Monday, October 4, 2010

Pictures Converted Into Television Shows - Good Or Bad Idea?

By Cecil Mccoy

There is a long history of motion pictures that hit the silver screen diving into television sets within the forms of TV shows. Some were met with huge success and longevity, but most of them were virtual train wrecks.

On the surface it seems like a logically excellent idea: take a film that audiences adored and extend it into a more digestible, bite-sized version that they could watch each week from the comfort of their homes. But carrying over the popularity of a movie into the television realm seems to involve a tricky and delicate science that no one seems to be aware of the formulas to.

A television series adaptation of the Blade trilogy and the recent news of a live-action The exorcist television series coming to life near the end of the decade beg us to inquire about whether either will succeed. Of course, success in this sense can be interpreted in a variety of ways. Will it depend only on the caliber of the show? Not likely, since there have been movie-to-television cross-overs which were critically acclaimed but were only given a few months to run. Does it depend solely about the interest in the show? Not as much as one would think. What exactly does success with this genre rely on?

Why don't we check out some Television shows that were originally motion pictures that ran for long periods of time, and more that burnt out quickly to see if there's a visible pattern.

MASH, Lots of people forget that MASH was originally a film (1970) that was met with approval within the theaters. It made its way onto television screens in 1972 and ran all the way to 1983.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer, This movie was launched in 1992 and was met with very mixed results. Somehow the show were able to run for seven solid years (1997-2003) as a TV series having a huge group of followers.

Stargate SG-1, Stargate is a film released in 1994. It was met with mixed responses, however the show fared much better, running from 1997 all the way till now.

Highlander, The film version hit theaters in 1986. Audience response was decent, but the TV series which was launched in 1992 found a faithful following. It ran until 1998.

La Femme Nikita, Nikita was a film directed by Luc Besson which was released in 1990 and received good responses from audiences. The TV series were built with a strong following and ran on television from 1997 to 2001.

My Big Fat Greek Life, though movie studios underestimated My Big Fat Greek Wedding's chances for success about the big screen, CBS overestimated its chances for similar triumph in a TV series. This big fat disaster ran for seven episodes in 2003.

Clueless, In 1995, Clueless did well in cinemas as a comedy-romance. However, once the motion picture became a Television show in 1996 it was simply a vain, painful, and lame television experience. The show somehow managed to remain on air until 1999.

Ferris Buellers Day Off would be a huge hit in 1986, but the TV series only lasted one miserable season in 1990. Ferris has had lots of days off since then.

Planet from the Apes, The Charlton Heston-infused movie did well within the theaters in 1968, but for some reason the television adaptation only lasted one season in 1974.

Uncle Buck was the motion picture really that great in 1989? It had been only a standard comedy that attempted to teach children the idea of appreciating your loved ones. So was the TV series in 1990 really necessary? One season tells us "no".

There are countless other movie to TV shows that only lasted several months, in the event that. Dangerous Minds, Fast Times, and Parenthood are simply three of many, many failures in this genre.

The possibilities against the soon-to-be Blade television series and George Lucas' live-action Star wars TV show. Though Blade does not really seem to be anything special, it will be interesting to determine if the vampires and monsters that carried the film trilogy will be able to do the same on television screens.

Star wars comes with an insanely huge and loyal group of followers, the likes of which no movie to TV series has had the luxury of getting, and may be the tipping point for the shows potential longevity and success. But in no way will this guarantee the triumph of the adaptation. Neither will high caliber story-lines or acting.

It would appear that television audiences and studios are infinitely more fickle than their movie counterparts, so great luck to both the creators of the movies and their television counterparts, both who is going to be in the complete mercy of things that are virtually unknown.

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