What is with the TV industry's obsession with making shows out of movies released decades ago? And why make a new show from a movie that was already turned into a halfway decent TV series 20 years ago? Did the producers of the new Parenthood not witness the debacle that was Eastwick? (Apparently not.) Sure, some films have made a positive transition to television (M*A*S*H, Stargate, Friday Night Lights and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, to name a few) but for every success story, there's a massive stinker that sucks the life out of the source material and dampens our fond memories of the cinematic original. While Parenthood might succeed (given its awesome cast), we're at least hoping that it doesn't follow the footsteps of these complete duds.
Eastwick
The Witches of Eastwick was a wickedly fun movie with star-power galore, featuring Cher, Susan Sarandon and Michelle Pfeiffer as three witches and Jack Nicholson as the devil who goaded them into using their powers for evil. There was a TV adaptation in 1992 that never made it to air, another flopped pilot starring Marcia Cross (Desperate Housewives), Kelly Rutherford (Gossip Girl), Lori Loughlin (90210) and Jason O'Mara (Life on Mars) in 2002 and then the most recent version with Rebecca Romijn, Lindsay Price, Jaime Ray Newman and Paul Gross. When you've got Oscar-winning actor Jack Nicholson's role being filled by the guy from Due South, you should know you're in trouble. But it wasn't just the lack of a charismatic cast that got this 2009 series pulled off the airwaves quickly, it was also the poor writing that basically made the program a cross between Desperate Housewives andCharmed, which really no one needed or wanted.
My Big Fat Greek Life
This little indie that could really couldn't when it came to the small screen. Mostly unknown Nia Vardalos and John Corbett had an unexpected chemistry on screen, and Lainie Kazan really rocked as the big Greek mama, with the rest of the family a surprising delight to see on the big screen (we still look at a Windex bottle and giggle). But when they took that charming comedy and turned it into a formulaic sitcom with predictable jokes, and recast John Corbett with Stephen Eckholdt, that movie magic quickly disappeared and, after seven brief episodes, so did the show.
Clueless
The film Clueless is based on literature, so it has to be good, right? And it had Alicia Silverstone as a pampered teen princess learning to help others instead of just herself as well as finding Mr. Right (Paul Rudd), who was under her nose the whole time. Oh, and she befriends a fashion-challenged Brittany Murphy (though her recent death makes this sad to watch now). The TV series was just basically a more colorful version of 90210 with Rachel Blanchard (who is no Alicia Silverstone) starring as a kinder, less selfish (though still ditzy) version of Cher. And David Lascher, though adorable on Hey, Dude and Sabrina, was nowhere near as cute as Rudd. So this film became a teen show that lasted three seasons (on two different networks) and resembled Jane Austen's Emma not at all. Great theme song, though.
Uncle Buck
John Candy starred as a drinking, smoking, absentee uncle who got stuck caring for his nieces and nephews (including a pre-Home Alone Macaulay Culkin). And though he had a highly unconventional style, he ended up actually being good in a parental role. It's a feel-good sort of flick with a lot of physical humor and a little bit of edge. But for the TV show, Candy was replaced by Kevin Meaney (who will probably always be remembered for his whining "that's not right" stand-up), who played the role as a typical sitcom dad. Oh, and the kids were changed to orphans. Orphans! That's a terrible way to start off a sitcom and probably contributed to the show's failure.
Ferris Bueller
It was a must-see John Hughes comedy with a precocious teen who fakes an illness to skip school, contrives to take his best friend and girlfriend out for a day on the tow, and ends up in the middle of a parade in his honor. Totally implausible, but we loved it because of the then-charming Matthew Broderick. That energy and goodwill didn't translate to the TV show, which was just another run-of-the-mill high school comedy. The similarly themed Parker Lewis Can't Lose did a far better job of translating the vibe of Ferris to the small screen in the very same TV season. Ferris did have one saving grace: it introduced us to Jennifer Aniston... actually, we're not sure that's a good thing after all.
Clerks: The Animated Series
Much like My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Clerks was an independent film that made good (and made director Kevin Smith's career). It was a surprise hit about two slackers working at a convenience store and video store (Smith actually worked in said convenience store by day) and was filled with filthy language and wonderfully crude humor. It spawned a sequel (Clerks 2) and a spinoff (Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back) and this short-lived cartoon. It wasn't necessarily that the 'toon itself was so terrible (though trying to make exciting animation out of two slackers is a bit of a challenge) but the fact that the humor had to be cleaned up to air on network television (for the two episodes that actually aired). In another era, this show might have had a shot as part of something like Adult Swim.
Crash
Take one depressing, overrated Oscar winning film about racism and intersecting lives in Los Angeles, dumb it down even further and put it on a network that is not known for its original programming and you've got a recipe for bland, instantly forgettable TV.
10 Things I Hate About You
Take what we said about Clueless and replace "based on Emma" with "based on Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew" and instead of Alicia Silverstone, put in Julia Stiles. In the movie, Heath Ledger played the charming boy, and his later untimely death makes this film sad to watch now. For the ABC Family series, they stripped out all of the fun banter and wit and just made it your traditional teen comedy about two feuding sisters, one who wants to be popular and one who dislikes people. It's pretty generic, but we suppose it appeals to those kids who have never seen the original. Maybe that's why it's still on the air?
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10 Things I Hate About You is actually a fairly clever show, no one can replace Heath Ledger, but the female lead is miles better than horrible Julia Styles.
You say "the guy from 'Due South'" like an insult. Paul Gross is actually an outstanding actor, IMHO, just watch 'Slings and Arrows'.
Also, Parenthood was made into a series in 1990 which failed. Not even wee Leonardo DiCaprio could save it.
Ah, that was noted in the first paragraph. Oops. But yeah, hopefully the new installment won't suck as much. I won't watch it anyway but hopefully Peter Krause will stay employed. Me likey.
10 Things does not deserve to be on this list. It's a great show, and in many ways the premise works better as a TV show than as a movie.
"Oh, and she befriends a fashion-challenged Brittany Murphy (though her recent death makes this sad to watch now)."
"In the movie, Heath Ledger played the charming boy, and his later untimely death makes this film sad to watch now."
As always, stellar writing TWoP.
I don't know how anyone can defend 10 Things (the show). They mercilessly stripped away everything that made the movie so good and replaced it with every cliche under the sun. It's not art, it's cannibalism.
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I dunno, Clerks had promise. How do I know? The second episode used the old TV trope of "trapped in a elevator/storage room/etc as an excuse to make a flashback/clip show" episode. But it was only the second episode, so all the flashbacks were to the first episode. I thought it was hilarious.
I don't know how anyone could defend a horrid movie based on a play that glorifies "breaking" an independent woman so she can be appropriately controlled. I don't give a flying fuck about "the time it was written," it's disgusting. Anything based upon it is equally gross.
Clerks: The Animated Series was actually pretty awesome, IMO.
The thing about art is that, 1) it's open to interpretation, and 2) you don't have to agree with the message and/or themes (or even like the characters) for it to have value. But since you've declared Shakespeare's work to definitely be one thing over another, I'll be sure to send out a memo to any academics who are still under the misguided impression that critical analysis means anything. The fools, don't they know you've cracked it already?
I have never seen the show Crash ( And neither did anyone else, aparently ), but the movie was already the biggest piece of crap to ever won an award, specially the Oscars, so I can imagine how bad it is.
Clueless lasted 3 seasons? Really?
And 10 Things was an average movie, the TV show isn't too bad, actually. It's on ABC Family, what are you expecting?
I didn't even know there was a TV version of Crash either.
I don't agree
I'm probably getting too picky, but Ferris didn't end up in a parade in his honor, although there were a bunch of things that were honoring him during the movie, such as the message at Wrigley Field. It's actually the Von Stueben Day parade, an annual Chicago event. Ferris was just so cool that he ended up in the parade and made it all about him. And it should be a day on the "town," not "tow." Just saying.
I have to agree with Pip-- Jack Nicholson might be an Oscar-winning actor, but that doesn't make Paul Gross chopped liver. He's an extremely talented man who's exhibited his wide range of abilities in plenty of movies and TV shows beyond Due South-- in which, honestly, he was also pretty fucking awesome. Nicholson's character was definitely changed a lot for Eastwick, but I wouldn't attribute that Paul Gross's acting abilities, or, as you imply, inabilities. Blame the script.
There are enough successful TV shows based on movies that it's not automatically a bad idea. MASH, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Friday Night Lights, The Odd Couple are all well regarded. Even shows like Sarah Connor Chronicles, Highlander and Stargate had long TV runs, even if they aren't widely regarded as their respective movies. Beyond that, there are plenty of Disney TV shows based on their animated movies.
While I do TOTALLY agree about that, the actual movie 10 Things I Hate About You was not like Taming of the Shrew in that way. Kat was never abused and broken and her independence was seen as endearing by Patrick. Unlike the play, which was God-awful and one of the main reasons why I can't stand Shakespeare.
That being said, the show is NOT 10 Things I Hate About You and I have no idea why the hell they gave it that name. As a show, it's not too bad and entertaining at times, but it's barely anything like the movie at all. They should've given it a different name and named the characters differently.
The Clerks cartoon was hilarious. The best part is that the situation they ended up in, they knew the show wasn't going to last on a major network. So they purposely screwed around with sitcom convention and guest star tropes to point out how stupid those cliches are. The aforementioned "clip show" second episode is a great example. The full series goes even further by having a high school reunion episode. I just wish Kevin Smith would commit to such inspired lunacy overall and let the funny happen on a more regular basis in his films.
The show was better than i thought could be.It's a shame that ended so soon.I'm gonna miss Rebecca Romijn.
Typical feminist.
buffy is a psyho bitch male bashing tv show i hated it.
sarah conner is blone not black hair that show sucks. they didn't try to stay truth to the movies. that way it failled
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