9 TV Shows That Tried To Exploit Nostalgia (And Failed)

1. Arrested Development

A classic case of 'be careful what you wish for', even before Arrested Development aired its final episode, fans of the cult sitcom were begging anyone who would listen to bring it back for more seasons. It took a while, but that perseverance finally paid off when Netflix revived the show with the original cast in 2013.

The problem was, though, in the gap between seasons, pretty much every member of the cast skyrocketed to success, and getting them all in the same room was impossible. As a result, the fourth season had to split the cast up (or crudely green screen them into each other's scenes) and fans agreed the magic just wasn't there as a result. It wasn't terrible, but the experiment had failed, and it was clear that there'd be no point moving forward unless you could get that chemistry back.

That led to another five-year wait for Season 5, but finally the cast was mostly back together for another string of episodes. At this point though, fans realised it wasn't just the team not interacting with each other that was the problem, but the writing as a whole. The magic of earlier seasons just wasn't there, and the funniest lines were simply callbacks to gags over a decade old.