A Roundup of the Worst 90s Show Remakes

With a stellar cast including Shenae Grimes of Degrassi fame and mega babe AnnaLynne McCord, this 2008 reboot took a valiant stab at recreating the glamour, drama and intrigue of the Beverly Hills High School crew. Despite the show’s best efforts, though, there’s just no trumping Aaron Spelling’s epic 90s version featuring Jason Priestley, Jennie Garth, Brian Austin Green and more bright stars.

Charmed, a TV series about three witchy sisters who fight evil together, first aired from 1998 to 2006. Twelve years later in 2018, the show saw a revival featuring an entirely new cast—a notion that doesn’t sit well with fans. Holly Marie Combs, who played Piper Halliwell in the original show, tweeted her thoughts on the reboot, arguing that the fresh-faced, younger cast sends the wrong message to viewers, and that the addition of a “feminist” plotline is redundant. “Guess we forgot to do that the first go around. Hmph,” Combs tweeted.

Although the majority of the cast of Full House—the original sitcom that aired from 1987 to 1995—have made appearances on the reboot, Fuller House, the show is lacking one (well, two) very important stars: Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen. Since the 90s version was the show that shot the stylish twins to stardom in the first place, it seems utterly blasphemous to film a reboot without them.

Twenty-one years after the beloved teen comedy, Boy Meets World, first premiered in 1993, the show saw a reboot in the form of Girl Meets World—starring Cory and Topanga’s fictional daughter, Riley. Although the gender switch-up was a cute idea, Ben Savage has completely lost his fresh-faced charm, and the show (which was cancelled in 2017) is lacking that special ‘je ne sais quoi’ that made the first edition so irresistible.

A spin-off of the much-loved 90s classic 90210, the original Melrose Place, which aired from 1992 to 1999, has been called “the show of the 90s.” It’s no surprise, then, that the 2009 reboot starring Katie Cassidy, Stephany Jacobsen and Ashlee Simpson (yes, that Ashlee Simpson) just didn’t make the grade—the show was cancelled in 2010 after just one short season.

Although the brand new Murphy Brown reboot will touch on some very important 2018-focused topics like #MeToo and fake news, there’s no denying that the golden age of investigative reporting is over. The show’s first installment, which aired from 1988 to 1998, encapsulates a simpler time before social media changed the media landscape for good, and it’s just too nostalgic to be beat.

Roseanne, the beloved family sitcom that aired from 1988 to 1997, saw a brief reboot in 2018. But it left a sour taste in many viewers’ mouths when the show’s star, Roseanne Barr, attacked Obama’s former senior advisor, Valerie Jarrett, on Twitter, calling her an “ape.” The reboot was cancelled not long after the social media scandal, and plans are currently in the works for another spin-off called The Conners—minus Roseanne, of course.

A reboot of the classic 90s cartoon, Magic School Bus, featuring the voice of Kate McKinnon seemed so promising, but alas, fans were totally dissuaded by the Netflix versions shoddy animation. Viewers claimed the smooth animation looked “cheap” and changed the look of the beloved characters much too drastically. Oh, well: the show can always improve its animation next school year!

Featuring the same all-star cast as the show’s 1998 edition (Debra Messing, Eric McCormack, Megan Mullally and Sean Hayes create comedy gold together), the 2017 Will & Grace revival blends its witty sense of humour with a smattering of delightful, up-to-date references. However, the reboot made no attempt at explaining the 2006 series finale in which Will and Grace lost touch for 20 years, except for the flimsy excuse that Karen had dreamed it all. That just won’t cut it, writers!

Just kidding: there hasn’t been a Friends reboot (yet). In this case, the only crime committed by the TV gods is the absence of a remake of this absolute 90s classic. Since the show wrapped in 2004, rumours of a reunion have been flying, and according to recent reports, all the stars are gung-ho except for Matt LeBlanc. Here’s hoping his mind can be changed!