When I was growing up, my list of favorite drama/action TV shows were something like this-

• Bionic Man
• Battlestar Galactica
• Knight Rider
• Airwolf
• Simon and Simon/Magnum PI
• Miami Vice

Now when I turn on the tele, instead of reruns I see reimagined versions of Bionic Woman, Battlestar Galactica, and now Knight Rider.  In the theatres, we had movie versions of The Dukes of Hazzard, Miami Vice, and Starsky and Hutch… and in an interesting reversal there’s the made for TV Terminator- Sarah Conner Chronicles and I believe an upcoming Star Wars series.

Is it possible that we’re running out of creativity, and simply rehashing old ideas, or are TV shows like fashion- acid wash jeans and pastel colors get recycled after a couple of generations when everyone has forgotten what a bad idea they were in the first place.

It seems odd to me to see the same shows appear on TV again.  I have happy childhood memories of the originals, so why do they need to bring the shows back to try the formula again?  For whatever reason, the remakes are often shadows of the original.  Sorry, but Starsky and Hutch was a joke, I couldn’t bring myself to see Dukes of Hazzard, and Miami Vice was just ok, but none lived up to the original. 

Don’t get me wrong, I thought that the reimagination of Battlestar Galactica was waaay better than the original… once you got past the fact that Starbuck is now a girl.  Likewise with  Terminator- I actually really like it- it’s clever and they’ve put a new spin on it.  I hope it gets renewed.

As for the new Knight Rider and Bionic woman.  Boooring.  I hope the old Kitt comes out of retirement and shows the new Kitt some old school moves.