Next week one of the early entries in the current reboot/remake era comes to a close with another series finale for NBC’s “Will & Grace” (9 p.m. April 23, WPXI-TV), 14 years after the original run’s series finale in 2006.
This zeal to bring back past successes for another round inspired the book “Why We Remake: The Politics, Economics and Emotions of Film and TV Remakes” (Routledge) by Australia’s Lauren Rosewarne, a senior lecturer at the University of Melbourne.
She points out the economic advantages of reboots: They play to executives’ risk aversion; public recognition of a known title makes marketing easier and if a studio already owns the rights to the show, there are financial advantages.
And, of course, there’s the emotional lure of nostalgia.
“We think of the nostalgia of the audience wanting to reconnect with the characters they loved in the past but it’s also nostalgia on the part of filmmakers and showrunners,” she said in a Skype interview last week. “They’re attempting to reproduce something they loved from their childhood. It’s why we see almost a generation gap between an original and a reproduction because that’s when directors came of age and why in the last couple of years we’ve seen so many ‘90s remakes by directors or showrunners who are now in their 40s and idealizing things from their own past.”
Ms. Rosewarne understands the cringe-y response some remakes receive, especially those that just try to pick up where the show left off.
“ ‘Murphy Brown’ was cutting edge when it was originally on … yet it was coming back in a way that implied nothing has changed except everyone was just a bit older,” she said of the 2018-19 reboot season. “It doesn’t feel like a creative experience; it feels like a cash grab and audiences are very savvy to that.”
Ms. Rosewarne rightfully draws the line at disparaging all reboots/remakes as evidence that Hollywood has run out of ideas.
“There tends to be this heavy idealization of this era that magically once existed in Hollywood where everything was new and amazing and that just has never, ever been the case,” she said. “We have always filmed new stories alongside new versions of old stuff since the dawn of time. If you look at the first films made by Hollywood, they were film versions of plays and novels.”
She points to the 1939 cherished classic “The Wizard of Oz.” Most people forget it can be seen as a remake of a 1925 black and white, silent version of the story based on the L. Frank Baum book.
“When something is a massive success, we often forget it has some sort of link to something in the past,” she notes, adding that the use of Technicolor, a new technology at the time, offered a new impact.
The use of new technology, such as improved special effects, can be a justified impetus for reboots. Timeliness is another way remakes attempt to convey newfound relevance such as “Will & Grace” doing a #MeToo episode.
Other efforts to update series reboots come in the form of a gender swap (the in-development Disney+ “Doogie Howser, M.D.” remake will star a teen girl instead of a boy; CBS’s “Equalizer” pilot has a woman in the lead role instead of a man) or a race swap (the “One Day at a Time” remake focuses on a Latino family instead of a white family) in an effort to make a familiar title newly relevant.
“It looks a little more woke because it’s not the same,” she said. “We’ve tweaked around the edges. ‘Heathers’ is another example with its gender-fluid and lesbian characters. It’s speaking to this new generation with an old story.”
And, she points out, complaining about a lack of creativity in film and TV somehow never carries over to the 500th staging of Shakespeare’s “The Tempest” or a symphony playing Beethoven for the thousandth time.
“We don’t even use the same language when something is redone in those mediums,” Ms. Rosewarne points out. “Television and to a lesser extent film has always been seen as lowbrow culture, and it’s considered a patently commercial enterprise. … Part of that is we don’t think culturally of theater and music as primarily commercial in the same way we do film and TV.
“Even then we’re so hypocritical as an audience,” she continued. “As much as we complain and say we hate this stuff, it wouldn’t keep being produced if we didn’t keep paying and going to see it or watching it on TV. It’s not like we’re sleepwalking into the cinema or just letting Netflix auto-play while we’re lying in bed. There is lying involved in fetishizing the concept of original, but we demonstrate through our viewing decisions that we like the comfort of the familiar.”
Peacock hatches
On Wednesday, new NBCUniversal ad-supported streaming service Peacock Premium began rolling out via Comcast for customers with the Xfinity Flex and X1 platforms (at no additional cost). This soft launch, debuting to Comcast customers in phases through the end of the month, comes in advance of the July 15th premiere of the platform nationally for non-Comcast customers, including Peacock Free (7,500 hours of free TV shows and movies), Peacock Premium ($4.99, includes original series and more) and an ad free-version (another $5). Ad-supported versions of Peacock will initially feature no more than five minutes of ads per hour.
Peacock Premium now offers Comcast subscribers access to 50,000 hours of library programming as well as early (about 9:30 p.m.) access to some segments from each night’s “The Tonight Show: At Home Edition” and “Late Night with Seth Meyers.”
On a conference call with reporters Tuesday, Peacock chairman Matt Strauss acknowledged COVID-19 has altered plans for the July roll-out, which was supposed to feature programming from the Tokyo Olympics (moved to 2021) and original series premieres on the Peacock Premium tier.
Mr. Strauss indicated the series “Brave New World” and a new “Psych” movie were completed before Hollywood’s coronavirus-forced shutdown and will debut in 2020, possibly at the July launch. He said he feels optimistic the “Saved by the Bell” and “Punky Brewster” sequel series can be completed for premieres later this year while acknowledging other series will shift to 2021 debuts.
Comcast Flex and X1 customers can access Peacock by speaking “Peacock” into their voice-activated remote controls.
Apple TV+ free access
For an undefined “limited time,” Apple TV+ is offering free access to multiple series (“For All Mankind,” “Dickinson,” “Little America” and “Servant” but not “The Morning Show”) and children’s series on the Apple TV app.
Kept/canceled/spun off
Fox renewed “9-1-1” for season four and “9-1-1: Lone Star” for season two.
CBS canceled “God Friended Me,” which will air a two-hour series finale on April 26th.
Lifetime announced spin-off “Married at First Sight: Couples’ Cam” (8 p.m. May 20), featuring past “Married at First Sight” couples recording their ongoing lives in a self-shot show.
Channel surfing
For “Star Wars” Day (May 4), Disney+ debuts an eight-episode docu-series about the making of “The Mandalorian.” ... HBO’s “We’re Here” (9 p.m. April 23) follows three drag queens who visit small towns — beginning with Gettysburg in the series premiere — and recruit local residents to participate in a one-night-only drag show. … CBS’s “Survivor: Winners at War” finale will air 8-11 p.m. May 13 as host Jeff Probst connects remotely with all 20 players. … A new season of CBS’s “The Amazing Race,” filmed in fall 2018 and sitting on a shelf ever since, debuts 8-10 p.m. May 20th. … AMC launches a new half-hour video-chat-based show, “Friday Night In with the Morgans” (10 p.m. Friday), starring Jeffrey Dean Morgan (“The Walking Dead”) and wife Hilarie Burton Morgan (“One Tree Hill”). … ABC’s “American Idol” will move forward with live episodes featuring contestants, judges and host Ryan Seacrest conferencing in from their homes. … “Andrea Bocelli: Music for Hope,” performed on Easter alone in a cathedral, will air as a “Great Performances” special, 6:30-7 p.m. Sunday on WQED-TV.
Tuned In online
Today's TV Q&A column on the blog responds to questions about “The Voice,” “Mrs. America” “FBI,” “Jeopardy!” and “Tiger King.” Read online-only TV content at http://communityvoices.post-gazette.com/arts-entertainment-living/tuned-in.
TV writer Rob Owen: rowen@post-gazette.com or 412-263-2582. Follow RobOwenTV on Twitter or Facebook for breaking TV news.
First Published: April 17, 2020, 12:00 p.m.
