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Movies that bombed as TV series

Smittian said:
Other TV shows based on movies that didn't fare so well.............

The Paper Chase (though it was critically acclaimed)
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Though new episodes were seen throughout the 1980s on the Showtime pay channel, shortly after repeats of the first season was repeated on PBS (the show was originally a CBS program).

mleach said:
Back in the early 80's there was serious talk among the networks about doing a TV version of the movie "Porky's". That is until someone mentioned how "great" those TV versions of Aminal House did just a few years before, well the idea was quietly dropped. Plus Porkys was only a partial comedy, the other half was actually a drama.
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My memory of Porky's and its sequels were mainly plenty of nudity and sex jokes (though not too much, so it would get an "R"). A TV version of Porky's would be unthinkable without the ribaldry. In fact, the TV versions of the films were thoroughly scissored and reshot for television, including the closing credits (which were without the gags in the original).
 
Corky Marlowe said:
The TV series "Planet Of The Apes" only lasted for half a season.

Wasn't there a series based on "Going My Way"? Early 60s', maybe?

"Mister Roberts", too?
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Good memory on Mr. Roberts, Corky...it was actually made into two TV series. First - Ensign Pulver in 1964. In my memory, it starred Jim Hutton - but it was actually Robert Walker Jr. (similar physically to Hutton) who played the character Jack Lemmon played in the Mr. Roberts movie. Burl Ives played the Captain Morton character that James Cagney played in the movie. The Roberts character (Henry Fonda in the movie) was not in the series.

I was only 12 years old, but I remember liking Ensign Pulver. The cast included Larry Hagman (pre-Jeannie), Peter Marshall (Hollywood Squares), and Tommy Sands.


http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058060/

The series titled "Mister Roberts" (which I have no memory of), appeared 20 years later in 1984 - starring Robert Hayes (Airplane, etc.) as Roberts, Kevin Bacon as Pulver, Howard Hesseman as Doc, Charles Durning as the Captain, and Marilu Henner.

Neither series lasted more than a season, but the 84 series was nominated for two Emmys.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0207607/
 
OK - so much for my memory. Upon further study, it appears that Ensign Pulver was a movie, not a TV series - a nominal sequel to the 1955 Mister Roberts movie. My bad...
 
Buffy the Vampire Slayer was just the opposite.

1 movie bomb.

7 seasons on TV.... 5 on the WB, two on UPN...
1 spin-off that lasted 5 seasons on the WB (Angel)
 
Corky Marlowe said:
The TV series "Planet Of The Apes" only lasted for half a season.

Wasn't there a series based on "Going My Way"? Early 60s', maybe?

"Mister Roberts", too?
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...Planet of the Apes was one of the last greenlights given by Fred Silverman at CBS; he left for ABC almost simultaneously with the cancellation. There indeed was a TV series of Going My Way, with Gene Kelly taking the Bing Crosby role, on ABC in 1962-63; Mister Roberts showed up on NBC in 1965-66 with Roger Smith, Richard X. Slattery and Steve Harmon replacing Henry Fonda, James Cagney and Jack Lemmon...
 
...then there was The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles...and wasn't there an early '90s TV series based on Dracula? (Of course, some consider Grandpa Munster to actually be Dracula)...
 
Lkeller said:
The series titled "Mister Roberts" (which I have no memory of), appeared 20 years later in 1984 - starring Robert Hayes (Airplane, etc.) as Roberts, Kevin Bacon as Pulver, Howard Hesseman as Doc, Charles Durning as the Captain, and Marilu Henner.

Neither series lasted more than a season, but the 84 series was nominated for two Emmys.
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Lkeller said:
OK - so much for my memory. Upon further study, it appears that Ensign Pulver was a movie, not a TV series - a nominal sequel to the 1955 Mister Roberts movie. My bad...
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Also, the 1984 version was a one-time television special (a Tv movie, or something), not a series.
 
Also, the 1984 version was a one-time television special (a Tv movie, or something), not a series.
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It was part of NBC's short-loved "revival" of live television (SNL nonwithstanding) durning the 1983-84 season. Basically, it was a scrpit-edited for time performance of "Mister Roberts" shot live with no audience in Burbank. That season also saw the return of the NBC Symphony Orchestra (which turned out to be its final performance.)
 
The interesting thing about Freddy's Nightmares mentioned earlier in the thread is that as an anthology show, it had no connection to the movie beyond Freddie.

Throwing another show into the mix, I don't remember the ratings, but what about Alien Nation on Fox? As one of their early shows, it had strikes against it already. I was in colege and watched it regularly and thought it was well done, but I don't think it made it past one season plus a TV movie or two.
 
Harry and the Hendersons (which is airing on RTN currently) was a spin-off of the 1987 movie. The guy who plays Harry in the movie, Kevin Peter Hall, played Harry in the TV series for the first unseason until his death. It aired for three seasons in 1991, so this was not a total flop.

Many of these based on movies from the 80's seem to have come about around 1990 or so.
 
Hi everyone:
DToTheJ said:
I can name plenty of TV series that bombed as movies...

"The Beverly Hillbillies"...
"The Honeymooners"...
"McHale's Navy"...

Shall I go on? :(
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You can also add The Brady Bunch. Not the 1988 Christmas movie as that was a TV movie which we see on ABC Family and I think in syndication as well (If I'm not mistaken) every year. I'm talking about the version which didn't have the original cast in it. The 1988 Christmas movie had the original cast plus a few new characters. The 1988 movie is enjoyable while the recasted version OTOH is an UTTER COMPLETE DISASTER and simply epitomizes how much Hollywood has gone to the dogs as of late.

That's the one I can think of at the moment.

Cheers :D
 
Hi everyone:
ShawnHill1 said:
The Bad News Bears
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BNB wasn't a bad show. It wasn't anything to write home about either, but still...
9 to 5
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What do you mean this wasn't a good show? It was the 1980s version of The Office. True the movie was better written and the plot was better, but the TV show wasn't THAT bad.

Just my opinion....

Cheers :D
 
Hi everyone:
Mark said:
Is this MOVIES that bombed, based on TV series

or

Is this TV SERIES that bombed, based on Movies
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Either one as the industry has seen both.

Does that answer your question Mark?

Cheers :D
 
I still vote for this thread. Most TV series, shows, programs - etc are not taken from Movies first. For every movie that later became a TV series or program -- there are 3 or 4 TV series that became a movie. And how far back do you want to take this mindless thread? 1952 ?? 1972 ?? TV is built on taking a good idea and turning it into a bad sitcom. There is no need to glorify all of the reasons why a TV series or movie was bad.
 
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