Thirty years after it first aired on US television, superhero series Mighty Morphin Power Rangers has returned to the small screen.
Warning: the following article contains spoilers.
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Once & Always began streaming on Netflix last Wednesday, showcasing an adventure in which a pair of the original Rangers — Walter Emanuel Jones as Black Ranger Zack Taylor and David Yost as Blue Ranger Billy Cranston — join forces with an array of their successors to once again do battle with the villainous Rita Repulsa.
Nostalgia remains one of the biggest and most enduringly popular themes in entertainment — and while some take reboots, remakes and reunions as further proof Hollywood has run out of ideas, there are others who can’t wait to see what their favourite characters did next.
Here are five other television shows from the 90s and early 2000s we would love to see make a comeback:
1. The Nanny
Ran from: 1993-1999
Premise: Fran Drescher starred as door-to-door beauty saleswoman Fran Fine, who knocks on the Manhattan mansion door of theatre impresario and widower Maxwell Sheffield (Charles Shaughnessy), and is hired to be the nanny of his three children Maggie (Nicholle Tom), Brighton (Benjamin Salisbury), and Grace (Madeline Zima).
Why we want a reunion: The final episode in the sixth season of the popular show brought tears and laughter in equal measure as the entire family headed off to California, where Maxwell was turning one of his shows into a sitcom.
A reunion catching up with Fran and the Sheffields in Hollywood would no doubt see Fran put Kris Jenner to shame in the “momager” stakes, as she turns her twins Jonah and Eve into celebrities.
And how much fun would it be if Fran herself became an influencer?
2. My So-Called Life
Ran from: 1994-1995
Premise: Often cited as one of the best teen dramas of all time and winning lead actress Claire Danes a Golden Globe, the show ran for only one season of 19 episodes.
It followed sophomore Angela Chase (Danes) as she navigates high school, meets new friends and develops an all-encompassing crush on Jared Leto’s Jordan Catalano.
Why we want a reunion: No doubt confident the show would get renewed, the writers ended the final episode on a cliffhanger that has never been resolved. Did former best friends Rayanne and Angela ever make up after Rayanne’s betrayal? Did Angela’s parents finally split up?
In 2014, 19 years after the show ended, creator Winnie Holzman told Vulture than in light of the letter Brian wrote Angela purportedly from Jordan: “[Angela] would be in a relationship with Jordan, Brian would be in a relationship with Delia, and they would be longing for each other, basically.”
3. Ally McBeal
Ran from: 1997-2002
Premise: Combining comedy and drama, the Emmy and Golden Globe-winning show starred Calista Flockhart as lawyer Ally McBeal, who joins a new law firm — only to discover her ex-boyfriend Billy Thomas (Gil Bellows), who she still has feelings for, not only works there, but is married to fellow lawyer Georgia (Courtney Thorne-Smith).
Why we want a reunion: The final season certainly dropped some bombshells that a reunion show would help unpack further. Not least in the shape of 10-year-old Maddie (Hayden Panettiere) who arrives on Ally's doorstep and tells her she is her daughter, owing to a mix-up at the fertility clinic where Ally froze her eggs.
In the final episode, Ally decides to move back to New York with her daughter. A reunion focusing on McBeal as a mother to a young woman, finding her own way in her life and career, would certainly excite fans — who would love to see the likes of Fish, Renee and Ally's former frenemy Georgia turn up to advise Maddie as a group of very unruly godparents.
4. Cheers
Ran from: 1982-1993
Premise: One of the most popular shows in US TV history (the series finale was watched by almost 40 per cent of the US population at the time), Cheers launched a host of careers as it followed former Boston Red Sox player-turned-bar owner Sam Malone (Ted Danson) as he interacted with a host of eccentric characters and staff at his popular watering hole.
Why we want a reunion: Cheers created characters who are still remembered today, from Woody Harrelson’s sweet-but-dim bartender Woody Boyd to sassy waitress Carla Tortelli (Rhea Pearlman).
Not to mention, it’s responsible for launching the hit show Frasier, as Frasier Crane started life as a character on the show. The show ended after 11 seasons just as it started, with a bunch of people sitting around shooting the breeze.
Fans would no doubt love to see the children of their favourite characters — Norm, Diane, Carla, Cliff and more — come together, perhaps to help grandpa Sam re-open the bar again after the pandemic.
5. Dawson's Creek
Ran from: 1998-2003
Premise: The world’s most overly articulate teenagers broke new ground in young adult programming when the show — centred around the lives, loves, trials, tribulations and friendships of 15-year-old Dawson Leery (James Van Der Beek) — made its debut on January 20, 1998.
Why we want a reunion: The show launched the careers of Hollywood stars Joshua Jackson, Katie Holmes and Michelle Williams, who starred as Pacey Witter, Joey Potter and Jen Lindley, respectively.
The final episode famously gave fans a flash-forward, as well as one of the most tear-jerking deaths in television history when Jen died, showing Joey and Pacey finally together and living in New York.
A reunion show could give fans more of what kept them tuning in for five years: one of TV’s most will-they-won’t-they love triangles.
We’d love to see Dawson, now a big-shot Hollywood director, decide that he wants Joey for himself and turn up to turn the Potter-Pacey residence upside down.
