8 TV reboots we actually wouldn’t mind seeing
By Shaun Stacy
TV reboots we’d actually like to see: Cold Case (2003-2010)
Perhaps one of the most atmospheric crime procedurals ever, Cold Case ran on CBS from September 2003-May 2010. The show revolved around a fictionalized Philadelphia Police Department division that specializes in investigating cold cases, or murder/assault cases that are no longer being actively pursued by the department.
The series used flashback sequences to create the narrative of each episode’s victim, including crimes dating all the way back to the 1910s. During the flashbacks, there was immense detail given to the settings, everything from costumes to period-appropriate music were thought out.
The exceptionally talented cast included Kathryn Morris as Detective Lilly Rush (typically depicted as the lead character), Danny Pino as Lilly’s partner Scotty Valens, John Finn as the team’s boss Lieutenant Stillman, and Broadway veteran Tracie Thomas, who joined the cast at the beginning of season 3.
A pre-Grey’s Anatomy Justin Chambers appeared in the first five episodes as Lilly’s partner but departed the show to become a series regular on the ABC medical drama. The show was also distinguished by impressive “double casting,” in which actors would be cast as the same character but in different timeframes.
Each episode would focus on a single investigation and would involve at least one, if not all, of the Cold Case team. Usually, a new piece of testimony or evidence kick-started the investigation, with members of the team interviewing suspects and witnesses associated with the original cold case. The show was somewhat ahead of its time, regularly tackling issues such as racism, homophobia, sexism, police brutality, and transphobia. Similar to shows such as Law & Order, occasional cases were based on real-life events and victims.
Though the series’ ratings started off strong with its first couple of seasons it was one of the many primetime series that suffered during the Hollywood writers’ strike of 2007, and quickly fell into decline. CBS attempted to shuffle the series around different time slots on Sunday evenings in order to save the show, but their efforts failed when the show was canceled at the conclusion of its seventh season. Season 7, unfortunately, ended with a cliffhanger, leaving the viewers who had stuck around to wonder about the ultimate fate of several characters.
True crime is at an all-time high on the television landscape, both fictional and actual. However, the one thing that yet to be replicated, is how Cold Case so thoughtfully illustrated the stories of the show’s victims. Too often, more attention is put on the action put into solving a case, without ever really getting to know the victim along the way. Have a revival or a reboot of Cold Case would be a welcome addition to CBS’s lineup, it could perhaps even return as a limited series on CBS All Access (or should we say Paramount+).