Showbiz


Golden Age of Classic TV Brought Us All Together


Today’s audiences still yearn for shows based on real American values, says columnist James Hirsen.


T BY JAMES HIRSEN


wo popular tv shows of the past, Frasier and Monk, have recently been brought back to life.


The original Frasier series aired


from 1993 to 2004, earning 37 Emmys in its run. In October of 2023, a Frasier reboot


made its debut on Paramount+ featur- ing the same actor and character from the original, i.e., Kelsey Grammer as Frasier Crane, who this time is dealing with life in his 60s. The first two episodes of the show


were the most-watched original series premiere on Paramount+. As a result, the new Frasier has been renewed for a second season. Meanwhile, Emmy winner Tony


Shalhoub can be seen in the feature film Mr. Monk’s Last Case: A Monk Movie on Peacock. Shalhoub portrays Adrian Monk, the same lovable, neurotic savant


REBOOTS Classic hits like Frasier and Mr. Monk’s Last Case are engaging a new generation of fans attracted to their timeless values.


detective character he played in the original TV series. The show ran for eight great seasons on the USA Net- work.


Peacock’s movie reboot comes


almost 14 years after the final epi- sode of the original Monk series aired, which in its run took home eight Emmys, including three for Shalhoub for outstanding lead actor in a comedy series.


Reboots are part of a current Hol-


lywood trend of reaching back in time to find material to produce. A few examples include a sequel to


the original Full House, called Fuller House; a revival of the original series Gilmore Girls, titled Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life; a reboot of the original Roseanne with the same title; and a spinoff of the original Roseanne, called The Conners. TV shows of bygone eras actual-


ly comprise a significant portion of today’s entertainment programming, and public interest itself seems to be on the rise. Why would there be such a demand to see shows that were produced


decades ago? Here’s my theory. These are tough times we are living


through — in many ways. The changes we have experienced have occurred more rapidly than we could even pro- cess. It is a truism that a common set of


values is what holds a society together. The unspoken bond. What were some of the values that,


in the past, we collectively held as ide- als? Ones to which we agreed that we would all strive to uphold? Honesty, fairness, kindness, loyal-


ty, perseverance, courage, and respect, to name a few. Something happened to that vessel


of shared values. Cracks appeared. Some values eroded. Some were supplanted. And some were merely lost in the fog of the culture war. Classic TV at its finest had our com-


mon set of values embedded within its storylines, and within the minds and hearts of the characters that were liv- ing out the comedies and dramas. While these shows may have been


set in a bygone era, the values contained within them are timeless.


James Hirsen writes the Left Coast Report on Newsmax.com and is a bestselling author. He has a master’s in media psychology.


54 NEWSMAX | FEBRUARY 2024


FRASIER/CHRIS HASTON/PARAMOUNT+ / MR. MONK STEVE EICHNER/VARIETY VIA GETTY IMAGES


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