Streaming has popularized the reboot; is that a good thing?
Streaming has popularized the reboot; is that a good thing?
Reboots and revivals of older shows are being churned out like never before. When does it become nostalgia for nostalgia’s sake?
Nostalgia has always been a potent tool in the arsenal of streaming services. Many platforms initially established themselves with iconic titles, deep libraries, and trendy reboots as a way to promote themselves in the early days of the Streaming Wars. Disney+, for example, leaned into the availability of classic episodes of “The Simpsons,” as well as a new series set in the Star Wars universe (“The Mandalorian”) when it first rolled out in 2019.
However, today, we are past the era in which every major media company is launching their own streamers and relying on nostalgia to draw viewers to these platforms. However, streamers’ reliance on well-known titles, characters, and franchises hasn’t slowed down — if anything, it’s increasing. Just look at Hulu, which has either released or greenlit reboots/revivals of “King of the Hill” and “Malcolm in the Middle” in the last year, and is also the next-day streaming home of episodes of the new “Scrubs” revival series. The trend could be interpreted as a push by streamers to simply peddle nostalgia in the name of engagement, but a closer look at these reboots and returns indicates that, with a few exceptions, streaming services are generally just giving fans what they want.
There is a clear demand for nostalgic TV shows and movies among audiences, as new data from Tubi demonstrates. Tubi’s “The Stream 2026: When Intention Becomes Attention” report shows that 97% of viewers are interested in watching content released more than 10 years ago. Sixty-three percent say shows of this age have superior style and storytelling, a crucial point to remember.
In addition, 79% of respondents to Tubi’s survey said that they wanted streaming services to remind them of content they used to love instead of just promoting new series, and, apparently, streamers are trying to meet that demand by reviving characters and stories that audiences have loved in the past.
But just because streamers are offering more reboots and revivals doesn’t mean that they will inherently be any good. The reboot is hardly a concept invented in the last five years; networks tried their hand at many in the late 2000s and early 2010s, with attempts like “Charlie's Angels,” “Knight Rider,” and “Bionic Woman” heaved into the discard bin after a season or two — or in some cases, just a few episodes.
More recently, streamers have had their share of misses, as well. Titles like 2021’s “Gossip Girl” on HBO Max, 2023’s “Frasier” on Paramount+, and last year’s notable flop “Suits LA” on Peacock all failed to live up to expectations, disappointing fans of the originals. None of them were critical darlings either, and for a time, it appeared that, while streamers would continue to be a repository for reboots and revivals, there wasn’t any notable effort being put into ensuring the quality of those titles, leaving fans to wonder if streamers were simply trying to take advantage of the good feelings for the originals.
Recently, however, the tide seems to be turning. Fans and critics alike have enjoyed the return of “Scrubs,” which has a 90% critical score and 94% Popcornmeter on Rotten Tomatoes. Season 14 of “King of the Hill” was able to achieve a “Universal Acclaim” score of 8.4 on Metacritic. The 2024 animated series “X-Men '97” on Disney+ was similarly hailed as a triumph, and won a Critics’ Choice Award for Best Animated Series.
Streamers are, on some level at least, aware that they can’t be flippant with their top intellectual property and expect fans to just show up for slop with a beloved brand slapped onto it. Hulu recently shelved a planned revival of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” even though original series star Sarah Michelle Gellar was attached to the project. That’s not to say the reboot would have been bad, necessarily, but it demonstrates Hulu’s caution in moving forward with a reboot from a well-known franchise simply because it could get some fan attention from doing so. Reports indicate that the Disney-owned streamer is still interested in bringing the franchise back, but wasn’t sold on the vision of Oscar-winning director and the show’s executive producer, Chloé Zhao.
Because streaming services have to keep the content pipeline running more or less constantly, reboots and revivals are attractive. Jumpstarting an older IP for the sake of nostalgia can be a quick path to easy engagement and new subscribers, but executing a reboot poorly can be an equally severe setback. The 2023 animated series “Velma,” set in the Scooby-Doo universe, did major reputational damage to Warner Bros. Discovery at a time when the company was already facing heat for content decisions, making a bad situation much worse.
Whether or not streamers are really being more intentional with the titles they allow to be rebooted, or whether they’re simply on a hot streak at the moment, is tough to say. But I lean toward the latter; many of the reboots that have achieved success in recent months have followed a similar formula in reuniting as much of the original cast with the original showrunner as possible.
This allows the new product to feel as authentically like the original that fans have come to know and love, but still lets the showrunner tell new stories with those characters. “King of the Hill” and “Scrubs” are two great examples of this formula leading to critical and fan acclaim.
There are undoubtedly more reboot and revival failures to come in the future of streaming, but streamers seem to realize that, despite any consternation, audiences are thirsty for these types of titles, so if you can get the returns right, fans will not only have the much-needed dose of nostalgia that they crave, but they will also have quality content to keep them engaged with the platform for (hopefully) years to come.
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