What's old continues to be new again on TV

As cable and streaming-service shows continue to dominate the national television conversation, the broadcast networks are increasingly relying on proven properties to attract viewers and media coverage — and the lineups announced for 2016-2017 season reflect that.

Fox's fall lineup includes new serialized takes on two classic films: “The Exorcist” and “Lethal Weapon.” Their midseason roster will include a fifth season of “Prison Break,” which originally aired from 2005 to 2009, and a reboot of Kiefer Sutherland's “24” called “24: Legacy,” starring “Straight Outta Compton's” Corey Hawkins, TV staple Jimmy Smits and “Lord of the Rings” heroine Miranda Otto.

CBS is reviving “MacGyver” with 25-year-old Lucas Till inheriting the secret agent role from Richard Dean Anderson, and launching a series based on the Denzel Washington good cop/bad cop flick “Training Day,” with Bill Paxton playing the role of bad cop.

These shows join a trend that has recently given us a new season of “Heroes” (canceled) and TV versions of “Minority Report” (canceled) and “Rush Hour” (canceled just this week). The only unqualified ratings success for a network revival was this January's six-episode run of “The X-Files,” which Fox hopes to bring back for an 11th season in 2017 or 2018, as talent schedules permit. Let's hope David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson will actually share significant screen time the next time around.

It should come as no surprise that cable and streaming outlets seem to have better luck in this area. Netflix's ”Fuller House” and ”Wet Hot American Summer” have both been renewed, and “Bates Motel” has enjoyed its most buzzworthy season this year on A&E. (The jury is still out on “Damien,” their adaptation of “The Omen.”)

I suppose this saturation of sequels, reboots and re-imaginings was inevitable, given what's popular at the movie theater and on the stage. Even some of the most talked-about and critically acclaimed shows of recent years are derivatives in one way or another: “Better Call Saul” is a spinoff of “Breaking Bad.” “Game of Thrones” is based on a popular series of novels.

Movie industry watchers wonder when “superhero fatigue” is finally going to set in, but the box office returns for “Captain America: Civil War” and a slate of shows on The CW that just added CBS castoff “Supergirl” to “The Flash,” “Arrow” and “Legends of Tomorrow” suggest that's not happening anytime soon. The real danger for entertainment companies is a general franchise fatigue. Yes, viewers love “Chicago PD” and “Chicago Fire” on NBC, but will they love “Chicago Med” and “Chicago Justice,” both of which are on the horizon? Will “Independence Day: Resurgence” arrive this summer in movie theaters 15 years too late? Will Lin-Manuel Miranda's hip-hop musical about Susan B. Anthony be rejected as a sellout? (OK, maybe I made up that last one.)

If every perceived franchise cash-in could be as good as “Better Call Saul” or NBC's dearly departed “Hannibal,” we wouldn't be asking this question — on television, great writing and acting win the day. They can turn an eyeroll-inducing idea like “The People vs. O.J. Simpson” into a classic.

I'm guessing we shouldn't expect the same from “Lethal Weapon” and “MacGyver.”

• Sean Stangland is a Daily Herald multiplatform editor who would happily watch a seventh season of “Lost” on ABC. You can follow him on Twitter at @SeanStanglandDH.