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Rehashed, Remade and Generally Stolen: There Are No More Ideas To Be Had On Television

By Courtney Enlow | Posted Under Miscellaneous | Comments (17)

ABC-Family-Logo.jpg

So, I’m perusing my usual arsenal of sites I scan before finally deciding to write about Lindsay Lohan or Snooki again, and I come across this newsbit:

ABC Family has picked up an additional one-hour scripted drama, “Jane By Design.” … “Jane By Design” (formerly “What Would Jane Do”), a light-hearted drama, follows Jane, a teenager who lands a job at a hip retail company when they mistake her for an adult. Jane soon finds herself juggling life both as a regular high school student and as an assistant to a high powered executive in the cutthroat world of fashion… all while trying to keep her true identity a secret.

Does that sound familiar to anyone else? What do you think, Christina Applegate?

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My reaction exactly. What’s that, you say? Out ABC Family for very obviously rehashing a cultish early ’90s movie plotline? I’m right on top of that, Rose.

The thing is, basically taking the plot of Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead, slapping it on TV for the tweeners and not caring if anyone’s the wiser is barely an issue anymore. It’s practically creativity. Particularly when we get news like the recent announcement that Bravo has ordered eleven new reality series. And not a single one of them is the brunch-and-cocktails-only version of Top Chef I’ve been pitching for years.

Eleven. As in more than ten, as in the number of Doctors, as in a really fucking impossible jacks score. Eleven. Bravo was basically PBS up until the aughts. Now it’s got eleven different reality shows about silicon-injected housewives and “relationship experts.”

And it’s not just the basic cables. NBC, apparently desperate for a fraction of their ’90s magic, gave Paul Reiser a new show, premiering tonight. Paul. Fucking. Reiser. We as a nation said “no” to Paul Reiser years ago. We didn’t want him then. We don’t want him now. Unless he and Greg Evigan are still having a wacky time figuring out who Step By Step chick’s dad really is, I have no interest in him (and that show itself is about eight months from a reboot).

Everything’s just so unoriginal and retread and dull. I long for something new and original.

Wait, what?

Nevermind. Fuck it. Real Housewives it is. Midget wrestling is my literal breaking point.









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Comments

We got channels to fill and nothing to fill them with!

How about some more reality fluff?

Nah, we invented new channels for that shit!

Uh, uh, fine, go through the back catalog and see what we can remake cheaply!

/or something to that effect

Posted by: Fredo at April 14, 2011 2:08 PM

Midget wrestling is my literal breaking point.

So now you're literally broken?

Posted by: kate the great at April 14, 2011 2:13 PM

Pieces like this can only be written with a blind spot the size of my bum.

Justified, Mad Men, Community, Archer, and probably half a dozen other shows that aren't quite on our collective radars that are wholly original and well performed, shot and written unique concepts.

It's kind of the opposite of being a hipster - "I'm SO underground, you've never even heard of me". It becomes "Everything is so derivative if I ignore this other stuff that's not".

Posted by: Byrd at April 14, 2011 2:13 PM

I've been saying this for a looooooooooong time.

@Byrd

I don't think it's exactly that.

I think it's the number of bad shows and reality shows outweighs the number of good shows on air.

Great shows have been made, and then unfortunately cancelled.

Posted by: Candee at April 14, 2011 2:21 PM

My problem is that most of the programming I want to watch is on channels I'd have to pay for (ie HBO and Showtime). I want my Game of Thrones, The Borgias and Dexter without having to buy more channels! (Yes, yes, I know how I can get around this, and I plan to, but still). So. Much. Reality. TV. I've been hating on the medium since the first season of Survivor (not kidding) because it makes it so much harder to find work as an actress. However shitty things like rehashing the plot of DTMTBSD are, at least it means work for someone who isn't just fame whoring (in theory anyway). ::sigh::

Posted by: KatSings at April 14, 2011 2:30 PM

(I like "Mad About You")

Posted by: coveredinbees at April 14, 2011 2:37 PM

But this one goes to eleven

Posted by: PaddyDog at April 14, 2011 2:54 PM

isn't this the plot for some show on nickelodeon that my cousin watches. It's got the girl from that spelling bee movie.

Posted by: maka at April 14, 2011 3:19 PM

"Bravo was basically PBS..."
No, PBS has always been PBS. Still is, which is why I watch PBS.
Quality programming exists on networks, basic cable and premium cable channels. One must seek it out.
I fully agree that most of the "original" programs being presented are a rancid rehash of shows that weren't very good to begin with. Let's just ignore the remakes and focus on what is good.
Speaking of a rancid rehash, does the premise of Paul Reiser's show seem like a rip-off of "Curb Your Enthusiasm"? Just me?

Posted by: Spender at April 14, 2011 3:19 PM

Isn't that also a Maebe plotline from Arrested Development?

Posted by: Siege at April 14, 2011 3:43 PM

@Siege I was just going to mention that. It so is.

Posted by: Ashley at April 14, 2011 4:40 PM

My first thought was actually Maybe's storyline from Arrested Development.

Posted by: Lizzy at April 14, 2011 4:56 PM

BRUNCH AND COCKTAILS TOP CHEF?! I stared at the computer screen for about twenty minutes after I read that. Drooling. And dreaming.

Posted by: Kelz at April 14, 2011 6:02 PM

The fixation the various networks have on reality tv shows, is the reason I pretty much stopped watching live tv. A couple years ago I decided since I download so many shows because I don't have a DVR and I was missing primetime because of work... why am I paying for cable tv other than for a few channels? And I dropped the cable but kept the cable internet... I have a ton of dvds of the shows I like, so that my reruns and since I typically didn't see primetime tv live to begin with, it didn't change much. It allows me to remain ignorant about an incredible amount of reality tv, a truly rewarding experience.

I understand why reality tv will never die out... its cheap to produce and the attraction is ridiculous... but I still believe once a person is killed live on tv via a reality tv show, and the ratings are recorded, we will be living in a world with an actual Running Man contest... its only a few steps away.

Posted by: protoformX at April 14, 2011 10:12 PM

At least Reiser had the good grace to acknowledge the "Curb Your Enthusiasm" rip. He even had Larry David ON the show.
It was weirdly meta and the best part of an otherwise forgettable sitcom.

Posted by: Spender at April 14, 2011 11:34 PM

I still cheer when Reiser gets eaten by an alien in Aliens on one of my many revisits of that movie.

Posted by: Fuckchop at April 14, 2011 11:37 PM

I still cheer when Reiser gets eaten by an alien in Aliens on one of my many revisits of that movie.

Posted by: Fuckchop at April 14, 2011 11:37 PM

Good times...

Posted by: Uriah Creep at April 15, 2011 11:02 PM