TV studios like to throw in the words “remake,” “reboot,” “revival,” and “spin-off,” many of which have seemingly interchangeable definitions, but what, really, is the difference? The simplest interpretation would most likely be that a remake is a new version of an old thing, a restart is a different the version of an old thing, a rebirth is a continuation of an old thing, and a spin-off is a new thing that is related to a different thing. Whether or not these definitions verify, CBS is now facing a process that depends in part on how these words are interpreted.
Conformable Deadline, two groups called Hanzer Holdings and Arlita Inc. they filed a lawsuit against CBS in 2018 on the then new network MacGyver, claiming that they are “successors in the interest” of the well-known Major Talent Agency, which was the packaging agent behind the original MacGyver series. You may remember the concept of “packaging” from the battle between Hollywood writers and agents that happened a few years ago, but the relevant part here is that Major Talent Agency seems to have some kind of nebulous third-party stake in the original MacGyver in 1984, as well as “each series produced” as part of the same transaction, and now these two other companies say they inherited that stake.
It seems that Hanzer and Arlita’s argument is that, as a “spin-off” of the original series, the new MacGyver is part of the original MacGyver franchise and therefore qualifies as part of any initial agreement entered into by the MTA. Meanwhile, CBS’s response is essentially, “That’s not how it works, that’s not how all of this works.” CBS says neither she nor Paramount (who owned MacGyver previous rights) had ever had any agreement with Hanzer Holdings and “had not even heard of the applicant Arlita Inc.” until the lawsuit is filed, but even if they did, the writing of the original agreement (as presented by the plaintiffs) “does not even apply to redoing” – what CBS says MacGyver is in fact.
So, there are two angles here: The old paper says what Hanzer and Arlita say and, if so, makes a deal on the original MacGyver also refers to the new MacGyver? If this is the second point, studios should start paying attention to what they call these projects, and one day we may end up not referring to every remake / reboot / revival / spin-off / anything like remake / reboot / revival / spin-off / anything.