Kids growing up in the 2000s say that their favorite childhood shows were memorable with television shows from that era, sparking nostalgia and joy. These shows, popular between 2000 to 2010, catered to various age groups, triggering cherished memories. As a new era surfaces, new creators latch their hands on these shows and reimagine them, but is it too soon?
“Why don’t they make new shows when people can watch the originals? It feels very unnecessary,” Aubrie Coletta (12) said. “Some Gen Z kids are still kids, so the shows shouldn’t be rebooted. They’re still fresh enough to show.”
Our generation sees these new creators as lazy. There’s a sense that their primary focus is on financial gain, rather than a genuine concern for the quality or value of their work. A lot of the reboots have good potential, but they rely too heavily on the pre-established nostalgia and neglect putting effort into making the new show enjoyable.
“It could be a good idea if the right people were behind it. However, that’s not what we have,” Christian Garcia (11) said.
The common consensus is it would be beneficial for creators to use more modern aspects and ideas that can relate to today’s kids instead of rebooting old shows. Old shows carry their own ideas which have the potential to relate to the children who watched them prior. Many students have their own preferences for older shows and prefer that they wouldn’t be rebooted.
Some suggest that the wrong shows are being rebooted. Many suggestions for reboots included “The Magic School Bus” with more modern scientific topics and techonology, “Fairly Odd Parents” continuing its comedic timing, and “Regular Show” for the adventure takes.
The general agreement of reboots seems to be that they are unnecessary due to the fact that some shows cut out important aspects of the characters, the original lessons still hold up to this day, and streaming exists so children can watch the original rather than watching reboots.
“I think the rebooted shows often focus too much on other things and that ruins the uniqueness of the shows,” Lin Xu (10) said. “I don’t think they are that necessary instead of classic stories.”
Kids from the 2000s find joy in nostalgic TV shows, but the rise of new creators reimagining them has sparked debate. Unfortunately, the common conclusion is that many reboots prioritize profit over quality and neglect the essence of their predecessors, leading to unnecessary nostalgia-heavy productions that fall short of capturing the original essence.
“I don’t know why they don’t create new storylines instead of reimagining old ones to fit society standards,” Coletta said. “They tend to ruin characters by reimagining them and it feels like a cash grab, a really bad cash grab.”