The Case for a 2nd season of "Reboot"

Hulu cancelled the latest show by the "Modern Family" creator back in January. Now fans, like me, are speaking up and taking action in favor of the sitcom.

When a new sitcom comes around and it’s moderately funny, multi-generational good fun for the whole family, it’s a unicorn. And when that same show is cancelled, I smell unicorn poop.

Photo by Andrea Tummons on Unsplash

Reboot follows the formula and adds a dash of pepper

The latest network chopping block ax found its way to a show with promise before it really had a chance to fly. Reboot on Hulu, much like Ghosts on CBS (currently in its second season), has a way of doing clean, self-deprecating relationship-oriented humor in a <30 minute format that just works- the likes of which have been largely absent on network TV for a while now. On subject of Ghosts, while I loved the first season, the second season is falling flat for me. Fewer laughs all around.

Meta-verse

Reboot is an original enough idea. Its premise being that a network, Hulu (side wink), decides to green light the reboot of a fictional show from the early aughts called “Step Right Up” that seems loosely based on 90s blended family shows that formed the ABC TGIF roster like Step by Step. Following in the popular trend of shows like Fuller House, One Day at a Time, Gossip Girl (which btw just got cancelled), the once popular Step Right Up is banking on Gen Xers and Zoomers alike to find humor in the more mature, yet still zany cast by giving a dose of the familiar reframed in modern context. Only the twist here, is that it’s a show that makes fun of the actors and writers working on the Step Right Up reboot, as opposed to it being an actual reboot. Got it?

Rachel Bloom (Crazy Ex-Girlfriend) plays Hannah, a queer hot-shot writer who pitches the Step Right Up reboot to Hulu execs and of course runs into issues as her estranged father, Gordon (Paul Reiser, the king of 90s sitcom and 1/2 of Mad About You, not to mention a gazillion other things) is the creator of the fictional show and owns the rights. His stipulation in allowing Hannah, his daughter, to do the reboot is that he works on it, and so we have a drama within a drama evolving. There is chemistry between Gordon and Hannah, who are often at odds generationally in the writers’ room as their posse of writers reflects, but they share poignant moments of reconnection as they learn to live with one another as adults and co-workers, and maybe even father and daughter. The coming together of the comedians in the writers’ room makes for some of the funniest moments on the show as Zoomers and Boomers try and do the thing they were hired to do - tell a funny story and prove that humor doesn’t have to belong to any particular time period - that it can transcend.

The original cast of Step Right Up are all train wrecks, except the former child actor, Zach (Calum Worthy) who has grown up to basically be his own Gen Z Tarek El Moussa, banking his money to invest in real estate since he’s been technically working in entertainment industry since he was a kid. These gems are things you find out as the season progresses. Still, he’s not without his own challenges, many of which expose just how developmentally stunted he is. The episode with him playing competitive basketball with a middle school Jewish boys’ league is a good example of this.

Keegan-Michael Key, also an Exec Producer here, plays double duty as Reed, a smart guy who just wants people to take his acting seriously and has spent most of his in between years, in theater in NYC trying to do just that. Unfortunately, for him, his greatest success in the eyes of the world, will be the role he played on Step Right Up. Then there’s Judy Greer as Bree, whose performance as a fading former sitcom hottie is done with a delicate balance of understanding there’s more to the appearance than meets the eye. She’s not the vapid, superficial person people want to see. But it’s hard for her to see herself differently. The male gaze runs deep here. There’s also some unfinished business between an attached Reed and a newly single Bree (divorced from Cary Elwes in a very funny cameo here).

Johnny Knoxville as former pick-your-poison addict Clay plays his character, who might very easily fall into a stereotype of the washed out actor, with a level of gravitas and perfunctory ease that’s not easy to pull off. He does it though and does it well. He’s also the one who shared that while this show is a no-go for season 2 on Hulu, it’s being shopped around to other networks.

And Bloom shouldn’t be out of work for too long. I’ve mentioned previously that she is the actress I’ve already modeled my protagonist after in my future adapted screenplay.

Shows Need Time to find an audience; Networks don’t have time

In her “save the show, save the sitcom” piece in Collider about saving “Reboot,” Claudia Picado makes the case that some of the most successful comedies of the last 20 years would never have gone on to achieve the upper echelons of success (The Office, Parks & Rec, Always Sunny in Philadelphia) had the network scrapped the show after the first season. It takes a while for fans to catch on and it’s often in the season streaming phase that a show picks up its audience and finds it groove.

Picado also goes on to comment on the unfortunate trend of premium networks and streaming services cutting shows prematurely and even before release. Remember the well-received novel, Devil in the White City? Yeah, that one is being cut by Hulu even before it started, but sounds like that one is more related to losing director Todd Field and actor Keanu Reeves. To be fair, Keanu is known for attaching himself to projects based on the director, so with Field out, Reeves was out.

The HBO Max chopping block had shows that we’re featured on my must-see list of 2022 like Minx, that was also from cut before a second season. Well technically, Minx had started production and then was cut. Pennyworth (the Batman’s butler origin story) is the latest show to be cancelled, but that at least had 3 seasons. Besides, it was time for it to be laid to rest.

Picado also surfaces how unlike other comedy shows from Hulu that have taken off like The Great or Only Murders in the Building (OMITB), this show barely got press time from the network. I’m always watching something and reviewing it (duh) and I only found out about Reboot through some obscure Google hole, likely related to the fact that I’ve watched other stuff with Bloom or searched for her on Google before, because yeah, my book…

So with that, I’m going to implore you all to go out and support this show. Watch it and make your mark. I’ve created a petition on Change.org where you can go and vote to save this show. Every votes counts so please spread the word.

I’m not above using my early 80s mug to influence you on the petition vote.