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Over the past few years, I noticed that a major trend in television is to reboot classic TV shows. While some reboots (e.g., Dallas and Hawaii-Five O) have been somewhat successful, most have been failures, like Charlie’s Angels and Knight Rider. The unsuccessful recasts tend to cast classic TV shows to modern times. But this modernization, in an attempt to pursue this generation’s attention, takes away from the one thing that made them classic in the first place – they were targeted for the audience that existed at the time that the series originally ran. That we enjoy their reruns today reflects the durability of the writing and acting of these original shows, and our tendency to embrace nostalgia. But TV executives continue to look for ways to reinvent past successes by trying to use the same old formula. Apparently, no lessons were learned from The Munsters Today or The New Monkees which may have tainted the originals. Well, here is my plea to the TV industry – please do not try to resurrect these three classic TV shows! First up for a no reboot is The Flying Nun, and the number one reason for this relates to wardrobe. Sally Field’s character, Sister Bertrille, wore an iconic habit that somewhat looks like the bonnet worn in the Hulu hit, A Handmaiden’s Tale (although The Flying Nun’s cornette, perhaps appropriately, had wings). If a revival used the same type of habit, it would be difficult to watch a show about a woman with the freedom to fly wherever she wants, wearing headwear similar to that of a woman from another show who has no rights. Also, Sister Bertrille had a great platonic relationship with casino owner and playboy Carlos Raminez. In the 1960s, everyone was cool with it being platonic; Sister Bertrille was a nun after all! But if the show was recyled in order to appeal to a younger audience, the relationship would most likely become romantic, thus making the show more controversial and more of a drama. The show would no longer be the fun and campy show of the past; it would just be “Nunsense”! Click "Next" To Read More.... Taxi is another show that shouldn’t be touched – or retouched. I don’t think younger audiences can relate to a business where cabbies wait/hang out in a taxi garage to get a customer pick-up call, or drive around looking for a fare. We live in the age of Uber and Lyft; millennials rarely take taxis anymore outside of New York City, and even there many people use mobile apps to “hail a cab.” Today’s generation can’t relate to the show’s original setting. If Taxi was retooled for modern viewers, it would be about a bunch of twenty-somethings who share an apartment and start an Uber/Lyft-like business, today’s taxi company equivalent. A Taxi overhaul would lose its original premise of people from all walks of life having fun together and becoming a family. It would instead be a “hacky” show about a group building a small business empire. And sadly, with people using their own cars, there would be no need for a Louie De Palma dispatcher or a Latka Gravas mechanic. Finally, a Three’s Company remake is a definite no go. Though very little would have to be done to have the show appeal to a young audience (especially adolescent boys and young men gazing at beautiful women in tight clothes), the show likely would be far too political and, as a result, much less fun. Landlords Mr. Roper and Mr. Furley being led to believe that Jack Tripper was gay in order to permit him to live with two women (and subjecting Jack to terrible gay jokes) would no longer be tolerated. Even still, it is hard to believe that Los Angeles landlords today would even think twice renting an apartment to a threesome. In the heartland of the United States, on the other hand, such social morays might present more of a problem today than it did when Three’s Company originally aired. In today’s polarized world, with both extreme conservative and progressive movements, it would be near impossible to poke fun at the “situation” of this situation comedy, where every episode seemed to revolve around a thematic misunderstanding. The risk of modernizing typical original-run plots may bear too great a risk of offending half the country. A key premise of the show, the clash of two generations, would be lost. And maybe just as important, or at least an entertaining question for me, is which blonde roommate would they pick – Chrissy, Cindy or Terri? We need to preserve our television heritage, leaving classic TV in the past, and letting such series live on through syndication, not a do-over. Networks need to present new original ideas for TV and create new classics for generations to come. As the old saying goes, if something works, don’t fix it! (Photos courtesy of fanpop.com, EW.com, Yesmovies.com, and youtube.com from a Nick@Nite promo). RELATED: How Well Do You Know Three’s Company Sally Field Takes Off As “The Flying Nun” Disturbing TV Sitcom Episodes From The 70s And 80s

You searched for: The Today Show

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