Universal just doesn't get it: Ironside gets cancelled.

[hobbyfan]

Let me start by invoking the words of the poet, George Santayana:

Those who fail to remember history are doomed to repeat it.

Over the last several years, Universal has attempted to revive various series from the 60's, 70's, & 80's, mostly ending in abject failure. The lone exception being Battlestar Galactica, which easily bettered the original 1978 series. I think it lasted, what, 5 seasons as opposed to the original barely getting through 1 season. Yeah, I get it. Different generation, and a smarter fan base.

But let's consider the other revivals:

Night Stalker: ABC brought this back a few years ago, putting it on Thursdays instead of Fridays where the original had been. Didn't even finish the season.

Bionic Woman: NBC, which acquired the original series for its final season, had the reboot, which lasted only 1 year.

Knight Rider: NBC & Universal hadn't learned anything from the Bionic Woman failure, and thought rebooting the 1982 series for a new generation would work. Uh, no. 1 year and done.

Kojak: The remake ended up on USA Network. The bad news was that Kojak was now an African American (Ving Rhames). This came not long after the remake of "Shaft" w/Samuel L. Jackson had been in theatres, and some idiot at Universal thought that they didn't need to find another Greek actor to fill Telly Savalas' gumshoes. Yep, it lasted one year.

Dragnet: Dick Wolf was tasked with bringing this show back. Ed O'Neill, now on Modern Family, had failed with a crime drama earlier (Big Apple), but was looking to break away from the persona of Al Bundy (Married With Children). ABC's mistake was adding "LA" to the title for season 2. I was fine with the hour long format, as Wolf gave it the Law & Order treatment (since it was the inspiration for L & O). Even the best fail sometimes.

The Munsters: They tried turning this into a drama a year ago, under the name, "Mockingbird Lane", then had the idiotic move of the decade by choosing Jerry O'Connell over Brad Garrett as Herman. DOA.

That brings us to the cancellation of the reboot of Ironside after just 3 episodes.

The casting department had forgotten the Kojak mistake and ended up replicating it. Robert Ironside was now an African American (Blair Underwood), as well as being more pro-active and hands-on in terms of taking down suspects. In other words, they fused together Ironside and Mark Sanger. NBC hyped it to the moon. Viewers weren't biting. I watched the pilot On Demand days before the series debut, and I actually liked it. NBC simply didn't give it a chance. Wolf gets to reclaim the 10 pm (ET) berth with a Chicago Fire spinoff, Chicago PD. Meh.

In this case, it was a clear case of the suits panicking too quickly.

What do you think?