Spare us this TV show reboot hell

Context is everything. Think about the shows we watched in the '80s and '90s - they were products of their time and that's as it should be.

However, even though we're in a golden age of original television content, it seems that the last vestige of those with little imagination - the reboot - is going stronger than ever.

We've had the unsuccessful and ill-fated attempt to revitalise MacGyver, which has really only proved that there is no MacGyver without Richard Dean Anderson, stone-washed jeans and mullets.

Similarly the whole point of Dynasty was the hairspray and the '70s chintz and Joan Collins, something the creators of the soap's latest incarnation appear to have missed. Even the surfers of '60s classic Hawaii Five-0 have not been spared network television's hunger for an easy hit and the remake of that show is now in its eighth season.

Just when Crockett and Tubbs breathed a sigh of relief, their original creator Michael Mann went and turned them into Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx for the lacklustre 2006 Miami Vice film adaptation and now, under the auspices of Vin Diesel and the team behind the Fast and Furious franchise, there's a new series reboot in the works at NBC.

JUST LEAVE IT ALONE

The list of shows that have escaped the reboot horror is shrinking daily. Turn around and watch in face-palming incredulity as that show you loved so much - perfect for its times and impossible to replicate - is turned into a glossy, pale shadow of itself.

When news broke last week of the death of John Hillerman, there was much nostalgic recollection of what, to many, was his most iconic role - that of Higgins, right-hand man to Tom Selleck's Magnum P.I.

Thankfully Hillerman will not be around when, shock of shocks, Paul Lenkov (the man responsible for destroying MacGyver and Hawaii Five-O) gets his hands on the quintessential, completely-until-now-unremarkable piece of '80s television history.

CBS has announced that Lenkov will bring us a reboot of Selleck's mustachioed and Hawaiian-shirt-wearing private investigator. Is anything sacred any more? Nope.

Magnum P.I. is the perfect example of a show that was successful because of the way its elements worked together - Selleck's wholesome '80s charm, Hillerman's tongue-in-cheek exasperation, the moustache, the shirts, the terribly tight jeans. Hillerman and Selleck both won Emmys and Selleck received seven Golden Globe nominations for his performance.

MOUSTACHE MISERY

Magnum P.I. was the pinnacle of his career, and as Stuart Heritage has pointed out in The Guardian, the show "wasn't perfect - remember the Murder She Wrote crossover episode and shudder ... [but] it was solid and muscular enough to still stand on its own today".

If you want to watch Magnum P.I. then there are 165 wonderful episodes of pure '80s television perfection available to you at any time and there's no reason to mess with them.

For '80s nostalgia with a modern twist turn to shows like GLOW or Stranger Things but for goodness' sake, leave our childhoods alone.

Even the late '80s cult dark high-school comedy Heathers is being turned into a 10-part television series. Duck Tales, The Jetsons, The Magic School Bus, Charmed, Queer Eye for the Straight Guy - all are in various stages of reincarnation.

Will the madness never cease? Soon only Jessica Fletcher will be left to hold the fort at Cabot Cove, and pity the fool who tries to remake The A-Team after 2010's far from satisfactory film adaptation.

If the overload of content in the age of streaming has one lesson it's that there are more opportunities for the creation of original content than ever before. So please producers, for Higgins's sake - go and ruin your own, original shows.