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Reboots & revivals: Saved by the Bell, Punky Brewster, Psych, AP Bio.

80s TV hits (plus a few others) are back in new guises for NBCU streaming service.

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A bunch of nostalgic US shows have been rebooted or refreshed in the US for new NBC streaming service Peacock, and dropped their trailers.

Saved By The Bell returns with new leads Josie Totah and Dexter Darden starring alongside original cast members such as Elizabeth Berkley, Mario Lopez and Mark-Paul Gosselaar and new actors including Haskiri Velazquez, Mitchell Hoog, Alycia Pascual-Pena and Belmont Cameli. The new Saved By the Bell will be executive produced and written by 30 Rock writer-producer Tracey Wigfield. Peter Engel and Franco Bario also executive produce.

Punky Brewster follows Punky (Soleil Moon Frye), now as an adult.

Psych has been revived as telemovie Psych 2: Lassie Come Home with original stars James Roday and Dulé Hill.

AP Bio, which had been axed gets a lifeline third season starring Glenn Howerton as a Harvard philosophy professor.

So far there are no broadcasters confirmed for Australia …although Stan may get to resume AP Bio.

15 Responses

    1. That same old comment. Why do people always jump to that when an old favourite is brought back, driven by the nostalgia factor. There is a constant flow of new shows/concepts/ideas being released all the time. Probably more than ever. Just look at the ‘originals’ on almost every streaming platform, YouTube content, new FTA shows etc.

        1. Maybe partly due to the saturation of new content I’m not sure. It still stands that there are plenty of new shows coming out all the time.

      2. Seems like reality TV is saturating our screens for the most part, the scripted TV that’s still on the air seems pretty lazy and weak in my opinion. Not huge on Netflix or shows like Game of Thrones either, they all seem to blur the line between movies and television.

    2. Regular readers to this site know I am constantly posting on new dramas, and don’t have time to review them all. Revivals have their place, some better than others. But it definitely isn’t an either / or situation. The argument that writers can’t come up with anything new is factually incorrect.

    1. Hi. I’ve posted trailers for years for US UK and AU. Look at the Video tab to see how many. It’s just that AU supplies less than US and then uploads only a proportion of them to YouTube or Vimeo etc. Video takes a lot of bandwidth for TVT to host. But the bottom line is AU supplies much less.

      1. Gotcha. Makes sense the AU networks a behind. They are far more often posted on FB. A quick search finds them in 30 seconds and you could link there. It really enriches the story

  3. I was sort of too young for Saved by The Bell but vaguely know what it is. That actually looks pretty good. No laugh track this time around?

  5. Good to see Timothy Michael Omundson up and about after his stroke that caused Psych: The Movie to have to be partly rewritten in 48 hours, was still a good one though and look forward to this 2nd one (with hopefully still 3 more to come).

    ie:
    “Psych: The Movie was released on December 7, 2017 on USA Network. Timothy Omundson returned as Carlton “Lassie” Lassiter but suffered a stroke just before shooting was to begin. The movie was partially rewritten with Omundson appearing in only 1 scene that was filmed outside the main shoot in Vancouver months later.

    Steve Franks’ hope is to make five more Psych movies, following Psych: The Movie On February 14, 2019, it was announced Psych: The Movie 2 was greenlit and all the main cast would return for the TV movie, which was set to premiere in late 2019, but the premiere thereof was subsequently delayed to 2020 with the movie…

  6. It seems difficult for reboots & revivals to bring back the chemistry of cast, vibe, recreation of the original formula & nostalgia of the past. Spicks and Specks, & Charmed revivals are examples I thought that didn’t live up to the originals, though other people had liked the revivals in conversations I’ve had & from some of former cast & fan feedback I read.

    I’d like to see revivals of American shows like 3rd Rock From The Sun, That ’70s Show, Sabrina The Teenage Witch, Home Improvement & Married With Children, though some aspects of that show might not work in this day & age. Or even better, more new & original shows that live up to the quality & popularity of some of the past shows. Shows that you can talk & laugh about with friends because you know they watch them too.

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