3 drama series Netflix should consider reviving: Boston Legal and more

Netflix has a good track record with reviving canceled series.

While reboots are all the rage these days, some fans, who are missing their favorite television shows, aren’t interested in a reboot as much as a return. This is especially true for shows that still had a lot of stories left to tell.

Netflix has been extremely successful with reviving series like Lucifer, Arrested Development (which returned after a five-year hiatus), and Longmire, to name a few. While other series may have ended on a “successful” note, fans weren’t ready to say goodbye to them, which is precisely why these dramas could work for Netflix.

Here are three series Netflix should consider reviving

Boston Legal

No fan of this series was ready for it to end. Starring William Shatner, James Spader, and Candace Bergen, this lawyer comedy-drama won Emmys, a Golden Globe, and a Peabody but was still canceled. Most fans agree that it was how the show was shuffled around that caused the early cancellation. The series moved four times in its five-season run before ending in 2008.

There has been no legal show quite like Boston Legal, and even though it got its start on The Practice with William Shatner and James Spader, it easily eclipsed that drama in terms of quality, story-telling, and comedy.

Alias

Alias was another series that suffered because of being shuffled around. Airing on Sunday nights at nine for its first three seasons, Alias averaged 8.9 million viewers. The show moved to Wednesday nights at nine for its fourth season and managed to maintain an average of 10.3 million viewers.

In its fifth season, however, the show was jostled into four different time slots, bringing the viewer number down to an average of 6.7 million viewers. The final move put it in the dreaded 8:00 p.m. Thursday night slot which felled three other shows.

There isn’t a show like Alias airing on television today. A spy-drama with Jennifer Garner, Michael Vartan, Victor Garber, and Carl Lumbly, this series took viewers on wild rides every episode. From Jennifer Garner in various wigs and costumes to mysterious plots that involved age-old prophecies, Alias offered spellbinding action and adventure from the first episode until its last in 2006. And there are many more stories left to be told.

Without a Trace

Series that revolve around the FBI are extremely popular. With FBI and FBI: Most Wanted, Criminal Minds, The Blacklist, and Quantico, to name a few, there has been a boom in viewers interested in watching suits solve crimes and bring criminals to justice. That’s exactly what Without a Trace did when it aired from 2002-2009, but it had a unique bent. It focused solely on finding missing persons.

Without a Trace wasn’t just good drama. The series used its popularity for good. At the end of each episode, the profile of a real missing person was shown. A kidnapped brother and sister were located as a result of their profiles being shown at the end of an episode in July 2005, proving that viewers were paying attention to more than just the fiction. In 2006, an 18-year-old was located as well.

When ending in 2009, Without a Trace was still averaging close to thirteen million viewers. Not only was it quality entertainment, but it was also putting the faces of missing children, teens, and adults before the eyes of millions of people who otherwise might not have seen them. That’s just one of the many reasons Without a Trace deserves a return.

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Were you a fan of any of these shows? Would you watch them on Netflix? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

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