MIKE ON TV: Reboot Mania, Including the Return of 'Roseanne'

You might have been the more than 18.4 million people who watched the return of "Roseanne" on Tuesday night. It was a tremendous hit for ABC, which tells you all you need to know about why the networks keep bringing back old favorites. Not only are viewers hungry for nostalgia, but reboots and remakes are easy to promote and cut through the clutter in this age of too much TV.

As I wrote in IndieWire, "The triumphant return of “Roseanne” stunned executives, including top brass at ABC. Insiders at rival networks predicted a rating as high as 3.0 among adults 18-49, which would have been deemed a huge success. The hour-long return blew up those projections, coming in at a stunning 5.2 rating."

“Roseanne” is the latest in a series of remakes and reboots that have posted strong numbers — perpetuating the cycle. Fox’s “The X-Files,” NBC’s “Will & Grace” and Netflix’s “Fuller House” are among the series that have returned to huge audiences, leading to multiple-season orders. More, of course, are on the docket for next season, including CBS’ “Murphy Brown” revisit.

I spoke about it recently for the CBC, which recently did a full report on reboot mania, noting: "You've got to cut through the clutter," Schneider said. "We've got more channels now. We've got more streaming services and they all want to make noise. The quickest way to make noise is to bring back something that we all loved in our youth." Watch above!

KCRW's Screengrab: Riding the Wave of Gen X Reboots and Revivals

Every week, Joe Adalian and I talk TV on KCRW's "Screengrab," a weekly segment that airs on Tuesday mornings at 8:45 a.m. on KCRW during "Morning Edition."

On Tuesday's episode, we talked about the world of reboots and remakes:

If you're a fan of Gen X nostalgia, it's been a great couple of weeks for you. 1980's reboots and revivals continue to get the greenlight. Every time old shows are announced to be coming back, there's always a blowback of criticism about TV being out of new ideas. Years ago, it's true the reboots could take away oxygen from potential new shows, but in today's landscape, there's plenty of space for new ideas at cable and streaming networks, so perhaps a little comfortable nostalgia is what the broadcast networks are best at. Perhaps, however, there should be a time limit before something can come back. Joe votes 10 years, at least.

Listen below!

MIKE ON TV: Talking Reboots and Remakes on "The Insider"

Ha, I guess I've been branded a "MEDIA INSIDER" now. Syndicated entertainment show The Insider asks, "Is Hollywood running out of ideas?" On Friday's show I explained the whole reboot/remake phenomenon, and why TV and film are scared of original concepts.