TV Remakes That Worked?

[juppiter]

Do adaptations count?

"Homeland" is an American adaptation of the Israeli series Hatufim.

"Family Guy" is an American adaptation of the American series "The Simpsons."

[All My Shadows]

Too Close for Comfort

[quartermainefan]

BSG was a great show, and critically acclaimed.

[Khan]

"Cosby," which was an American re-working of "One Foot in the Grave," I think.

"Not Necessarily the News," which was based on "Not the Nine O'Clock News"

"Dear John"

"House of Cards"

and

"Queer as Folk" -- although I'm sure EricMontreal22 will likely disagree, lol.

[SFK]

You're right about Cosby/OFITG, though Cosby was hardly the "hit" it could have been. I was a member of the "live stewdio awwdience"[/LouiseJeffason] (shoutout to AMS) for an episode. It shot at Kaufman-Astoria in Queens. People were asking where Madeline Kahn was and the warm-up comedian said she was on vacation. She passed a few short weeks later.

Remakes, reboots... there's also the "inspired by" category, e.g. The Flintstones (The Honeymooners).

[frequentsoapfan]

If we're counting American adaptions as remakes the list of remakes that worked is larger than expected.

[Khan]

IA. On the one hand, expectations might have been too high. On the other hand, it seemed as if Cosby revamped the entire show every season. It was too inconsistent.

[SFK]

Yeah, he was on ET saying how the audience didn't accept him as a curmudgeon which was of course so much of what OFITG was about.

[DRW50]

I think, considering how of the 80s Bill Cosby was, how much comedy had changed, it was something of a success that his Cosby sitcom even ran as long as it did.

It's too bad his detective show didn't work out.

[SFK]

The Cosby Mysteries, I don't think I ever saw a full episode. I want to say Ellen Holly was in an episode but maybe I'm confusing her with someone else. I know Ellen was on In the Heat of the Night (a successful remake of a movie).

I love watching Alfred Hitchcock Presents on Antenna TV (last night's episodes featured Mr. Burt Reynolds, and Dick York and Gena Rowlands) and I have vague memories of the anthology series reboot in the '80s. Does anyone remember how long it ran, or how successful it was? I have stronger memories of Amazing Stories.

[ellabelle]

Buffy The Vampire Slayer - the TV show was a remake of the campy, badly done movie, and the TV show was significantly better!

[Khan]

I remember that episode. She played Althea's mother, who was in Sparta, visiting the Tibbses.

[All My Shadows]

I love Hitchcock Presents, as well. According to Wiki, the new series ran for 4 seasons and 76 episodes, so I guess that can be considered a success. Of course, The Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits had successful revivals as well. I think the new Outer Limits actually ran longer than the original show.

[SFK]

Wow, that long. What I remember most is that I didn't realize he was long dead at the time. They used what I later found out was archive footage of him hosting the show.