Never has there been a clearer indicator that folks today hate the times they’re living in than the fact all the popular sitcoms and TV dramas of the past are getting revived or rebooted. Shows like FULL HOUSE, ROSEANNE, GILMORE GIRLS, MACGYVER and more are getting reboots or returning seasons, with two more being added to the pile: MAGNUM, P.I. and CAGNEY & LACEY.
CBS recently announced that the classic dramas are being rebooted for the network and have been given pilot orders. Both shows were staples in the vast canon of 80s cop procedurals, making stars out of actors like Tom Selleck and Tyne Daly. Peter Lenkov, who rebooted shows like HAWAII FIVE-0 and MACGYVER will oversee MAGNUM, while Bridget Carpenter will handle CAGNEY & LACEY.
MAGNUM, P.I. is one of the most popular 80s shows of all time, turning Selleck, cloaked in his captivating mustache, into a household name. The show ran for 8 seasons and had 162 episodes winning both Tom Selleck (as Thomas Magnum) and supporting actor John Hellerman (as Jonathan Higgins) Golden Globe and Emmy awards. The show will focus on the same premise of a retired war veteran returning home and becoming a private investigator, but the character of Higgins will be changed to a woman named Juliet Higgins. Selleck, who is currently on CBS' BLUE BLOODS, will not have any involvement with the show, but has apparently given it his blessing.
CAGNEY & LACEY was also an acclaimed cop drama of the 80s, starring Daly and Sharon Gless. Running for seven seasons and winning a slew of Emmys for acting and best drama series, the show follows two L.A. police detectives who work to clean up the streets. CBS has given a pilot order to another female-led cop drama, CHIEFS, which will focus on three different female police chiefs who create a task force dedicated to catching a serial killer.
In short, CBS is not a place to go if you aren't a fan of law enforcement or reboots. The network already has HAWAII, MACGYVER and S.W.A.T. in the mix as they continue to scour the catalog for other shows to reboot. If people watch these shows and want to see more of their favorites get rebooted, then more power to them. But, clearly this takes away from original shows getting the greenlight, and I hope this doesn’t cause all the other networks to ignore unique programming in favor of shameless reboots. How about a show where two cops are cleaning up the streets of Chicago, but instead of people, the cops are a cat and dog. Boom, there's a new franchise. Give that the green light, CBS.