5 Television Reboots and Revivals With Higher IMDb Rankings Than Their Original Shows (& Which Ranked Lower)

It’s assumed the original TV show is always going to be better than the reboot or revival, but according to IMDb, there are some that rank better.

You Are Reading :5 Television Reboots and Revivals With Higher IMDb Rankings Than Their Original Shows (& Which Ranked Lower)

Over the past ten years, networks have taken on the trend of reviving those classic staples of yesteryear in an attempt to appeal to nostalgia and brand recognition as a way to reverse the downfall of network television ratings. Even streaming networks have hopped on the train of reviving classic series, bringing back beloved characters for a modern update.

The results have been decidedly mixed; a combination of attempts that have been nothing but hollow fan service, as well as genuine resurrections that have the heart of the original run.

10 Lower: Charlie’s Angels (1976 & 2011) – 6.5/4.4

While definitely not the peak quality of espionage shows, the original Charlie’s Angels was fun and campy enough to be enjoyable, and even now can be enjoyed with the right mindset.

However, the ill-advised 2011 one-season revival on ABC was frankly an embarrassment for all involved parties. Led by Friday Night Light’s Minka Kelly, the 2011 version attempted to add a slick update to the formula, falling flat on its face in the process. Though the property has continuously been milked in movie form to diminishing returns, this 2011 reboot is the worst offender.

9 Higher: Jersey Shore & Jersey Shore: Family Vacation – 3.6/6.7

MTV’s reality show Jersey Shore was both reviled and universally watched in shameful secrecy. In many ways, the reality series was a national guilty pleasure; outwardly reviled, but undeniably watchable. After a respectable original six-season run, the cast packed their bags for the last time.

That is until 2018 when the network brought almost everyone back for Family Vacation, which has continued to bring in good ratings for the network and is generally better received and/or ignored by the public at large.

8 Lower: Roseanne & The Conners (1988 & 2018) – 7.0/5.3

The original Roseanne was a sitcom that ran for years. The show, which ended rather infamously the first time, was revived for a new run on ABC to a fair bit of critical and popular success. That is until the titular star was swept up in a racist scandal of her own making and was fired from her show.

Instead of canceling it altogether, the network kept the revival going under the new title The Conners. It has found its fans since then, but based on the opinion of the masses, it has been unable to totally capture the essence of the original.

7 Higher: Beauty And The Beast (1987 & 2012) – 7.0/7.1

More well known for their contributions to the sci-fi genre, Linda Hamilton and Ron Perlman spent three years in the late ’80s on television as the titular couple in a serialized romantic fantasy take on the classic fairy tale. Though the series was never a huge hit, it accrued a sizable cult following over the years and was rebooted in 2012 by The CW.

Of course, the show was given a total makeover and more procedural elements, but the original’s melodrama carried over just fine to The CW who has made melodrama its bread and butter. Much like the original, the reboot garnered a loyal following, reflected in the similar though slightly higher user scores.

6 Lower: Perry Mason (1957 & 2020) – 8.2/7.6

Raymond Burr virtually made his entire career as defense attorney/investigator Perry Mason, based on a pulp-novel character of the same name. Burr won two Emmys, alongside numerous ones the show itself won over its long run, and he would continue to reprise the role in television films for the rest of his life.

In 2020, prestige premium network HBO revived the property, albeit in a much different form. The new iteration casts Matthew Rhys as the titular character in his younger years, and in contrast to the original’s more procedural format, the new series uses the whole season to explore a single case.

5 Higher: 24 & 24: Live Another Day (2001 & 2014) – 8.3/8.4

Kiefer Sutherland created one of television’s greatest heroes when he introduced the world to CTU agent Jack Bauer. A no-holds-barred spy who could seemingly never stop saving the world from imminent destruction, Sutherland and the team behind FOX’s iconic real-time espionage series 24 kept the nation on edge for eight well-received seasons.

A few years later, Sutherland returned in a limited series revival as Bauer. The series was a proper send-off for a beloved character and one last hurrah for one of TV’s best adrenaline rushes.

4 Lower: Twin Peaks (1990 & 2017) – 8.8/8.5

One of the most unbelievable and unlikely revivals of the modern sweep of them, David Lynch’s oddball noir mystery Twin Peaks was resurrected from the depths of cult-classic hell for a third season by Showtime in 2017. The original show followed the increasingly surreal and unsettling murder investigation of Laura Palmer, a slain beauty in the titular small town.

The 2017 season took full advantage of the premium-cable budget and freedom to take the series to new heights of abstract freakiness. The revival was slightly less acclaimed than the original but remains a successful enigma on its own terms.

3 Higher: Doctor Who (1963 & 2006) – 8.4/8.6

Love it or hate it, Doctor Who is one of the U.K.’s biggest exports. The original series was a beloved sitcom/adventure and sci-fi show that minced wit with cerebral goofs throughout interstellar antics. In 2006, the BBC decided to bring the show back for a series, which was successful enough to continue the franchise, which continues still to this day.

Throughout the new run of the property, stars have been made of David Tennant and Matt Smith, and longtime British character actors like Peter Capaldi got one of his biggest roles yet. An iconic piece of British culture, it’s no surprise modern IMDb users have shown up to support the recent iteration.

2 Lower: The Twilight Zone (1959, 1985, 2002, 2019) – 9.0/7.8/7.3/5.8

In 1959, Rod Serling showed the world the first glimpse of what would become one of the most legendary television shows of all time. Serling’s speculative-fiction anthology The Twilight Zone left an immense mark on the medium and genre fiction in general.

Naturally, with something so massively influential, attempts would be made to revive the show, multiple times. If the IMDb scores are any indication, that effort is to diminishing returns as each one has scored lower, including the high-profile Jordan Peele-produced 2019 reboot.

1 Higher: Battlestar Gallactica (1978 & 2004) – 7.2/8.7

Only running 24 episodes from 1978-1979, the original Battlestar Galactica series was a cult-favorite that was mostly relegated to circles of science-fiction aficionados. All of that changed when the SyFy network revived the property for a sleek, complex, and effortlessly cool reboot that ran until 2009 and garnered a wide array of critical laurels and audience love.

Both series tell the saga of a crew on the titular space vessel who are refugees in search of a place to live while being hunted by an aggressive race called the Cylons. Both iterations are undeniably classic television.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/tv-reboots-revivals-better-than-original-imdb/