBC Entertainment Chairman, is working to revive West Wing, The Office, 30 Rock, and ER.
“The four series Greenblatt mentioned are all signature NBC shows with long, successful runs and Best Series Emmy wins. While he would love to see them come back, the network is being selective, only going for “the flashiest, the best things” to try and reboot. Also, “it’s not an easy think to crack (a revival), expectations are so high and you’ve got to get it just right,” Greenblatt added. He reiterated that “we’re not thinking anything beyond Miami Vice” at the moment but “if Tina called and said ‘I’d do 30 Rock,’ I’d do it in a heartbeat, even for a limited run. The same about The Office. Will & Grace, NBC introduced a new type of revival that includes the original cast, creators and director. “I think that to me is the best way to go — you have the original DNA of the creators, you have the director, you have the cast, you have the set — everything is what it once was.”
Come on! As a writer, this devastates me! I may sound hypocritical due to my excitement of Will & Grace, but I’m sick and tired of the nostalgia being revived. What happened to original ideas? There are plenty of untouched talent and stories out there that can become iconic. The networks need to take a tip from The Brady Bunch. If you’re going to do this, parody it. Keep the series contained to a mini-series ala Gilmore Girls for a solid four hours of closure. You do know that NBC is ignoring the Will & Grace finale right? Are they going to revisit FRIENDS and act as if Ross and Rachel never stayed together so we can watch them run circles around each other for another 7+ years?
I believe the only solution is to continue making our own content. Luckily, with platforms like YouTube, anyone can showcase their latest project. Please, give me some original content. I can’t handle all of these revivals.
Check out Deadline’s full article on revivals here!
