Hulu Original Series Canceled Before Its Time Is Already Being Forgotten
By now, I’m sure we’re all tired of endless reboots, legacy sequels, and unnecessary franchise spin-offs taking up all of the major real estate in the film and television landscape. At a certain point, it starts to feel as though the only way to get a project off the ground is to anchor it to nostalgia for a popular project that’s decades old or build up a backstory for some kind of brand or product. If you’re interested in seeing this Hollywood trend lambasted, you likely would have loved the short-lived Hulu original comedy Reboot, which was canceled before its time.
A Modern Meta Comedy
As the name would suggest, Reboot takes aim at the nature of nostalgia-baiting TV and movie franchises through a hilariously meta lens. The series centers on an up-and-coming indie filmmaker who attempts to launch a revival of a classic decades-old sitcom titled Step Right Up, with the intention of bringing back the entire original cast and updating the plot and humor for a more adult audience.
The filmmaker even manages to get a meeting with executives at a fictionalized version of Hulu, who agree to green-light the reboot as a streaming original.
A Cast Of Comedy All-Stars
Along the way, the audience is introduced to the highly dysfunctional cast of the original series, who have each gone on to live in the shadow of their massive sitcom fame. Things become even more complicated when the original creator and showrunner of Step Right Up joins the project and clashes with the new showrunner about the reboot’s tone and general vision. Reboot‘s ensemble cast includes Keegan-Michael Key, Johnny Knoxville, Calum Worthy, Judy Greer, Krista Marie Yu, Paul Reiser, and Crazy Ex-Girlfiend creator Rachel Bloom.
Attempts Made to Save The Series
Reboot was created and developed for streaming by former Modern Family co-creator and showrunner Steven Levitan. While the series opened to positive reviews from fans and critics alike, Hulu inexplicably opted to cancel Reboot after just one season in January of 2023. Levitan and company attempted to shop the show around to a few other networks and streaming services, though the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes kicked off just a few months later, causing the project to be dropped entirely.
An Award-Winning Cult Classic
The show’s cancellation came as something of a shock to fans, as Reboot had stellar streaming numbers and critical praise and even secured two Critics Choice Awards nominations shortly after the eight-episode season premiered. Today, Reboot holds an 84 percent certified fresh critic score on Rotten Tomatoes, and a minor cult following. Still, the series was so short-lived that it’s hard to imagine core fans coming back to it a few years down the line.
Only Streaming On Hulu
REVIEW SCORE
So it seems that the artistic vision of Reboot will never be fully fleshed out, and the show will never get the proper ending that it deserves. Despite this frustrating end result, Reboot is definitely still worth streaming on Hulu today, as it offers some hilarious and brutal satire on the state of the filmmaking industry. The show also centers on an interesting generational divide, which shows how older comedy writers and younger comedy writers can come together to create a harmonious blend of timeless jokes.
