One thing about me is that I was absolutely a Disney and Nickelodeon child. iCarly? Yep. Wizards of Waverly Place? Uh-huh. You name it, I’ve probably seen it. And I’ll still watch them to this day. See, I really do believe that kids’ shows of that era were and continue to be astounding pieces of television with storylines that will astound any new viewer. So, you can imagine my shock when was minding my own business, scrolling through TikTok, and I came across a video which haunted me so much, it possessed me to write this article. The video in question? A clip from the upcoming Wizards of Waverly Place reboot.
the good, the bad, and the reboot.
First and foremost: I am one hundred percent against reboots in every sense.Â
I believe (and I am yet to be proven wrong) that reboots are terrible pieces of media made purely for economic purposes. Why, you ask? Let me put it simply – TV shows that ended ten years ago should not be continued, because they ENDED. The showrunners came to the end of that story, wrapped it up, and we got to watch it come to a close. To make a new show, writers have to reopen those problems that had been wrapped up, essentially ruining everything that the show had previously concluded for us.Â
Throughout my childhood, nothing made me more excited than coming home from school and finally getting to see if Justin will ever find Juliet, or if Sam will ever profess her love for Freddie. And of course, I would have to wait for the next week, and the week after that, because that is what made it so enticing – the slight, particular, and gradual build-up to these intense story climaxes. This is what I believe is so wrong with reboots – the way that reopening this universe completely diminishes the dramatics that were built up week by week over years of my watching. Shows that I had dedicated endless amounts of my time being invested in are completely tarnished by new plot lines that make absolutely no sense – new plot lines invented purely for money-grabbing purposes.Â
money doesn’t grow on trees – but reboots do.
What particularly draws me to these shows is the element of family they carry. If you rewatch them as an adult, you will be surprised to find how mature some of the content can seem. In shows like Wizards of Waverly Place and iCarly, the main family we follow (the Russos and the Shays, respectively) seem to be a safe space for the other characters surrounding them. The secondary character’s best friends (Harper, Freddie, and Sam) are quite blatantly presented as coming from abusive homes, and as the series progresses, they more than often stay and/or live with the main family.
Why am I pointing this out? Well, the shows are aware that the family they televise are a safe space – not just for children on screen, but the children off screen watching it too. The shows are aware of the responsibility they have to make children feel safe and loved for the twenty minutes of air time they get. THIS is how important, and how much these shows mean to people. And these are the feelings production companies exploit to get people to watch their reboots, and give them loads of money.
The idea of this show starting again, seeing all the characters grown up and getting back together, feels like a reunion with your second family. But that is also where reboots fail – because after the first episode, there is no more nostalgia to hide the terrible plot lines behind. The iCarly reboot was cancelled after a surprisingly large 3 seasons. The Lizzie McGuire reboot never made it to air. I mean, they even tried to reboot Monster High – TWICE – and we all saw how that went (unthinkably bad).
Do not be fooled by the rose-tinted nostalgia. Seeing what happened to those characters we grew up with is borderline depressing. At first, it may feel exciting, because their journeys have actually aligned with ours. Alex Russo, who, when I watched it, went to school (just like me), is now grown up (just like me) and has a job (just like me). However, the excitement wears off quickly when you realise that ALEX RUSSO has a JOB. And a FAMILY. And RESPONSIBILITIES. The maturation of these childhood characters defeats the levels of nostalgia we once had for them. We don’t want those shows brought to us when we watch them, we want to be brought back to them when we watch them.
I don’t want to see Justin Russo or Carly Shay old. I don’t want to see them in their adulthood, dealing with mature problems. Because they were characters on a KIDS show. Those characters are stuck in their eternal teen-dom, just as we feel when we watch them. When I think of Freddie Benson, I want to think of how cute he was, and how I wanted him to be with Sam so badly. I don’t want to think of him as a GROWN MAN who has been DIVORCED. Emerging these characters into reality ruins the special magic they held.Â
how to reboot (without rebooting)
Over the summer I had the fortune of seeing Coraline re-released in theatres for its 10-year anniversary. As I sat down to watch it, I looked around me, and what did I see? Not a room full of adults, as I had thought, but a room full of parents and their children. It was a strange experience, watching this film I had grown up with, while children cried and coughed throughout it, as if this movie was new, and made for them.
It seemed like they had begged their parents to let them see it – where in fact, it was probably the opposite. Parents had dragged their kids along to see this film they had once loved, allowing them to relive something special, and introducing it to their children without ruining it. This is what reboots fail to capture. Changing the story is changing the content, which is creating an entirely different show. So, why don’t they just do that instead? Create something new and exciting for newer generations to have individual experiences with, instead of lazily rehashing the same old stories for more and more money.
So, please, if any executives are reading this, heed my words and STOP THESE REBOOTS. Not every story needs to be continued, and not every story needs to be brought into the light of reality. Some things are better left untouched, and some questions are better left unanswered. So, let’s all put our hands together and pray that they don’t touch Hannah Montana.