But that’s nothing new: On 30 Rock Tina Fey regularly satirized her corporate overlords, including fictional NBC boss Jack Donaghy’s decision to make The Girlie Show (the comedy’s show-within-a show) less girlie to woo more young male viewers.
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She is tasked with making decisions based on market research, casting a young reality TV star because they need a hot younger woman to reach the male 18-34 demographic. “What the hell,” the exec declares, “let’s remake something original!” Step Right Up’s main executive, Elaine ( Krista Marie Yu) is a tech savant whose company was absorbed in a corporate merger. His underlings unleash a litany of recent revivals. When Hannah initially tries to sell the show, the Hulu exec asks if people are still doing reboots. Reboot does have its pleasures, including some good-natured ribbing of streaming in general and Hulu specifically. “We don’t shlep in a live audience every week so they can sit there and nod in thoughtful amusement,” he scolds.
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One young woman suggests, “This is probably too meta but what if bond by talking about Alison Bechdel?” Uninterested in meta-humor, Gordon brings in his own crop of crusty television vets who say inappropriate things in the writers room but know how to craft classic jokes. Always funny!” He is befuddled by their newfangled references to the Bechdel Test.
“The lessons you’re gonna learn? Invaluable. “Is this one of those diversity intern training things?” he asks when he meets Hannah’s young and trendy crop of writers. Gordon is politically incorrect at every turn. A generational tug of war ensues that is also a battle between television’s past and future: tried-and-tired Pavlovian comedy, all signposted gags and stock characters, versus streaming-era dramedy with its signature genre blending and mixed moods. He wants to tilt Hannah's fresh take on the show back toward the original (read: cheesy) tone. So Reed is devastated when Gordon ( Paul Reiser), the show’s original showrunner, is hired to partner with Hannah.
“It’s both the funniest thing you’ve ever read and you won’t laugh once,” he marvels. Reed’s last role was as the voice of a hemorrhoid, but his theatrical aspirations are flattered by Hannah’s darkly comedic script. In the process she revives the careers of original cast members Bree ( Judy Greer), Reed ( Keegan Michael-Key), Clay ( Johnny Knoxville), and former child star Zack ( Calum Worthy), all of whom have tumbled into post-primetime purgatory.
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The broadcast network’s broad, risk-averse templates and well-worn punchlines unraveled into a more adventurous, open-ended idea of the situation comedy, more likely to be filmed in real locations rather than on-stage sets in front of a live audience.įictional showrunner Hannah is an indie filmmaker determined to find edgy new life in the bygone (fictional) Step Right Up, a broad, Full House-ish sitcom. Streaming has transformed our ideas of television comedy over the last decade. Alas, despite its cute premise, Reboot doesn’t quite reach that mark. What better way to work through your behind-the-scenes traumas and skewer your nemeses than making attractive performers re-enact the conflicts and ego-driven tantrums in your own TV series? 30 Rock, Bojack Horseman and It’s Garry Shandling’s Show (the grandaddy of the meta-TV sitcom) all set a high bar for small-screen satire. We are often told to “write what you know best”-hence the frequent appearances of plotlines focused on writers’ insecurities, awkward backstage encounters, and squabbles with network executives. Television loves to play with itself, and Reboot joins a long line of TV shows about TV shows, from The Dick Van Dyke Show and Murphy Brown to Extras and The Comeback. “They don’t always do the right thing anymore!” she promises. She’s pitching a renovated version of beloved 1990s family comedy Step Right Up to some Hulu executives. “You know how in the old sitcom the characters always do the right thing?” says young showrunner Hannah ( Crazy Ex-Girlfriend’s Rachel Bloom ) in the pilot of Hulu’s new comedy, Reboot.
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