'Reboot' review: Hulu's meta-comedy pokes fun at sitcoms old and new
The past few years have seen a boom of reboots on TV: Fuller House, iCarly, How I Met Your Father, Bel-Air. Even Frasier is getting rebooted. But while we've seen reboots of sitcoms, we have yet to see a sitcom about a reboot... until now. Enter Hulu's Reboot, a comedy from Modern Family co-creator Steven Levitan about the team behind a revival of an early 2000s sitcom.
That sitcom? The fictional Step Right Up, about a stepfather meshing with his new family. The team? A collection of writers, actors, and executives who keep butting heads over how to proceed with this new show. Hannah (Rachel Bloom), the reboot's showrunner, constantly faces off against Gordon (Paul Reiser), Step Right Up's original creator, about the tone of the show. While she'd prefer it to be an edgier, grittier take on well-known characters, he wants to keep Step Right Up exactly the same.
Then there are the actors. Reed (Keegan-Michael Key) left Step Right Up to pursue dramatic film roles, but when that didn't work out, his career stagnated. He sees Hannah's vision for the reboot as a chance to play a more nuanced version of his original character. Bree (Judy Greer) is seeking a change after a stint as a Scandinavian duchess went south. Loose cannon Clay (Johnny Knoxville) is just trying to keep his life under control, while former child actor Zack (Calum Worthy) struggles to adjust from child stardom to adult fame.
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Reboot is at its best when it satirizes show business.
With such a strong ensemble, it's no surprise that Reboot garners laughs. Its biggest and best comedic moments tend to come when it's joking about the entertainment business, including the rise of comedies that blur the line between comedy and drama. Early in the pilot, Reed describes the script for Step Right Up's edgy new direction, calling it "both the funniest thing you have ever read, and you won't laugh once."
Also getting lampooned are the algorithm-based streaming landscape and wild dating show premises. Hulu's VP of comedy Elaine (Krista Marie Yu) is "new to humor" but a whiz at figuring out who's watching what. New cast member Timberly (Alyah Chanelle Scott) hails from the popular reality show Fuckbuddy Mountain, which feels like a spiritual successor to 30 Rock's MILF Island.
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As Hannah and Gordon struggle to work together, Reboot highlights how much TV has changed. It's incredibly fun to see the old guard tangle with the new, especially in the writers' room. Reboot itself plays with this tension, being both a sitcom and a send-up of old sitcoms. Yes, it has slapstick and montage-worthy hijinks, but it also digs deep into the dysfunctional relationships between its characters. Plus, being on Hulu, it has a little more freedom than a network sitcom (hence Fuckbuddy Mountain). While Reboot's satire of Hollywood never quite reaches the highs of shows like The Other Two or Barry, its jabs are still sharp, appropriately meta, and proof of the show's great potential.
Reboot stumbles into some tired clichés, but subverts others.
It's always fun to watch Reboot pay tribute to television — in a sweet touch, all its episodes are named after other TV comedies — but it can sometimes be frustrating to watch it fall into tired old tropes. For example, a will-they, won't-they romance between Reed and Bree isn't as fascinating as Reboot seems to think it is. Greer and Key are both exceptional performers, yet they're stuck bickering with each other for most of the season.
Elsewhere, Reboot plays into some less-than-welcome tropes, like feuding actresses backstabbing each other, only to tweak them in unexpected, yet welcome directions. These subversions play much better than, say, Reed and Bree's sexually tense animosity. Plus, they help build Reboot's found family dynamic to the point that you're rooting for the show — both Step Right Up and Reboot itself — to succeed. If you're a fan of sitcoms or any member of this seriously stacked cast, Reboot is sure to be a killer watch.
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Belen Edwards is an Entertainment Reporter at Mashable. She covers movies and TV with a focus on fantasy and science fiction, adaptations, animation, and more nerdy goodness. She is a member of the Critics Choice Association and the Television Critics Association, as well as a Tomatometer-approved critic.
