9 TV Shows That Tried To Exploit Nostalgia (And Failed)
Nostalgia only gets you so far.
It's becoming increasingly obvious that nostalgia is the most valuable currency in the entertainment industry. Move over 'originality' and 'creativity', what's really important in creating a piece of media fans love is tapping into the things they already love from the past, and repackaging it with enough new bells and whistles to justify bringing it back.
While that's a fair assessment of the big media-making machine, it's not to say that all TV show revivals, spin-offs, prequels or special episodes that tap into nostalgia are inherently bad. Some, like Twin Peaks: The Return, have opened up incredible new creative avenues for shows that were otherwise stuck in a formula, while others simply breathe new life into an older brand and, occasionally, even improve on what came before.
For every success though there's a bunch more that crash and burn, lazy enough to assume that slapping an established title or bringing back a returning face for a new series will result in everyone flocking to their TVs because they remember the thing. Hell, sometimes the intentions might have even been noble, but nostalgia-baiting still won out in the end.