The Heathers Reboot and all it's "damage"

Remakes or 'reboots' have increased in popularity recently and most of the successful Hollywood movies of today are indeed remakes.  The word 'remakes' in itself tends to bring a negative vibe to something and Paramount TV's Heathers was no different.  When the new series reboot was announced last March, fans of the beloved 80's classic have been reacting in all sorts of ways.

The new reboot mainly features a genderqueer character as Heather Duke, and a lesbian of colour as Heather McNamara in contrast with the original where the idea was to promote Westerburg's most influential trio as three basic, thin, white mean girls.  This of course already changes things quite drastically and most dedicated fans of the original argued that this completely altered the main idea of the plot.  Not only are the Heathers made up of characters that would traditionally be oppressed as minorities, but they are nothing like teens of today.  One can easily pick up the fact that all three heathers speak differently, act differently, think differently and dress very differently than any average teen.

Not only did this doomed reboot get greeted by a lot of criticism, it also got banned from airing in the U.S.  This occurred as the series features heavy violence and dark humour as well as school shootings and bombings which are being taken very seriously in the world of today.  The series had already been sold out to international markets and it was released as initially planned outside of the U.S.  

After it was completely shelved by Paramount TV, the series actually made it to screens two weeks ago on October 25th as a "5-day binge" showing two episodes a day and it left us no choice but to "Lick it up, baby.  Lick it up".  However episode 10 failed to make the cut and was banned from airing so the last two episodes had to be censored and crammed up into one.  This caused the series to end with a cliffhanger without showing the part at the end where Westerburg High School is actually blown up.  Instead, watchers were presented by a Heathers version of 'Lip-sync battle' featuring stars Melanie Field and Brendan Scannell.  

*WARNING* - Spoilers below

The Heathers pilot instantly did not strike the right tone among critics as the great Heather Chandler seems to rise from the dead at the very end of this episode, again, in contrast to the original where she dies spectacularly after chugging down drain cleaner and landing face down on her glass coffee table, beautifully shattering it to shards.  Despite the fact that this plot twist helps to create a more complex plot line to successfully turn the classic movie into a 10 episode TV series, this was done tragically wrong. 

Having watched the series myself, the most vital thing that this "gorgeous-tragic" reboot lacks is reasons why.  Several things happen all throughout the episodes that are left unaddressed and unexplained.  Although the trio uses social justice as an excuse to bully people, their actual bullying scenes are not well thought out.  In the pilot, Heather Chandler calls out a football player for wearing a racist university shirt instead of directing her anger towards the actual university.  This further enforces the argument that her bullying is purely to terrify others so to gain popularity and power and not for the scope of social justice.

In light of all the controversy raised by this reboot, Shannon Doherty served as the one and only saving grace that prevented this series from becoming a miserable failure.  Her starring in the original as Heather Duke and now being cast in the reboot as JD's mother gives it a stamp of approval from one of the original Heathers, making the new version seem more authentic.

Until next time.