It can be hard to recapture the magic of a huge hit. Hollywood has tried and tried again with sequels and such, trying to capitalize on the goodwill and nostalgia of viewers. They’ve also tried to translate big blockbusters to the small screen. Some, such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Fargo, managed to work out or even outpace their silver screen counterparts. Others don’t fare all that well.
Despite being based on big blockbusters, there have been a lot of televisions shows that have flopped and have been forgotten. Heck, maybe you don’t know they even existed! So, let’s go back to the past and look at just five of these forgotten television programs that were based on big movies. I’ll be giving a quick summary of the movie these shows are based on, what alterations were done and my thought on each of these adaptations.
The Original Movie:
The original Weird Science flick follows two nerds, Gary and Wyatt, create a virtual girl and infusing her with all the things they believe make a “perfect woman.” A power surge actually makes this virtual girl, Lisa, into reality. The power surge also gives Lisa the ability to warp reality. The three then get into some of the typical hijinxs seen in teen comedies from the ’80s.
The TV Version:
The television version of follows the original when it comes to the basic plot. However, this time around, Lisa is played by a woman who is more or less the same age as Gary and Wyatt. This does dial down the raunchy humor quite a lot and Lisa is more of an airhead here. Rather than the duo making wishes to try to make them more popular, Gary and Wyatt’s wants are more mundane, like getting a remote control so they can fast forward the boring parts of their life but it leads to Gary getting trapped in a time loop.
Some are a little more creative as it involves Lisa not understanding the more intricate details of the wish. An example would be where Gary wishes he was smarter so he wishes for Einstein’s brain. So, Lisa has Einstein’s brain mailed to him.
Weird Science, the TV series, lasted for a good while. It ran from 1994 to 1998 for 88 episodes in total. It never did become popular, mainly because it was developed almost after a decade of the release of movie it’s based on. So, it never got to capitalize on the film’s success. Still, five seasons is pretty respectable for something not many people remember or know existed.
The Original Movie:
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off focuses on teenager Ferris Bueller who decides to skip school with Sloan and Cameron, his girlfriend and best friend, respectively. However, Jeanie, Ferris’ sister, is upset with him as he seems to always get away with his antic and she tries to prove Ferris is faking being sick. The principal, Mr. Rooney, also wants to catch Ferris as well. The film revolves around Ferris and his friends enjoying the day out while Jeanie and Mr. Rooney try to find ways to catch Ferris.
The TV Version:
The television series does follow the basic idea of the movie. Ferris is still the cool guy on campus but none of it involves him cutting class anymore. Rather, most of the storylines revolve around him concocting somewhat insane plots to solve problems, such as grooming a new student to run for class president when Mr. Rooney prevents Ferris from running.
The show never really made any waves, lasting only one singular season. It never managed to capture the lighthearted mischievousness of the source material, making everything fall flat. It also didn’t help that there was a better “Ferris Bueller” show that came out that same year: Parker Lewis Can’t Lose.
Ferris Bueller, the TV series, would mostly be forgotten until Jennifer Aniston, who played Jeanie in the show, made it big. Now, it’s become known as one of Jennifer Aniston’s early roles.
#3 Taken (2017)
The Original Movies:
The Taken movies revolve around ex-CIA agent Bryan Mills. The first movie has him rescuing his daughter from human traffickers while she was vacationing in Europe. The second film has the leader of the human traffickers from the first movie hunt down Bryan Mills and his family for revenge. The third and final entry has Bryan Mills framed for the death of his ex-wife and must now try to clear his name by finding the real perpetrator.
The TV Version:
Remember how Bryan Mills in the movies is an ex-CIA agent? Well, the Taken television series is a prequel to those events! Here, Bryan Mills is recruited into a special division of the CIA. Generally, the television version of Taken comes off like a generic action/spy show. As such, most of the episodes involves Bryan Mills and his team track down terrorist threats, rescue innocent civilians and whatnot.
One of the weird things about the series is how the team drastically changed from the first and second seasons. The first season had a team of burly guys fighting along Bryan Mills. This team was pretty much disbanded by the second season and a new group of CIA agents was brought in. Not really important but just weird.
Overall, the Taken television series didn’t add anything important to the entire franchise. In fact, I think it caused a few continuity problems as it never showed Bryan Mills meet his wife and get married. Then again, it’s more likely they never got to that point in his career as Taken, the television series, was cancelled after two seasons and only 26 episodes.
The Original Movie:
Based on the book series, Shooter follows retired Marine sniper Bob Lee Swagger. He is initially hired by the government to identify possible sniping spots in a location where the President is going to be holding a rally. He is then framed for the assassination of a foreign dignitary and he is now on the run and on a quest to clear his name.
The TV Version:
To be fair, it does look like the television series isn’t entirely based on the movie. Rather, Shooter, the television series, takes inspiration from the books the movie is based on. The first season pretty much follows the plot of the movie as the movie is based on the first book. The second season takes inspiration from the third book while the third season follows the plot of the second book.
Like with the movie, each season does involve Bob Lee Swagger get entangled with some kind of conspiracy and he and his friends are the only ones who can stop it. The action for all three seasons were actually good but the conspiracies do come off as rather half-baked.
The TV series overall does come off like a prototype for Prime Video‘s Reacher series. Both are based on books that were adapted into movies before getting ported over to the small screen. I guess you can watch Shooter as kind of a hold off until the next season of Reacher is released?
The Original Movie:
Based on the novel The Dark Fields, Limitless follows struggling writer Eddie Morra who is given a mysterious drug that allows him to remember anything his mental capacity increases as long as the drug is affecting him. However, the drug does have side-effects, such as memory loss. The user also suffers severe withdrawal symptoms and most users eventually die once they get hooked on it.
The TV Version:
The television series is more of a continuation of the film as the main hero isn’t Eddie Morra. Instead, we follow Brian Finch, who is given a supply of the same drug. He uses his increased mental capacity to solve crimes for the FBI. However, there is a conspiracy involving Eddie Morra as he appears to be the one supplying Brian Finch with the drug. He actually gave Brian the drug to implant him in the FBI so that he can ward of any investigation pertaining to him as he runs for the Presidency.
The overall tone of the television series is different from both the book and the movie. While the book and film were more depressing and dark, the Limitless television series was more of a lighthearted police procedural. Each episode mostly consists of Brian Finch using the drug to solve supposedly unsolvable crimes while also keeping the drug a secret. However, there is still an overarching plot involving Eddie Morra’s campaign.
Limitless is one of those rare forgotten television series based on movies where the star from the original movie, Bradley Cooper, makes an appearance in the series. What makes this even more noteworthy is that Bradley Cooper just doesn’t make a cameo and he appears in more than just a singular episode. Despite the added star power, the Limitless television series was cancelled after a single solitary season.
BONUS: Friday the 13th: The Series
The Original Movies:
The Friday the 13th films generally focuses on the seemingly unstoppable killer, Jason Voorhees, and his various rampages.
The TV Version:
Two cousins inherit an antique store. They manage to sell most of the store’s stock but it’s revealed that all of the items have a cursed linked to them. The cousins as well as a former stage magician must now track down all of the objects they sold and keep them in the antique store’s vault for safekeeping.
Yeah, if you can’t see any connection between the movie’s plot and the series’ concept, that’s because there really isn’t any. The producer of the series just decided to name the series Friday the 13th: The Series to capitalize on the film franchise’s brand. That’s why this is just a bonus entry.
There are some odd connections between the two, however. The series’ producer is the same guy who produced a lot of the Friday the 13th sequels. A couple of the actors from the series would appear in the films as well.
What other television shows based on movies you feel have been forgotten? Let me know in the comments section below!
3rd World Geeks 