also, up until the 1990s people didn't have stored copies of old movies or tv shows, so it was very easy to make remakes or have new people re-cast the same types of movies as older movies.  why would you see jim carrey see man on the moon when you can just watch andy kaufman clips? in a certain sense the reintroduction of older celebrities means you are "remaking" without having people compare it to the old stuff negatively.
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