Movies That Should Become Television Shows

Throughout the history of television, networks have made movies into television shows. Some have been successful (Buffy, The Vampire Slayer, Friday Night Lights (well that comes from a book then a movie)) while others have been complete failures (Honey, I Shrunk The Kids The Series AND Back To The Future the animated series). Certain shows exist betwixt successful and terrible like The Mighty Ducks animated series. Now, I have an active imagination. Wednesday's become the black hole of television for TV With The Foot. It used to be the night of LOST (before last season's change) but now I watch nothing but sports on Wednesday evenings (and I prefer sports to television so it's fantastic). Unfortunately, the lack of TV leaves me searching for ideas to write about each and every Wednesday. One such idea led me to ask myself, "which movies would work as television shows?" I compiled a list of movies that would work as television shows. I guarantee nothing about the quality of each individual movie's transition to quality storytelling on a weekly basis for an entire season. Discuss amongst yourselves the potential of each movies-as-TV shows after I argue for each movie's potential as a television show.

LET IT BEGIN:

AMERICAN PIE

Yes, indeedy! The 1999 sex comedy that captured America's hearts and minds. American Pie follows four friends who make a pact to lose their virginity by prom night. Sexual hijinks ensue. Now, the majority of networks tinker with whatever movie they decide to turn into a television show because the story needs to work for many hours rather than 120 minutes. Eugene Levy's character only had a few scenes during the first two American Pie movies before Levy became a center-piece for the awful direct-to-DVD sequels (and American Wedding). The amount of tinkering involved depends on whatever network picks American Pie the Series up. If MTV picked the series up, I'd imagine most of the core story would remain. Maybe Eugene Levy gets a larger role in each episode (and I have no doubts Eugene Levy would jump on the opportunity to star in American Pie the Series).

Each episode of the series would follow a rather simple formula. Jim Levenstein would get most of the A stories because he's the nerdiest, most awkward character in American Pie. Oz would get stuck in the wet-blanket arc of the season seven or eight minutes in the pilot episode while Finch would be relied upon for a Kramer-like role among the friends. The essential beats of the movie would remain for the first season. Nadia would be the hard-to-get girl that Jim nearly gets during sweeps periods. Kevin would continue to be a clueless yutz around Vickie. Each episode would be self-contained. While the show would gain the attention of the PTC, the underlying message throughout would be how sex is meaningless without someone the character loves.

The series would most likely get cancelled after two episodes. I imagine MTV hiring Mark Schwann (of One Tree Hill fame) to develop and run the show. McLovin would portray Jim.

INCEPTION

Inception confused the majority of America despite the fact that the story wasn't complicated at all. Would Inception as a television series stand a chance? If the show got picked up by a premium channel then yes. If cable or network suits got their hands on Inception, the show wouldn't stand a chance. Inception's rather easy to adapt into a television show because Nolan structured the story so well. Cobb's a complicated character with enough issues to tell multiple season's worth of stories. The man doesn't play by the rules either. He operates on the fringe of ethical behavior. The supporting characters are developed enough to carry their own show. The inter-personal dynamics of the characters would be more interesting than the generic inception-of-the-week story (not every episode would be about inception because one has to save that finales). The format of the series would be serialized with self-contained procedural-type episodes. Each episode, Cobb and his team are hired by someone to go into the mind of another person. The types of stories the show could tell are limitless. Inception would be a character piece first and foremost. The series would have time the movie didn't have to delve into each character's back stories.

Of course, I'd let Damon Lindelof & Carlton Cuse develop and run the show. I'd let Jack Bender have the same job as he did on LOST. It'd be tremendous.

THE FACULTY

I'm sure The CW would make any TV show that Kevin Williamson wants after the success of The Vampire Diaries. What if Willamson wanted to flesh out his 1998 movie The Faculty? The actual movie fits more into TheWB model but, unfortunately, the network went away several years ago. Willamson could condense the movie into the pilot and go from there. He has experience with a story that forces humans and various supernatural folk to live within the same, small town. Willamson once said he prefers telling stories about small-town life because he grew up in a small town. I see no reason why he'd have to depart from the small-town dynamics that made his other two shows successful. Of course, such a series would risk comparisons to Roswell--a show that featured aliens and humans living within the same town. So maybe the show doesn't even make it through development before network execs decide that The Faculty won't work as a hour drama. But television's not exactly concerned with original storytelling based on how many procedurals exist on television. I envision The Faculty as more Buffy than Roswell. A group of teenagers who fight people in their community who become aliens. It'd be a coming-of-age story. It's an unoriginal idea but The CW's not so proud that they'd pass on it.

LITTLE GIANTS

The 1994 football comedy about children who play football for Rick Moranis. The last time Rick Moranis starred in a movie that was developed into a television series it was a complete and utter disaster. I fully expect Little Giants to fail as a sitcom on ABC Family. The heart of the story would be the Moranis and O'Neill characters and their families. Each episode, the Ice Box would consider leaving Moranis' character's football for her Uncle's successful team. These episodes would end with valuable lessons about fatherhood, father/daughter relationships and family values. The football scenes would be terribly shot, terribly coordinated. The characters would be one-dimensional and each episode would feel like the writers consulted a Writing The Generic Sitcom book. But it would star Hornswoggle McMahon as Moranis' assistant coach and The Big Show as the Ed O'Neill character. Moranis would be replaced Dustin Diamond.

If you have any movies to add to the list then please comment with your idea. I'll probably have more in the future but the above four seems like enough for one night.

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