How TV's Biggest Reboots and Revivals Are Doing This Time Around

Daniel S. Levine

10/22/2018 04:02 pm EDT

Television is dominated by reboots, remakes and revivals on ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox and The CW, and they have had varying degrees of success. Not every show can come back with a thunderous response like ABC's Roseanne and Fox's Last Man Standing.

This season, CBS brought back Murphy Brown and rebooted Magnum P.I. ABC brought back Roseanne as The Conners, sans Roseanne Barr. The CW remade Charmed, less than 12 years after the original series ended. Fox saved Last Man Standing from a year in the cancellation bin and NBC is still cranking out new episodes of Will & Grace.

Last week, The Hollywood Reporter published a study with Morning Consult that found viewers are more interested in original shows than reboots, and more interested in revivals than remakes. In other words, fans would rather see Will & Grace with its original stars than watch a Magnum P.I. without Tom Selleck.

Scroll on for a look at how the biggest reboots and revivals are doing on TV today.

Photo credit: ABC

The Conners/Roseanne

Last season, ABC brought back Roseanne and it dethroned CBS' The Big Bang Theory as the most-watched sitcom on television. However, after Roseanne Barr published a racist tweet in May, ABC canceled the show.

(Photo: ABC/Eric McCandless)

A month later, they announced plans for a spin-off called The Conners. The series debuted last week, earning 10.5 million viewers. Now that viewers know how Roseanne Conner died though, ABC is holding its breath to see if viewers still tune in.

Last Man Standing

Back in March 2017, ABC canceled Last Man Standing. Even though the show had a respectable six-season run and was already in syndication, fans wanted more. After a season off the air, Fox brought it back once they saw the success of Roseanne. Fox even gave the show the same Friday, 8 p.m. ET timeslot.

(Photo: Fox)

It has been the most-watched show on Fridays, earning 8.1 million viewers for its premiere.

Magnum P.I.

CBS loves to remake its IPs (intellectual properties), so it seemed like only a matter of time before Tom Selleck's 1980s series Magnum P.I. got the remake treatment. Since Selleck is busy with Blue Bloods (also on CBS) in New York, he does not have any involvement in the new show.

(Photo: CBS)

Instead, Jay Hernandez plays the title role, and the show's format follows the same as the original. The show was picked up for a full season on Oct. 19.

Hawaii Five-0

The original Hawaii Five-0 series ran 12 seasons from 1968 to 1980 and the 2010 remake is already up to nine seasons. The new show features Alex O'Loughlin, Scott Caan, Jorge Garcia, Chi McBride, Meaghan Rath and Dennis Chun.

(Photo: CBS / Karen Neal)

The show has been the anchor in CBS' Friday line-up, between MacGyver and Blue Bloods. Do not expect it to go anywhere any time soon, since the season nine premiere had 7.5 million viewers.

MacGyver

The original MacGyver ran from 1985 to 1992 on ABC. However, since the show was co-produced by Paramount Television Studios and is now distributed by CBS, the remake landed on the eye network.

(Photo: Kim Simms/CBS)

The remake launched in 2016 and is now in its third season, with Lucas Till as the title character. The show's most recent episode notched 6.16 million viewers.

S.W.A.T.

S.W.A.T. is a remake of the 1975 series, which also inspired the 2003 Colin Farrell movie. The new show, frontlined by former Criminal Minds star Shemar Moore, is now in its second season.

(Photo: Sony Pictures Television / Smallz + Raskind)

S.W.A.T. has been a reliable performer on Thursdays, debuting to 8.2 million viewers for its season two premiere.

Will & Grace

Will & Grace originally ran for eight seasons from 1998 to 2006. NBC got all four stars back — Debra Messing, Eric McCormack, Megan Mullally and Sean Hayes — for a new season last season.

(Photo: NBC/Chris Haston)

This year, the premiere had around 4 million viewers and continues to hold down the fort for NBC on Thursdays.

Charmed

It has only been 12 years since the original Charmed finished up, but The CW still decided to remake the cult favorite witch series with a completely new cast.

(Photo: The CW)

The series premiere actually did well compared to usual CW shows, earning 1.6 million viewers and a 0.5 18-49 rating. However, some fans of the original show were not impressed.

Dynasty

No show epitomizes how little The CW cares about ratings than the continued existence of Dynasty. The remake of the legendary soap opera never reaches 1 million viewers.

(Photo: CW)

Last week's episode had just 650,000 viewers. After the season is over, it will hit Netflix for those who haven't watched.

Lethal Weapon

Lethal Weapon's ratings have plummeted in season three thanks to the departure of Clayne Crawford. The current season, which pairs Damon Wayans with Seann Wiliam Scott, was expected to only last 12 episodes, but Fox ordered two more.

(Photo: FOX/Ray Mickshaw)

However, Wayans plans to leave the show for good, so it does not seem like it will survive for a fourth season.

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