Last week, Netflix released the second season of That 90s Show, a reboot of the classic sitcom That 70s Show. In the reboot, many of the original cast returns for a look at what’s transpired in their lives as adults and parents and, wouldn’t you know it, the new kids end up in the iconic basement in Kitty and Red’s home.
It’s the latest reboot to find some success on Netflix, following their reboot of classic shows from our youth like Full House and Gilmore Girls.
With all of the talks of sequels and reboots, we put together this list of series that Netflix should bring back next. We know you’re reading Netflix executives: You’re welcome, now get to work on these.
A Jesse Pinkman Breaking Bad Spinoff
When actor Aaron Paul pranked fans by hinting that a new Breaking Bad spin-off following Jesse Pinkman—who evidently escaped to Alaska—was in the works, some of his social media followers weren’t very happy.
But, considering how great the prequel series Better Call Saul is, another Vince Gilligan-produced spin-off could actually work, especially on Netflix, where show-runners get the creative control to do basically whatever they want. As complex and dark as Walt was and as funny and charming as Saul is, Jesse still remains arguably the universe’s most compelling character.
His conflicted morality, struggles with shame, addictions and search for a real family were the heart of the show. Walt was brilliant and unstoppable, but also unrelatable. Jesse was the opposite: insecure, good-hearted and hurting.
Following his journey and search for redemption—especially if Gilligan were involved—could give audiences the moral closure they never got when Walt brought the original series to its violent ending.
Freaks and Geeks
It’s been nearly 25 years since Freaks and Geeks was unceremoniously canceled after just one, brilliant 18-episode season. Obviously, the cast has all aged, so playing a group of early ‘80s high school students wouldn’t work as a reboot, but who wouldn’t want to see Hollywood megastars including James Franco, Seth Rogen, Busy Phillips, Jason Segel, Linda Cardellini and the rest of the cast return as mid-‘90s thirtysomethings still trying to awkwardly find their place in the world? Or perhaps they could follow That 70s Show‘s formula and bring in their kids.
But, what made the original show so special, wasn’t just the cast—it was the creative minds behind the show. Creator Paul Feig (The Heat, Bridesmaids, Spy) has gone on to become one of Hollywood’s go-to comic filmmakers and executive producer Judd Apatow is basically his own brand these days. And, considering Netflix’s ability to pull together big ensemble projects (remember the Arrested Development reboot?), a comeback isn’t all that implausible. Even Apatow seemed (half-seriously, sorta-kinda) open to the idea. He told Variety:
I think we had a beautiful poetic ending, and it’s a miracle that it worked so well. You don’t want to see what happened in the diner after ‘The Sopranos’ ended. As much as at the time it threw you, as the years passed you think, that was a brilliant ending so I don’t think we would mess with it, but you never know—anything can happen.
The Adventures of Pete and Pete
Before Adult Swim regularly provided surrealist comedy to mainstream audiences, The Adventures of Pete & Pete brought its subversive brand of sitcom parody to the kids network Nickelodeon for three glorious seasons. For the most part, the series is just a footnote in the chronicles of millennial TV culture, but it’s weird humor, indie-rock sensibilities (remember how great the theme song was?) and surprising sentimentalism made it one of the era’s forgotten masterpieces.
The show made commentary about suburban life without ever making fun of it. It was weird, light-hearted, never mean-spirited, artful and funny. In other words, the perfect kind of show that would work again today.
Friday Night Lights
Few shows have so beautifully captured faith, community and the drama of small-town American life like the TV version of Friday Night Lights. Obviously, now that the original cast has grown up, they can no longer play Texas teenagers, but that doesn’t mean that revisiting Dillon is off the table.
As the original characters get older and start their own lives and families in Dillon, there’s opportunities to tell stories surrounding a community that still revolves around high school football—even if the football isn’t always at the center of the drama. After all, what made the show so great wasn’t sports—it was relationships. And sometimes, those only get more interesting as we get older.
Could it happen? Probably not, but maybe? As we all know, clear eyes, full hearts, can’t lose.
McGee and Me!
When you think about it, the ‘90s Christian VHS franchise McGee and Me! has some similarities with the successfully rebooted Netflix series Full House: Both series were family-friendly comedies; both were comprised of episodes that relied on self-contained, light-hearted morality lessons; and, if we’re honest with ourselves, both were objectively not very good (seriously, watch an old Full House rerun in syndication; the cheesy jokes aren’t as charming as they once were.)
But, the same thing that makes Full House the perfect subject of a reboot would make McGee and Me! such a fun project: nostalgia.
Plus, can you imagine McGee having to navigate the complicated world of 2024 moral pitfalls? Forget the R-rated movies, random acts of vandalism and lessons about sportsmanship (seriously, being a good sport in various athletic competitions was the theme of like half of the episodes) that the original series tackled; now McGee and Nick would live in a world of texting and social media.
Truly, it’s the show we all need.