There have been several reboots and remakes of classic TV shows over the years. The next big one coming is a reboot of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which will also be a sequel to the original series, but with a young cast added to lead into the future. This is something that could be done for a lot of older TV shows, especially those that were underrated when they were released and have been mostly forgotten in today’s world of streaming. The 2000s have several shows like this, forgotten series that could be updated with a modern reboot and still be relevant today, as they were when they aired.
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Here is a look at seven underrated 2000s television series that could use a modern-day reboot.
7) Jericho
Jericho is a television series that might actually be more relevant today than it was when it was released in 2006. The original series had an ensemble cast led by Skeet Ulrich (Scream), and it followed the residents of Jericho, Kansas, who lost contact with most of the world after what turned out to be a nuclear attack. CBS canceled the show after one season because of poor ratings, and the network brought it back for a second, shorter season, and canceled it again.
A Jericho comic book series followed what happened next, but this is an idea that could play out as a new modern-day thriller. The original series had a great cast overall, with names like Ashley Scott (Dark Angel) and Lennie James (The Walking Dead), and a new series would likely need a bigger name to lure people in for such a dark storyline.
6) Mutant X
Mutant X was an interesting show because it was a Marvel production, but it had nothing to do with anything from the comics other than the fact that it was about mutants. The series premiered in 2001, and it centered on a team of mutants who had extraordinary powers, but unlike comic book mutants, these were caused by genetic engineering. These mutants were then subjected to government experiments.
The main theme of the series was that Mutant X, the team, was formed to find and protect other mutants. It ended up canceled because its production company, Fireworks Entertainment, was dismantled. There have been similar shows, such as The Gifted, but having an original Marvel show that has nothing to do with comic book characters could be a big selling point, especially on a streaming service.
5) Wonderfalls
One of the greatest television showrunners who had the most trouble keeping his shows running was Bryan Fuller. The man has one of the best eyes for visuals of anyone in the industry, running incredible shows like American Gods and Hannibal, but he often found himself out of a job when he needed more money than the networks were willing to put up, or when he left via creative differences.
After making his name on Star Trek: Voyager and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Fuller created his first show, the brilliant Dead Like Me, and then co-created Wonderfalls. While the former show was a slight success, no one talks about Wonderfalls, which starred Caroline Dhavernas as Jaye Tyler, a young woman who has small animal figurines begin to speak to her and lead her to make better decisions in life. It only lasted one season, but it could make a brilliant show today if Fuller returned to add his visual flair.
4) Jeremiah
One show that is easy to forget about, but was better than it gets credit for, is Jeremiah, which aired on Showtime from 2002 to 2004. The cast was solid, with the late Luke Perry (Beverly Hills 90210) in the lead and former Cosby Show star, the late Malcolm Jamal Warner, as his co-lead. The story takes place in an alternate Earth in the year 2021, 15 years after a plague called The Big Death killed almost everyone over the age of 13.
Perry is Jeremiah, a man looking for a mysterious place called the Valhalla Sector, which his father believed was a possible refuge before disappearing. After he rescues Kurdy (Warner) from being imprisoned, they agree to work for a man named Markus, a former child prodigy with plans to rebuild the world. Once again, this is still topical, with the surviving government wanting to create an authoritarian system and killing anyone who disagrees, while other forces want to conquer the country for their own purposes.
3) Dark Angel
Dark Angel was one of the more popular 2000 television shows, thanks to James Cameron producing it, and Jessica Alba taking on the lead role at the age of 19. However, even with Cameron’s name attached and a cast that included several names that would be huge in the future, it only lasted for two seasons before Fox cancelled it.
The show is about a young woman named Max who is a genetically enhanced supersoldier who escaped a government facility as a child and now lives in a dystopian near future when she realizes she has to find her “brothers and sisters” who also escaped. Much like the new Buffy, this could bring back Alba and have the next generation of super soldiers, and it could be a huge success in the world of streaming.
2) Painkiller Jane
Painkiller Jane was a 2007 sci-fi series based on the comic book character of the same name, who appeared in Event Comics and later showed up in Marvel Comics and Dynamite Entertainment as well. Kristanna Loken, who is best known for her role as T-X in Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, stars as the title character, a woman forced to work for a government agency hunting down people with superhuman mental powers.
The twist comes when she learns she also has superhuman abilities and is almost invulnerable, although she still feels pain. This was a great series, although it only lasted for one season before it was cancelled. As a comic book character, it could still be brought back, and it could be easily brought up to date for modern audiences.
1) Pushing Daisies
Bryan Fuller created some of the greatest, yet bizarre, shows in television history. However, Hannibal is the only one he was able to stick with long enough to tell an entire story from start to finish. Arguably, his best show before Hannibal was Pushing Daisies, which aired for two seasons from 2007 to 2009. The series starred Lee Pace as a man who learns he can touch dead things and bring them back to life.
The entire series was quirky, and when he brought his childhood sweetheart, Chuck (Anna Friel), back to life, it began to complicate things. This could be a fantastic show to bring back for modern-day audiences, although part of its charm was the cast, with Kristin Chenoweth delivering a career-making performance as Olive Snook. It remains a show that many critics and fans felt was cancelled too soon, and it could make for great television today as much as it did in the 2000s.
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