Don't Judge a TV Show By Its Movie

When I was making my list of one season wonder TV shows, I noticed a pattern. At first I was going to call this subset, “Shows that had no right to be as good as they were.” But THEN I realized that the reason they had no such right, and not only met but exceeded expectations, was because they were TV shows based on movies.

A TV show based on a movie is going to elicit immediate groans. WTF are you thinking, taking a movie and going, “Yeah let’s serialize that and stretch it out over like, 20 hours.” There are a few exceptions: Many people don’t know Buffy The Vampire Slayer was a movie first. Friday Night Lights the show was made after a movie, which was based on a book, so that’s a stretch. A number of people don’t know M*A*S*H was a movie (these are possibly the same people who think it takes place during the Vietnam War). There are about a million animated series based on movies, but they’re often completely different entities and the only connection the source material is the characters (Beetlejuice, anyone?). Fargo is a great series, but it’s connection to the film is what, location and quirky crime stories? Not what I’m talking about. So here are some TV series that were 1) Based on movies, 2) Far better than they needed to be, AND where you can watch them.

There is no trailer to be found for this show and for that I am personally offended.

10 Things I Hate About You

I am a millennial, which means I have a special compartment in my heart where I keep my unconditional love for turn of the (21st) century teen movies. We really came up in a prime time for teen romcoms AND modern adaptations of literary classics. 10 Things I Hate About You is an all-star in this category, and it is beloved to any millennial with taste. So when ABC Family announced a 10 Things I Hate About You TV series, it was immediately despised. We didn’t know anything about it, but it would have to really be something great to even be tolerated. And then it was… amazing?!?! I cannot express how good this show had to be to even get me to recognize its existence, so then to be so good that I was going around evangelizing to my fellow millennials? How. You can watch the whole series on Hulu, and regret not supporting this show in 2009.

12 Monkeys

12 Monkeys falls into my oft-mentioned favorite TV genre: Canadian SciFi. The series follows the plot of the movie (which itself was inspired by an experimental French short film) for like, 20 minutes, and then is really its own story. The whole show is good, but the most striking, memorable performance comes from Emily Hampshire, who plays Jennifer Goines (kinda-sorta the Brad Pitt character in the movie). Oh, you fell in love with her as Stevie on Schitt’s Creek? 12 Monkeys fans ALREADY KNEW. This SyFY show actually lasted four seasons, but the last two were aired marathon-style, in a confusing miss it and you MISSED it way, and it was oddly hard to watch until it all went on Hulu for streaming, where you can still find it today.

Frequency

Do you remember Frequency, the movie where Jim Caviezel talks to his dead father, Dennis Quaid, through a ham radio? (I, personally, cannot think of Jim Caviezel without thinking of him constantly mentioning he has the same initials as Jesus Christ.) I think I saw it? Anyway, in 2016 The CW picked up a TV show based on Frequency, but this time the son was a daughter (Peyton List), and she talked to her dead father (Riley Smith, from Motocrossed and New York Minute, two Films That Matter). I would NOT have thought a show based on a 2000 movie starring Dennis Quaid and Jim Caviezel talking through a magical radio to solve crimes across decades would be great, but it was! You can watch all 13 episodes on Netflix.

Limitless

While it aired in the 2015-2016 season, Limitless was actually pretty popular. Based on the 2011 movie starring Bradley Cooper, the TV show actually takes place in the same universe as the film. Bradley Cooper is in the show playing his character from the movie! This was a smart move, as it allowed the show to be a compliment to the movie and have its own story. Jake McDorman is the guy who takes the Limitless pills. He works with the FBI to help them solve crimes, but has to keep the source of his amazing mental powers a secret. It’s a procedural, but it’s funny and smart. Think less like CSI and more like Chuck. It only lasted one season, to the eternal disappointment of fans, but you can watch the whole series on CW Seed.

What We Do in the Shadows

What We Do in the Shadows is a great movie. The TV show may be even better. Like the original film, it’s a mockumentary that follows a house full of vampires as they try to navigate living in modern day suburbia. But with a TV show, you get to spend more time on (relatively) smaller plot points, and take time to develop characters across many more hours of content. There is no Guillermo in the movie, which seems unfathomable! He’s arguably the main character in the series. And I can’t even get into Jackie Daytona, main character of our hearts. You can watch the whole series on Hulu, and I suggest you do so immediately.

Honorable Mention: The Grinder

The Grinder isn’t based on a movie, but it had one criminally under-seen season and was kinda meta, in the way TV shows based on movies can be. Rob Lowe plays Dean Sanderson, an actor who’s legal drama The Grinder was recently cancelled. He returns to his hometown, where his father and brother have a law firm, and Dean believes that because he played a lawyer on TV, he is qualified to join the family business. This show was smart and funny and well-written and I’m mad that it only lasted one season. AND that you can’t stream it anywhere. You can purchase the 22-episode season on Amazon for $9, which I think is an absolute steal.