4 TV shows that could be revived (and how to do them)

No need to thank us, TV studios and streaming services. We're here to help.

Much like movies, TV is now reviving and remaking old TV shows.

It's not just low-rent TV shows like 'Magnum PI' (how can they have a show without a guy with a moustache?), but much more worthy stuff too. David Lynch's 'Twin Peaks: The Return' was realised with as much depth, beauty, and bold auteurism as the original series. Likewise, TV shows like 'Perry Mason' have been given a breath of life, while shows such as 'Gossip Girl' have been modernised completely.

With that in mind, we've picked out a few TV shows that could very easily be revived, and what's more, we've even come up with a few pitches on how to do them.

'THE ROCKFORD FILES'

As much as people have been clamouring for a new take on 'Columbo', you could quite easily take up 'The Rockford Files' and drop it into today's world with a minimal amount of fuss. If anything, the idea of a low-rent private detective who's barely making a living and struggling to keep himself afloat is something that would really resonate with audiences. We're so used to seeing cop shows with ridiculously well-funded laboratories, walking around in suits and flashing badges.

'The Rockford Files' stood in stark contrast to shows of this ilk. The central character, played with quiet ease by James Garner, went out of his way not to use his fists or his pistol, which he rarely carried with him. He was a former convict, avoids the police because of this, and not only that, the women in the series were written not as femme fatales or simple love interests. As well as this, the calibre of writers on 'The Rockford Files' speaks to how good it was. David Chase, who'd go on to create 'The Sopranos', wrote a total of 16 episodes for the series.

While it might seem like the done thing to recast the role in a female part, it'd feel like a betrayal of the original series because it purposefully went against typical masculinity in cop shows. More often than not, Jim Rockford talked his way out of fights and almost never used a gun. That was pretty revolutionary in the '70s, it'd be even more so now. After that, keep the show almost exactly as is. A down-on-his-luck private investigator, just trying to keep his head above water, and doing handbrake turns at every possible chance in a cool-looking car.

'THE GOLDEN GIRLS'

You could argue that 'Grace & Frankie' is filling the space of 'The Golden Girls', and to a certain extent, it is. Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin's back-and-forth is very reminiscent of the barbs thrown by Bea Arthur and, well, everyone else. On top of that, the original cast were so iconic that it's difficult to imagine anyone wanting a new series of it. More to the point, does it need it? It's perfect as is, right? If a new series of 'The Golden Girls' was to be made, it would have to have a strong cast because the conceit itself isn't enough on its own. It's a group of middle-aged women living together in Miami, so who do you cast?

Honestly, it's anyone's guess because casting it would be the trickiest part. The key is that they've got to be distinct enough for it to be like the original series, even if you're using the same archetypes as before like Sophia, Blanche, Dorothy, and Rose. For sure, you could easily see Jane Kaczmarek from 'Malcolm In The Middle' as a Dorothy-type, or possibly Katey Sagal from 'Futurama', 'Sons of Anarchy', 'Married with Children', and so on. Shelley Long would be perfect for Rose, and who else but Kim Cattrall could play Blanche? She could even pop a few digs at 'Sex and the City' while she's there.

Get Lorde to re-record 'Thank You For Being A Friend' too, while we're at it.

'MY SO-CALLED LIFE'

For those of us who made it through the '90s and witnessed 'My So-Called Life' up close, the reason people still talk about it was that the show was very much addressing issues that teenagers went through in a direct, forthright way. It was completely at odds with the likes of 'Beverly Hills 90210' or 'California Dreams' where everyone was having fun and hanging at the Beach Bar or whatever.

In 'My So-Called Life', the teenagers were angry, lonely, and messed up. They didn't have to learn a lesson at the end of every episode, and the parents too were just trying their best to make sense of their children and getting pissed off at them. In fact, you watch it back now and you appreciate the show on a different level.

For starters, you'd bring back Claire Danes, have her as the mother to a teenager in this day and age, and let all the drama and tension play out. More than that, seeing as how we the audience know what she was like as a teenager and now trying to raise her own child, that provides another layer of tension. Wilson Cruz could easily play a teacher in the kid's school, and from there, you cast whoever else as they come. Leave Jared Leto out of it, however. Nobody gives a shit what Jordan Catalano is up to now.

'LANCER'

Although 'Deadwood' was a critically-lauded TV show, it was one that a lot of people slept on. It proved that TV westerns could still be made and be as interesting as anything else out there. In fact, 'Deadwood' sat comfortably alongside 'The Sopranos', 'Breaking Bad', and others of that era as shows that were able to handle complex ideas, nuanced characters, and endings that didn't always resolve happily.

The original TV series, 'Lancer', didn't really fit into that. It was a pretty standard Western, and it's come back into popular culture thanks in large part to 'Once Upon A Time... In Hollywood' and the novelisation of the movie. If you read the book, you'll know there are entire chapters of it written like a western novel that details the backstory of 'Lancer' and its two main characters, Johnny Madrid and Scott Lancer. What's evident in both the novel and the series is that Tarantino not only knows how to write a Western, he could easily turn it into a recurring series. So, do that.

Get Quentin Tarantino to write and direct a pilot episode of an all-new version of 'Lancer', cast it up, and then have him hire a group of directors and writers to take the thing over and see where it goes. There's clearly interest in the genre of late. In the last decade, you've had the likes of 'Red Dead Redemption II', 'Bone Tomahawk', 'Hell or High Water' (yes, it's modern but it's a western), the remake of 'The Magnificent Seven', 'Hostiles', so why not try a TV western?