For many of us, TV is where we grew up. Whether it was in front of the tube, watching with friends or bingeing in bed, TV shows can shape our view of the world and even influence our attitudes and beliefs. That’s why when it comes to classic TV shows, the ones that are still watched by millions and remembered fondly decades later, they have a certain impact that we can’t really explain.
The first television shows were largely a transference of radio and vaudeville into a new medium, with games like “Truth or Consequences” bringing over-the-top stunts from the radio to TV (think dressing monkeys in children’s clothing or running an obstacle course against an Olympic athlete camouflaged as an old woman). Some of the earliest TV shows aimed to capture America’s nostalgia for a simpler time; Garry Marshall’s “Happy Days,” which ran from 1974-1985, captured the 1950s so well that it helped launch spinoffs such as “Laverne & Shirley” and “Mork & Mindy,” coined a whole host of catchphrases including “sit on it” and “jump the shark” and introduced Henry Winkler and Ron Howard as stars.
Some of the earliest sitcoms were also groundbreaking, with the Mary Tyler Moore show paving the way for female leads to break through a predominantly male landscape and helping create trailblazers like Tina Fey and Issa Rae. The Dick Van Dyke Show was similarly a landmark, balancing a workplace comedy with family dynamics in a way few other shows had before.
In recent years, the rise of streaming services has led to the resurgence of some of the most iconic shows in history, with the likes of Fuller House and Roseanne returning for modern audiences. These revivals, ranging from spinoffs to full-blown remakes of original shows, have been met with mixed reactions. While some fans have found them to be the next big thing, others find them to be an overindulged cash-in.
Revivals that resurrect a show’s original cast, setting, or premise, generally seem to inspire the most ambivalence. This can be due to their blatant attempts at tapping into nostalgic viewership, but also because they often seem to address current political or social issues in the same way that they did in the past.
The exception to this is when the reboot is intentionally trying to address modern problems, as was the case with FX’s “The Shield” in 1999. Michael Chiklis’s police drama pushed against the usual dichotomy of cops being good and criminals being bad, which inspired a generation of cable crime dramas such as “Nip/Tuck” and “Rescue Me.” Similarly, shows like “Orange Is the New Black” have begun to make it more normal for TV to portray even murderers and drug dealers as people with complicated lives.