It’s starting to look like all of our childhood favorites will be rebooted someday. While we live in an era with more entertainment content than ever before, creatives are seemingly unable to come up with new ideas — or, alternatively, studios are reluctant to fund projects without a pre-existing base of potential viewers. As such, every bit of cultural nostalgia is brought back in some way, be it in the form of a direct remake, a twist on the format, or a continuation of the original story.
The Recently Released Original Hulu Series Restart denounces the whole business of remaking old TV shows. It revolves around a 90s sitcom called come on, a Full House-style family comedy that told the story of a young boy’s relationship with both his father and stepfather. The show’s cast of eccentric actors, as well as the stubborn staff of generations of disparate writers, always threaten to cause the series to spiral out of control. Until now, it’s been made for hilarious television.
There’s a common ground between the old and new guard of comedy writers
The come on reboot was initially pitched by Hannah Korman, a screenwriter who made a name for himself in the indie space. Her idea for the redesigned version of the program was that the characters, who were morally righteous in the original show, would be more flawed in the reboot. However, the studio execs decide to team her up with Gordon Gelman, the crass creator of the sitcom, who is reluctant to deviate from the writing formulas he has used successfully in the company for years. The creative differences between the two writers are compounded by the fact that Gordon is Hannah’s estranged father.
Gordon hires a team of older, established comedy writers who immediately clash with Hannah’s diverse young team of creatives. However, the two groups are able to overcome their differences and they both learn to see the benefits of the other side’s writing style. A reboot that bears no resemblance to the original product is heartless, but if a show is too similar to its predecessor, it ends up being toothless.
Other than the Step Right Up Reboot, the cast has little going for them
Step Right Ups cast, since their sitcom went off air, have all struggled to get their lives back on track. Reed Sterling, who played the stepfather on the series, has unsuccessfully tried to start a career as a mainstream actor, while Clay Barber, who played the father, struggled with substance abuse and committed a slew of petty crimes in the years since the sitcom aired. Bree Marie Jenson, the mother, used to be married to an Eastern European duke, but they broke up when Bree found out he was cheating on her, leaving her destitute.
The only character who seems to have had consistent work since the original series of the sitcom is Zach Jackson, the former child actor who played Reed and Clay’s son. After he outgrew the kids playing (the other actors note that he wasn’t that cute after the first few seasons), he appeared in several low-budget teen movies.
Essentially, the eggs of the cast are all in the basket of the come on Restart. This will no doubt lead them to give their very best for the series, but it also raises the stakes and could lead to a complete breakdown of relations between the performers.
Timberly is arguably the most interesting character on the show 
The second episode of Restart introduced audience to Timberly, the star of the raunchy reality TV series F*** Buddy Mountain. Initially, Timberly struggles to adapt her acting style from reality TV to serialized comedy, but with some help from Reed, she quickly improves and becomes an excellent actor, much to Bree’s chagrin. However, Bree quickly changes her tune when she and Timberly go out for a night of partying and end up sleeping together.
Timberly is Restart caricature of how social media has pushed influencers into mainstream entertainment. However, the character is so much more complex than that. She’s self-aware, but she doesn’t take herself too seriously. She will definitely be the breakout star of the reboot, and it will be interesting to see how that affects her dynamics with the rest of the cast.
Restart hasn’t necessarily gotten the best reviews for its early run of episodes, but the bones are certainly all there to help the series evolve into something incredible. After only a few episodes, it has already cast several intriguing characters, and it will be fun to see the cast and crew of the come on reboot respond to the popularity (or lack thereof) of their spin-off series.