Are TV Reboots Actually Successful? Here Are 11 That Didn't Last

Beverly Hills 90210 has had many an iteration — six to be precise. BH90210, the latest incarnation, featured the original series stars who played themselves in a meta reality in which they're rebooting the 1990s version of 90210.

In November 2019, Fox axed the series after one season. While the series was met with an initially solid viewership and critical reception, it performed about 50 percent of its premiere viewing by the fifth episode. At the moment, it appears that the showrunners are shopping around for a network — who knows, it might just land somewhere as One Day at a Time did with Pop TV.

With a story about a struggling middle class family, Roseanne, which originally ran from 1988 to 1997, had always struck a chord with many American viewers. The season 10 reboot did well in terms of ratings and critical reception, but it was swiftly cancelled after lead actress Roseanne Barr made racist statements on Twitter about a former adviser to President Obama. ABC repackaged the show in 2018 as The Conners, technically a spinoff where Roseanne has been killed off.

The original Murphy Brown ran from 1988 to 1998, starring Candice Bergen as the titular character, a famous investigative journalist. Season 11, which aired in 2018, was cancelled after 13 episodes. Exploring the rise of fake news, it showed Murphy as she helmed her morning news show. While it was a hit or miss for critics, Bergen received a Golden Globe nomination for the reboot. With a filming location in New York, the sitcom was expensive for CBS. By the time the last episode aired, the ratings ranked last of the eight sitcoms on CBS at the time.

After a respectable run on NBC, Will & Grace, which originally aired from 1998 to 2006, will come to an end after its third rebooted season.

"We think of the Will & Grace episodes the way Karen Walker thinks of martinis — 51 is not enough, 53 is too many," executive producers Max Mutchnick, David Kohan and James Burrows said in a statement. "That is why, after consulting with the cast, we all have decided this will be the final season of Will & Grace."

While it appears that the series ended on its own terms, its numbers were slipping as well, with three million viewers this season, or about 50 percent lower than the numbers for its first reboot installation. We'll miss the amazing chemistry among those quirky, posh Manhattanites.

24: Legacy just didn't have the momentum of the original 24 (2001-2010) without Kiefer Sutherland as Jack Bauer, even with a solid performance from Corey Hawkins as new lead Eric Carter. 24: Legacy fared well after the Super Bowl, but declined in viewership over time. However, Fox seems to be interested in doing another revival or spinoff in the future.

When Fuller House kicked off, it was a critical flop, but beloved by Netflix viewers — after all, how could one deny the cheesy, feel-good nostalgia of the Tanners? According to data from the analytics company Jumpshot, viewership declined 52 percent from season one to season two. The decrease in viewership was less dramatic in the later seasons, but it appears that the show has run out of gas after five installations. It's officially set to end in 2020. (We're also sure that Lori Loughlin's involvement in the college admission scandals didn't help, even if Aunt Becky isn't a huge part of the revival.)

Developed from the original Shane Black film franchise, the Lethal Weapon TV show came to an end in 2019 after Fox cancelled it. The buddy cop series received solid reviews from critics, but internal problems emerged. In May 2018, there were reports of hostility and bad behaviour between the cast and crew. Consequently, Clayne Crawford, aka Martin Riggs, was killed off despite being a leading character. In October 2018, Damon Wayans, who played Roger Murtaugh (the other lead), said that he was set to leave after production wrapped up in December to spend more time with his family and friends.

For the most part, the short, sweet tenth and eleventh seasons of The X-Files worked thanks to the chemistry between Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny. However, when Anderson announced her departure (she's now on Sex Education and The Crown), the show ended in 2018. Creator Chris Carter left things open-ended, saying that there's a possibility we might see The X-Files without Anderson. We can't imagine The X-Files sans Scully, though.

From 2015 to 2017, Matthew Perry and Thomas Lennon joined forces (with a controversial canned laugh track) for a reboot of this '70s favourite. The original show followed two bantering divorcees sharing a NYC apartment, but the new duo couldn't quite recreate their predecessors' chemistry. Its first installation received a rotten 26 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes, but the series soldiered on for three seasons. Perry supposedly found out about the cancellation when someone painted over his face on The Odd Couple's stage door. Oof.

The beloved Muppets have been a cultural cornerstone on TV (The Muppet Show, 1976) and at the movies (The Muppets, 2011). ABC tried to take a stab at a more grown-up show for the cosy creatures, but the series, which featured Miss Piggy with a late-night show, got cancelled one season in. The adult, mockumentary style, so-so reviews, and underperforming numbers all contributed to its eventual doom. Looks like the Muppets didn't find the Rainbow Connection here.

Not even a snappy title could rescue this short-lived reboot of Heroes. TV critics panned the emphasis on special effects and melodrama in the sci-fi series, which connects with the premise of the first season of the parent show. The series released 13 episodes between 2015 and 2016, in addition to a handful of webisodes. NBC Entertainment Chairman Bob Greenblatt said that this short run was always the plan, unless creator Tim Kring had more to tell.

Following the ritzy lives of the Ewings, a Dallas family with oil and cattle ranch money, this series first aired in 1978 and ran through 1991. The reboot of the primetime soap, which featured several original stars, lasted from 2012 to 2014 on TNT until it disappeared from the air likely due to the network wanting to do edgier content.