About a month ago, I wrote an article about how the haters of "ThunderCats Roar!" needed to calm down. I mean seriously, who gets into a fit of rage about a cartoon reboot? That's the hill they decided to die on?!
Well, now I might understand their frustration because MTV is creating their own studio. With the launch of this new studio, they'll be rebooting a number of their classic shows, such as "The Valley," "The Real World," and "Daria."
While I still think the outrage over a child's cartoon was hilariously ridiculous, I understand where the rioters are coming from.
The "Daria" reboot, according to MTV president Chris McCarthy, will feature Daria and Jodie "taking on the world today and what's happening in our culture at large."
Sounds like a solid premise for a young adult show. The world is scary right now, and it helps to see someone else going through it too, even if they're fictional.
I just have one question for McCarty: Why, specifically, does Daria need to tell this story?
Why her? Why Jodie? Why reboot a series that's nearly twenty years old?
What does Daria offer to the narrative of the world besides a familiar face?
The premise of, "Young adults reacting to the world around them" is so unspecific that any cast of characters could fit the mold. Daria and Jodie are great characters, but I don't see why MTV couldn't let a board of writers come up with their own characters for it.
The number of reboots that MTV is selling feels cheap. It feels like the network is shrugging at its audience and saying, "I don't really feel like doing anything new, so here are a dozen reboots of old shows. You still like these, right?"
I do, in fact, like Daria, but part of her charm is that she embodies the late 90's. Her fashion, her music, and her lifestyle are all dripping with that distinct 90's grunge culture. It's like a time capsule. The show is a trademark of the time.
Inserting her and her friends into the early 2020's feels… Odd. It's like putting a fuzzy carpet in the kitchen. It's a nice rug, but I can't say it works in here.
And MTV is saying, "What do you mean? Of course, it works. It worked just fine in the living room!"
Not the point, MTV. Not the point.
The growing number of reboots in movies and television is somewhat alarming. I'm a creative writing major at UCF. I love writing original content so much that my writing homework never actually feels like work. My life goal is to work for a television station and write my own original show one day or work on someone else's original content - emphasis on original.
I'm worried that by the time I wedge myself into Hollywood, they won't actually care about original content anymore. My boss will throw an old series at me and say, "We're rebooting this. Make it work."
I don't want to recycle old successes. I don't want television to become a "rinse and repeat" cycle. I do want to see someone else's original work get aired on television instead of someone dusting off an old, successful one and praying the success will carry over.
Rebooting long dead shows with stories that have ended take up space where new, beloved series could've shined. Instead of the "Daria" reboot, we could've seen brand new characters to fall in love with.
In a time where many television shows are reboots, the fact that MTV decided to jump on the bandwagon is disappointing.
