10 Times 90s Cinema Tried To Reboot 60s Television (And Failed)
Capitalising on nostalgia isn't anything new, as the blockbusters of the '90s can attest...
Thirty years ago has always been popular. Just ask the producers of Stranger Things, G.L.O.W, Ghostbusters Afterlife, and Bill And Ted Face The Music. Even now we are seeing the trend slowly slip away from the ’80s to the ’90s with films such as Sonic The Hedgehog and the upcoming Mortal Kombat reboot.
This is by no means a new thing. Nostalgia has always been a strong selling point, and as we enter the new '90s, let’s take a look at the old ’90s and see how they became the new '60s (do you follow?).
It may have started with Star Trek: The Next Generation, rebooting the classic sci-fi show into something that pleased not only the OG Trekkies but introduced new fans just hopping on for a ride into the final frontier for the first time. The show was a hit and more '60s TV series were given the remake treatment, some for TV and some for cinema, the latter of which we are looking at today.
There were some successes: movies like The Addams Family and The Fugitive did well enough at the box office, and Tom Cruise still manages to cheat death and common sense today in the Mission: Impossible franchise. However, as we all know, its more fun to criticise failure rather than celebrate success, so here are 10 times '90s cinema tried to reboot the TV of the swinging '60s, only to miss.
10. Car 54, Where Are You? (1994)
Car 54, Where Are You? was a comedy cop show starring Joe E Ross, Fred Gwynne, Paul Reed, and Al Lewis. Gwynne and Lewis were probably best known for their roles as Herman and Grandpa from The Munsters, which saw its terrible own '90s reboot, albeit on the small screen.
Anywhos, the 1994 film version of Car 54, Where Are You? felt like a bad Police Academy knock-off, which should be enough of an answer as to why it's so awful.
The wacky screwball shenanigans were too juvenile for adults, but its 15 certificate meant it couldn’t be watched by children either, so who knows whom the intended audience was?
To add to the confusion, according to John C McGinley it was originally a musical but after editing only two songs remained. Even a cameo from Al Lewis himself couldn’t stop it from being a flop.