Reboots? I don’t particularly  like them.

I don’t like reboots. They’re unoriginal and almost always have a severe downgrade in quality. The main purpose of reboots is to stimulate revenue, and as a result people working on the reboot won’t work as hard because they know anything with that franchise’s/media’s name on it will make money. 

Why reboots?

Reboots are common because they’re “not as risky” as completely original works. (stealing ideas/”reboots” = money) Sometimes reboots are entirely different from the source material, which may not be a good thing. They can throw out everything in the existing canon  (discarding continuity)  and the story becomes convoluted. This is also misleading to the viewers expecting to see similar themes/tones as the original. When a piece of media continuously comes out with reboots, people start losing interest in it. It’s quite agitating, because the originals are usually good.

Ratings

Let’s take a look at the ratings for some reboot shows vs the originals. Gossip Girl is a show that aired from 2007-2012 and ended with 6 seasons. It got rebooted in 2021 with an entirely different cast and tone. I don’t like this because I enjoyed the soap opera-esque theme of the original and I liked the old characters a lot more. The highest rated episode of the original had a 9.0. The highest rated episode of the reboot had a 7.8. That’s a 1.2 point difference. 

Another reboot show is Fuller House. The original show was called Full House and it ran from 1987 to 1995. Some of actors of the show reprised their roles, but there are also some new characters. I don’t think it has the charm of the original, however. I still believe it kept some elements of the original, though. In 2016, the reboot debuted on Netflix (which is notorious for bad reboots, might I add). The highest rating of the original series was 8.5. The highest rating of the reboot series was also 8.5. The show was kept similar to the original, which may have contributed to this. I think the reboot was okay in terms of plots and quality, but wasn’t as good as the original.

End

Many people watch reboots for nostalgia, which drives them to watch a reboot to see how a modern take on an older show or movie will turn out. While most reboots may not be good, some of them are well made and retain parts of the original while also providing a fresh perspective on a piece of media.