It seems like every other ...
Question: It seems like every other movie I see advertised is based on a TV show, like The Dukes of Hazzard. But what about the other way around? I know there was a series based on My Big Fat Greek Wedding, but what other TV series have been based on a movie, and were any of them good?
Answer: There have been a handful of top-notch TV shows based on movies. The flop Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992) was revived as Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003); Robert Altman's acerbic M*A*S*H* (1970) became the long-running M*A*S*H (1972-1983); Neil Simon's The Odd Couple (1968), with Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau, became the beloved series (1970-1975) with Tony Randall and Jack Klugman; the gritty crime picture Naked City (1948) was spun off into the 1958-1963 anthology series of the same title ("There are eight million stories in the naked city.... "); and The Paper Chase (1973) became the acclaimed series (1978-1986) of the same name, with John Houseman reprising his role as terrifying law professor Charles W. Kingsfield Jr. The French film La Femme Nikita (1990) became the series of the same title (1997-2001); the Gene Tierney/Rex Harrison vehicle The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947) became The Ghost & Mrs. Muir (1968-1970), starring Hope Lange and Edward Mulhare; David Cronenberg's The Dead Zone (1983), based on the Stephen King novel, found new life as The Dead Zone (2002), with Anthony Michael Hall; the offbeat sci-fi picture Stargate (1994) became Stargate SG-1 (1997); Alien Nation (1988) became the sci-fi/crime hybrid Alien Nation (1989-1990); the scandalous Peyton Place (1957) turned into the prime-time TV soap Peyton Place (1964-1969), starring the then-unknown Mia Farrow; Breaking Away (1979) spawned the underrated series (1980-1981) of the same name; and Martin Scorsese's 1974 Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, which earned star Ellen Burstyn a best actress Oscar, became the feminist comedy Alice (1976-1985), with Linda Lavin.
There have been several sci-fi/fantasy movie-to-TV crossovers: The Crow (1994) became The Crow: Stairway to Heaven (1998); Tremors (1990) became Tremors: The Series (2003); The Mask (1994) became an animated series (1995-1997); Logan's Run (1976) became Logan's Run (1977-1978), Planet of the Apes (1968) became an animated 1974 series; sasquatch comedy Harry and the Hendersons (1987) became Harry and the Hendersons (1991-1993); Honey, I Shrunk the Kids (1989) became Honey, I Shrunk the Kids: The TV Show (1997-2000); and the swordplay-driven adventure films Conan the Barbarian (1982) and Highlander (1986) became Conan (1997) and Highlander (1992-1998). Lots of comedies, too: Gidget (1959) spawned Gidget (1965-1966); Kiss Me Guido (1997) became Some of My Best Friends (2001); Barbershop (2002) begat Barbershop (2005); Clueless (1995) became Clueless (1996-1999); Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986) became Ferris Bueller (1990-1991), with future Friends star Jennifer Aniston as Ferris' sister; the Melanie Griffith picture Working Girl (1988) became Working Girl (1990), starring the then-unknown Sandra Bullock; and the Lily Tomlin/Jane Fonda/Dolly Parton comedy Nine to Five (1980) became 9 to 5 (1982-1983), which died and was revived in 1986 with All in the Family's Sally Struthers replacing Rita Moreno. It lasted until 1988.
The John Wayne Western Hondo (1953) became a series in 1967, and 1967's The Magnificent Seven, with its all-star tough-guy lineup of Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson, Robert Vaughn, Brad Dexter, James Coburn and Horst Buchholz, became a series from 1998 to 2000; the new crew, including Michael Biehn, Dale Midkiff and Ron Perlman couldn't really compare, but Vaughn returned in the recurring character of a judge. John Woo's Once a Thief (1991) starred Chow Yun-Fat, Leslie Cheung and Cheri Chung as sexy cat burglars, which was made into a 1997-1998 Canadian series that played briefly in the U.S., and the Michelle Pfeiffer picture Dangerous Minds (1995), about a Marine-turned-teacher working with inner-city teenagers, became a 1996-1997 series with Annie Potts. Finally,
hard though it may be to believe, the classic Casablanca (1942) was turned into not one but two short-lived TV series, in 1955 and 1983, the latter with Starsky and Hutch star David Soul in the Humphrey Bogart part and with Scatman Crothers as pianist Sam!
And funny you should have mentioned The Dukes of Hazzard (1979-1985) — creator Gy Waldron actually developed the characters (names and all) and premise in a forgotten movie called Moonrunners (1975). Similarly, Eric Monte reworked his 1975 feature Cooley High (1975) into the series What's Happening! (1976-1979), and Spencer's Mountain (1963), based on the experiences of writer Earl Hamner Jr.'s poor but loving Virginia family, is the direct predecessor of The Waltons (1972-1981). On the other hand, Bernard Fein, creator of the controversial and very popular Hogan's Heroes (1965-1971), a comedy set in a Nazi POW camp, didn't acknowledge that the show was inspired by the acclaimed movie Stalag 17 (1953) until screenwriters Donald Bevan and Edmund Trzcinski brought suit.
