Last weekend I binge watched Fuller House, the reboot of the 1980’s family sitcom, Full House. The previews teased a brand new show about the older 2 girls of the Tanner family, DJ and Stephanie. It could have been a fresh start and an original Netflix show. While it found a fresh start at times throughout the series, at most places it was unfortunately far from that. 

From the opening of the first episode it did nothing but refer back to every catch phrase, storyline, fashion mistake and even real life struggles (the entire cast glare at the camera after mentioning that Michelle is running her multimillion dollar fashion empire and can’t be bothered to visit). Were this the only time such a mistake in television writing has happened, it would not be an issue, but sadly this is not the case. The first season of Disney Channel’s Girl Meets World consisted mostly of original Boy Meets World plot lines rewritten for the new characters, sometimes even referencing this fact when the writers couldn’t fix generational plot holes. As the second season came around writers corrected this mistake, instead referencing the original series only as setups for fresh stories. If Fuller House is renewed for a second season, hopefully writers will forget about nostalgia and go with this approach.

Reboots and continuations of series and movies have been a regularly used concept recently, allowing producers and creators to bring back such shows as The X-Files, The Evil Dead, Heroes, and even Twin Peaks. Some have been extraordinary with fresh stories that feel like the show never left (X-Files) while others rely too much of their originals, leaving us wanting more (Heroes Reborn).

With so many of these being produced it seems like the mantra of Hollywood not having new ideas now applies to television. Is this a good idea or do you think show creators need a better brainstorming session?