In the Age of Reboots, What Is Left Undone?

We know that Hollywood has always depended on remakes and adaptations to feed its production line, but lately it seems like overkill. There no longer is a generational wait to revamp a popular title -- Spider-man only needed a few years before they started from scratch again. Now more reboots are on the way.  Vince Vaughn is bringing back The Brady Bunch for CBS and Universal Pictures is making another Little Rascals movie.

Unlike the super-campy last few Brady Bunch movies, the new TV series will allegedly be a continuation of the original beloved sitcom. The youngest Brady sibling, Bobby, all grown up and divorced, will re-marry and create an extended family of his own.

The Little Rascals redux will be more in line with the lackluster movie instead of the original black-and-white shorts, but maybe it will surprise me. Directed by Alex Zamm, who brought us the Carrot Top movie Chairman of the Board and some direct-to-DVD sequels of Inspector Gadget, Beverly Hills Chihuahua, and Tooth Fairy, I don't blame anyone who sets their expectations low.

My friend Debbie posted a great essay on her blog rightfully stating that not all reboots are necessarily bad, and I confess I'm eager to see the upcoming new Godzilla and the Superman restart The Man of Steel.  Reboots of Bionic Woman and Charlie's Angels were just some of a long stream of failures, but then the remakes of Battlestar Galactica and the recent relaunch of Dallas were undeniable successes, so I hold out hope that the Munsters re-imagining Mockingbird Lane might work. If not, they'll just tap into the same well again until they get it right.