These TV reboots had a lot to live up to...and they failed. Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the very worst recasts and reimaginings of TV characters.
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00:00Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the very worst recasts
00:11and reimaginings of TV characters.
00:22Number 10.
00:23Thomas Magnum – Magnum PI There's three main reasons Thomas Magnum
00:29is one of the most iconic private investigators in television history.
00:33He's smart, he's funny, and he's got a killer mustache.
00:50Unfortunately, the 2018 reboot misses the mark on just about all of these.
00:55We can live without the mustache, and J Hernandez certainly gives it his all, but ultimately,
01:01this new version of Magnum never rises above his goofball antics.
01:09It's a maddening creative choice, especially because Magnum's friend Rick has the exact
01:17opposite issue.
01:18Demoted from suave playboy to thumb-twiddling wet blanket, the updated Rick may as well
01:23be an entirely new character.
01:26Maybe another reboot's in order.
01:36Number 9.
01:38Carlton Banks – Bel-Air Now, this is a story all about how Carlton
01:44Banks got flipped turned upside down.
01:55Fans of the original will remember the character's snooty personality providing fans tons of
01:59laughs, social commentary, and even a few legendary dance moves too.
02:04Sadly, Bel-Air's take on the character is a self-serious tryhard that, while not
02:09without his moments, isn't the same Carlton fans wanted.
02:13That's part of a larger issue with Bel-Air overall.
02:26If the character of Will Smith wasn't allowed to be consistently funny, then there wasn't
02:30any hope for the rest of the cast.
02:32It's a shame that, in trading comedy for drama, Bel-Air lost so much of what audiences
02:38loved about these characters.
02:51Number 8.
02:53Cordell Walker – Walker With all due respect to Jared Padalecki, there's
02:58only one Cordell Walker in these parts, and he's played by Chuck Norris.
03:12That's not to say Padalecki does a bad job by any means.
03:16He elevates the material where he can, but overall, this new take on Walker still lacks
03:22any of the commanding screen presence that made the character popular in the first place.
03:32There's just nothing like seeing Chuck Norris dole out justice in glorious, slow-mo action
03:37scenes.
03:38In comparison, Padalecki's grounded spin on the material feels dry, derivative, and
03:44just plain stale.
03:46He's not a hopeless Texas Ranger, he's just not Cordell Walker.
03:55Number 7.
03:56Fallon Carrington – Dynasty Sporting a sharp tongue, familial grudges,
04:02and more scandalous lovers than you can count, Fallon Carrington is an inseparable part of
04:07what made 1981's Dynasty work.
04:15The same goes for the 2017 reboot of the same name.
04:19The issue is that they're Fallon's the lead, and also only really Fallon in name
04:25alone.
04:36For better or worse, the original heiress was defined by how often her family underestimated
04:42her.
04:43By reconceiving her as Dynasty's feisty leading lady, Fallon loses the underdog status
04:48that made her storylines so addictive.
04:50It's much harder to fall in love with a spoiled rich girl when she's the backbone
04:55of the entire series.
05:05Number 6.
05:06Shaggy and Scooby – Velma Zoinks!
05:11This is a disaster.
05:18Despite only being named after Mystery Incorporated's bespectacled investigator, 2023's Velma
05:24throws out decades of consistent characterization for the whole Scooby gang.
05:29The biggest victim is Shaggy.
05:31Sorry, we mean Norville, since he goes by his first name here for some reason.
05:37We wish that was the only problem.
05:46Here instead of a hungry, scaredy-cat, Norville is a sullen teen with more romantic entanglements
05:52than charming quips.
05:54It's a complete 180 for the character that never really connects the way it's supposed
05:59to.
06:00At least Shaggy made it into Velma after all, that's more than we can say for Scooby-Doo.
06:11Number 5.
06:13The Upper East Side Kids – Gossip Girl Almost a decade after the eponymous blogger
06:18signed off the first time, the residents of the Upper East Side return for more soapy
06:23drama.
06:24But try as they might, there's simply no recreating the flawless class of 2007.
06:46And boy did they try.
06:48Despite taking place in the same continuity, most of the characters in 2021's Gossip Girl
06:54are less interesting knockoffs of the first ensemble.
07:04It makes you wonder, if they wanted carbon copies of Serena, Blair, and Nate, why not
07:09just get the original cast back?
07:12Your guess is as good as ours.
07:14Sadly, we'll never find out for sure, since the show said XOXO after just two short seasons.
07:22Which one of these should we post next?
07:24Whichever we want.
07:26The future is ours again.
07:29Number 4.
07:30Jamie Summers – Bionic Woman Cybernetic enhancements, or not, no television
07:36character can survive the most dreaded threat of all – a remake.
07:40Why are you with me?
07:41You're different.
07:42From what?
07:43When your whole life's planned out for you while you're still in the womb, it kind
07:48of kills the mystery.
07:49And then you came along and you were… unexpected.
07:54Unexpected?
07:55In 2007, it finally happened to Bionic Woman, which reimagined Jamie Summers as a no-nonsense
08:02crime fighter with a bone to pick.
08:05And that's about it.
08:06The inaugural Bionic Woman was so captivating because it balanced Jamie's extracurricular
08:12activities with her desire to live a normal, human life.
08:16If I don't get an assignment from you very soon, I'm just gonna show up and I'm gonna
08:19kick your door down.
08:20Ah, you're just the one that can do it.
08:21Then don't you forget it.
08:23Without that crucial part of her character, all you're left with is yet another dull
08:27crime show.
08:29Just one with a star that can punch through a wall.
08:32The 2007 writer's strike powered Bionic Woman off after just eight episodes, and honestly,
08:38that's probably for the best.
08:39You're gonna have to do a little better than that.
08:493.
08:52The Three Witch Sisters – Charm Ready to tune in to the heartfelt adventures
08:58of three sibling sorcerers?
09:00No, we don't mean Piper, Phoebe, and Prue.
09:03Phoebe, welcome home.
09:04Hello, Piper.
09:05It's so good to see you.
09:08Hi.
09:09Isn't it, Prue?
09:10I'm speechless.
09:11Although, we can see why you'd be confused.
09:15Taking Charm's brand recognition but jettisoning all of its heart, The CW tried redoing the
09:20show with its own trio of female leads.
09:23Whatever.
09:24It was clearly a mistake.
09:27Unfortunately, Mel, Macy, and Maggie aren't just poor replacements for the originals.
09:33They're dull lead characters, period.
09:36The three are too different to play on nostalgia, but too beholden to their counterparts to
09:40stand out either.
09:42It's a tricky balance that 2018's Charmed never managed to strike, leaving its talented
09:48cast without much to work with.
09:50I can't believe this.
09:51I'm sorry, I want a life when this is over.
09:53With them?
09:54Yeah, with them!
09:552.
09:56Angus Mack – MacGyver, MacGyver There's young, there's rash, and then there's
10:02just plain impatient.
10:04My name's Angus MacGyver.
10:06I have 12 first place science fair trophies, two years MIT, three years defusing bombs
10:12for the military.
10:13What do I do now?
10:14A little of this, a little of that.
10:172016's MacGyver is all three at once.
10:20While there is some merit to the show's exploration of the character's early years,
10:24it leans so far into MacGyver's boldness, it's easy to forget he's supposed to be
10:29a genius.
10:30Funnily enough, if anyone could make these disparate ideas work together, it's MacGyver.
10:45But apparently, defusing bombs with paperclips isn't the same as fixing a flawed creative
10:50direction.
10:51Sure, five seasons and nearly a hundred episodes isn't anything to be ashamed of, but from
10:56a series bearing the name of a television icon, we expected a whole lot more.
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11:191.
11:21The Angels – Charlie's Angels After many years away from the small screen,
11:28Charlie recruited three new leading ladies to become his angels in 2011.
11:39The results were anything but heavenly.
11:42Say what you will about the original, but it indulged in its campy tone in a way that's
11:47still watchable to this day.
11:49On the other hand, this misguided interpretation tries so hard to play it straight it feels
11:55like a parody sketch.
12:00To make matters worse, the actors are woefully miscast, the dialogue is wince-inducingly
12:06cringey, and the characterization is slim to none.
12:09If these are the best operatives Charlie could find, we have major concerns about his judgement.
12:19Did we miss any off-the-rails character reboots?
12:22Let us know in the comments below.