The special issue “American TV Series Revivals,” edited by Kathleen Loock, was published in November 2017 on Television and New Media’s OnlineFirst platform. This is the first collection of articles dedicated to the current revival trend on American television. The special issue examines the comeback of popular series from the recent past with a focus on production and reception contexts as well as the industrial, cultural, and textual practices involved. The contributions by Matt Hills, Felix Brinker, Julia Leyda, Kathleen Loock, and Ryan Lizardi cover the revivals of Twin Peaks, The X-Files, Full House, Arrested Development, and Gilmore Girls. Each article brings a distinct approach to the analysis of the trend on American network television and the online streaming service Netflix. Together, they analyze how revivals rely on past TV experiences to circulate new products through the crowded contemporary media landscape, and how they seek to negotiate the televisual heritage of original series, feelings of generational belonging, as well as notions of the past, present, and future in meaningful ways. This introduction to the special issue provides the definitions, broader historical context, and theoretical framework of televisual repetition and innovation for understanding contemporary TV series revivals.

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