I watched the original but it won't be the same regardless of whether or not the characters have the same names. I think it was a great binge worthy series that the whole family can watch. I didn't have to worry about bad words, or scary scenes while children were watching. I don't want to say it was simple but it wasn't like the other SciFi series on Netflix where you have to constantly think and look for Easter eggs. The flashbacks were hard but I'm sure if we were watching one episode at a time and was able to rewatch it before watching it the next week, we would figure everything out just fine. I'm hoping another season will be on order. Kids were talking about the show all day today and we even turned it on again. No cell phones were in use. That's all I care about.