July Ask Me Anything Meme, Day 29 (July 29th)

[erychan86]

July 29th - What are your thoughts on remakes/reboots? What are some key factors into making a successful and respectful remake? rogueslayer452

As I accidentally mentioned the other day, I 'm not a big fan of remakes/reboots. I mean, am I going to watch a remake/reboot of a show I was use to watch? Hell yes, but before watching it you'll see me go through the stages of grief:

1. Denial: Oh no no no, it can't be happening. That was such a great show... they can't...

2. Anger: NO! They're totally going to ruin it. The ending wasn't that bad (the ending is 95% of the times bad IMHO... I'm extremely rarely happy with the ending of a show today because the creators go for the OMG factor, to surprise thr fan... I'm looking at you How I Met Your Mother with your STUPID ending I'll NEVER forgive you Craig Thomas and Carter Bays) and now they're going to make a mess of it. Damn it! I'm NOT going to watch it.

3. Bargaining: Oh... Look... The original cast is all there... They're so pretty... I can watch just one episode... I mean... They're not going to mess it all up right from the start, right? Maybe just a couple...

4. Depression: It was such a good show. Why do I want to do that to myself? The crazy amount of feels the first run gave me wasn't enough? All the tears... all the flipped tables... all these sleepless night because it Italy we're 6 hours ahead,... WHY?? *ugly sobbing*

5. Acceptance: You know what? I'm going to watch it. I'm probably going to hate every minute of it but damn it it's good to see these faces again!

I think networks should stop thinking about making money right away on something they know will sell because it already has a fanbase, and start concentrating again on original contents, creating new fandoms. 75% of the time a new show is out you hear the magic words: "Show XYZ based on the national best seller ZYX" now they're even doing shows based on movies like Minority Report and Limitless,... Were they good shows? Limitless definitely was, and it should have been renewed, but that's not the point...

To finish answering your question: the key factor to a successful and respectful remake is thinking about what else the show and its story could give to its fans... What is left to say... and work from there, instead of thinking about how much more money a new character, for instance, would bring in terms of franchising.

Comments

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

'Minority Report' was actually pretty good! It took it a few episodes to get its footing, but there was a lot of nice social commentary mixed in with the science fiction, just like the original movie. And yeah it would have been just as relevant today as it was when it was originally made - the idea of judging people before they commit a crime, profiling, using computers instead of compassion...but I liked the world (even if I thought the main characters clothing was hilarious as it was the SAME OUTFIT every show, just different colored tank top)

I'm just so tired of reboots/remakes.

[erychan86.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately I stopped watching after the pilot, I liked the movie quite a lot, but the show was missing something for me... I'm glad to know it got better and I hope they didn't cancel it without giving it a sort of a finale...

Thing is, with these reboots/remakes the networks think they can get easy money right away, and they don't give the show its time to grow and get its fans back... Both Limitless and Minority report got cancelled... Heroes Reborn (that was VERY bad IMO) got cancelled as well after a season, Damien (sequel of the movie Omen? IDK I've never watched the movie) cancelled as well... I honestly don't know what they're thinking...

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

They are lazy and think just slapping the copyrighted name on it means they don't have to advertise.

And then when they do get a good product, they don't know *how* to advertise it - like Hannibal, Limitless and Minority Report. There were some episodes of Minority Report I swear you could SEE the executive's notes on the screen - more this, less that blah blah blah until they decided to cancel it and then you could tell the writers were like "FINE WE ARE GOING TO DO IT OUR WAY!" -- listening to commentaries from other cancelled shows, it sounds like the cast can tell, they get a vibe, when the network just isn't getting it.

It is frustrating and I don't think the networks realize how much it hurts them overall. How many of us have stopped watching shows when they premiere, sick of getting our hearts broken when the network yanks it a few episodes later? I think this is why streaming is so popular - people know what they are going to get and when.

[erychan86.livejournal.com]

I agree with everything, especially the last paragraph... Before starting a show in the summer time (when I have more time) I now check if it has been renewed... And before starting a new show I also check which network it's going to be on. If it's Fox and it's not a procedural I know it's not going to last, if it's on CBS and is not a teen-ish drama (that can then be moved into CW) I back off a little...

See there's this show I love: Stitchers, it's now on Freeform (ABC Family) and it's VERY good... It doesn't have a lot of viewers because it's a sort of a procedural and it's a first for the network but it's GREAT! The advertising is SO BAD though... Season 1 was way too much and season 2 too little. But the network bet on it (at least on season 1... Season 2 was kind of a mess because it was shown way too late) but the show is BRILLIANT and it's always surprising... When I see shows like that, that are not adaptations from books, movies, video games,.. and I see the network betting on it, no matter how low the ratings are, I rejoice... I really hope is going to get renewed for a season 3 and I really hope they'll do a good job with the ads this time!!! We need more stuff like that on TV...

[rogueslayer452.livejournal.com]

I think if remakes were an occasional thing it wouldn't that big of an issue, but remakes are so common nowadays with movies and television, it truly makes it seem like nobody is original anymore. Perhaps there is this fear now that originality can be too risky and only go with what you know will work instead of going for something different, something unique. Add in the fact that networks or studios most likely won't advertise it well because it is too much of a risk, that is why the really amazing ones that do something new instead of the generic thing get overlooked or not promoted enough.

Also, too many remakes nowadays are about taking something that did so well before and trying to recreate it, even attempting to outdo it, but more often than not it fails miserably. If you're gonna do a remake, why not take something that failed initially and do right by its potential?

One of my favorite examples of a successful remake is Battlestar Galactica, which was a re-imagining of the 70s original series. It took the basic premise of its predecessor and made it its own. From the miniseries onward it succeeded in doing something new, something original, something that was both a homage to the original series and also new and fresh for the story, to tell it in a different way, go in a new direction. It succeeded and did so well because it took that risk. Many people want to try and do just that, but it often doesn't follow through because the right formula isn't there. Remakes and reboots want to churn things out as quickly as possible (for money, obviously) without really thinking of how they're to do it; there's no passion behind it and it just falls flat.

Overall though, I think we're burnt out on remakes. Even if one can be done extremely well and hit all the right notes, we need more original stories. We need more adaptations of books that rightfully deserve their story to be told on the screen. No more trying to make bank off of something in name only.

[erychan86.livejournal.com]

I think if remakes were an occasional thing it wouldn't that big of an issue, but remakes are so common nowadays with movies and television, it truly makes it seem like nobody is original anymore.
I'm glad I'm not the only one that feels this way!!

We definitely need more original stories... :) All I can think about right now is a show like Stitchers that is original and VERY well written but the network doesn't advertise it properly... I hate loosing a good show because it's easier to make a new show based on a book or a movie or a remake of an old series because there's already a fanbase and they don't have to spend money advertising it and they can make more money with the merch...

:( Sadly money worth more than quality :(