With the news that FATHER KNOWS BEST is the latest television show to get the big-screen treatment, we couldn’t help but think that maybe, just maybe, TV execs should get in on the action. Given how much crap is currently airing — and how many great shows are either on the bubble or recently-cancelled — it might be time for the networks to consider raiding their own vaults and relaunching some classic shows. The five topping our wish list?
THE WEST WING
Yes, this NBC drama only went off the air in 2006, but the time is most definitely right for a return. Thanks to a contentious election, the seeming death of bipartisanship and attention-mongers such as Rush Limbaugh, Keith Olbermann and Bill O’Reilly, the country is more politican than ever. What better time to bring back Aaron Sorkin’s brilliant series, perhaps with an entirely new administration in place? The possibilities are endless.
TAXI
Several networks are attempting to develop recession-friendly comedies which reflect the time. So why not tap into the angst of the Everyman by returning to the garage in which the loveable lugs of the Sunshine Cab Company toiled? Hey, we hear Tony Danza is available…
SOAP
Even as the actual genre which this late, great ABC sitcom mocked seems poised on the brink of extinction, the time couldn’t be better for a revamp of the tale which followed two families — one wealthy, one lower-middle class — who dealt with all of life’s ups and downs. The great irony is, of course, that even back in the late 70’s, the then-controversial comedy was able to pull off emotional moments that today’s daytime dramas couldn’t if they tried.
DYNASTY
Let’s face it: DIRTY SEXY MONEY wanted to be a modern-age DYNASTY but failed. Recent research has shown, however, that when the going gets rough (economically speaking), we like to watch rich people do awful things to one another. And nobody did it better than the Carrington clan. So why not launch DYNASTY: THE NEXT GENERATION, following the antics of the original clan’s various offspring. Sorry, but I’m more interested in that then a rehash of MELROSE PLACE… especially given how awful a job The CW has done with 90210!
THE COMEBACK
How this HBO comedy — starring Lisa Kudrow as former sitcom star Valerie Cherish and following her struggle to reclaim the spotlight while keeping her head above water and her dignity intact — failed, we’ll never really understand. The show made Entertainment Weekly‘s list of “new classics” and was nominated for three Emmy awards (including Outsanding lead Actress In A Comedy for Kudrow). If you never caught this, run out to buy the DVD’s (don’t rent… you’ll want them for repeated viewings) and then curse HBO for being so quick on the trigger before writing to remind them that the should still could, in fact, stage a COMEBACK. 
