30 TV Shows Based on Movies, Ranked From Worst to Best
The 2016 fall TV season brings a crop of new shows — though, as with many seasons past, the word "new" is relative when it comes to a few. This September, FOX rolled out two new series based on iconic movies, Lethal Weapon and The Exorcist, while the CW reintroduces the world to 2000 film Frequency with a series reboot. CBS' Pop network will also debut the adaptation of Australian horror franchise Wolf Creek for October.
There's a slim chance all four series will reappear on the September '17 fall schedule for a second season, given the mixed history of tv shows adapted from movies. For every six-season run of Teen Wolf, there's the 11-episode failure of Dirty Dancing, starring Melora Hardin from The Office as Baby Houseman. And who can forget the Working Girl series starring Sandra Bullock? Most people, it turns out!
Over 100 shows have arisen from stories first born on the silver screen; we've ranked 30 of them — excluding the dozens of animated incarnations — below. The ranking is based on an amalgam of quality judgment (for better or worse, I've watched 95% of them at least once), critical reviews and length of run. See our picks for the best (and worst) TV shows based on movies below.
30. Ferris Bueller (1990)
Number of Seasons: 1
With a lead not half as charismatic as Matthew Broderick and a location shifted from Chicago to Santa Monica (the show explained this by claiming the film was a dramatization of the real Ferris Bueller, which feels surprisingly meta for 1990), the most notable thing about Ferris Bueller is that a pre-Friends Jennifer Aniston co-starred as Ferris' sister Jeannie, the role originated by Jennifer Grey.
29. Party Girl (1996)
Number of Seasons: Less than 1
The 1995 Parker Posey-starring film was a cult hit, but made less than half a million at the box office — so it's unclear why a creator unaffiliated with the film chose to parlay it into a weekly sitcom. The result, starring Christine Taylor (Zoolander, The Brady Bunch Movie) lasted all of four episodes.
28. Dirty Dancing (1988)
Number of Seasons: 1
ABC's currently readying another musical reboot of the 1987 hit, but CBS attempted a series back when the movie was a bona fide cultural sensation. It stopped after 11 episodes (would Baby have skipped college to stay at the resort for years to come? We'll never know). Transparent's Melora Hardin was Baby 2.0, and Paul Feig, director of Bridesmaids and Ghostbusters, was in the cast as well.
27. Uncle Buck (2016)
Number of seasons: 1
Actually the second adaptation of the 1989 John Candy film (the first was in 1991 and lasted 18 episodes), not even Mike Epps' comedy chops could save an unremarkable revival — and the show's choice to retell the story with a black family rankled the type of people who burst into angry tears over the very idea of a race or gender flip in a reboot. Its cancellation after 8 episode freed Nia Long up for the fresher material she deserves.
26. Working Girl (1990)
Number of seasons: 1
The only thing weirder than the fact that Working Girl gave Sandra Bullock her first major role playing the Melanie Griffith-originated part of Tess McGill? The fact that Bullock was their second choice — she replaced Nancy McKeon, aka Jo from '80s comedy The Facts of Life. NBC yanked the wholly unnecessary sitcom after eight episodes, with four left unaired in its original run.
25. Clueless (1996)
Number of Seasons: 3
Visually, Clueless the series was a reasonable facsimile of the cult hit film, and unlike many film-to-TV adaptations, the original writer-director (Amy Heckerling) was heavily involved. It also featured returning original cast members Donald Faison, Stacey Dash and Elisa Donovan — yet it managed to be bracingly unfunny, particularly in the back half of its run on UPN. And despite the resemblance, Rachel Blanchard was no Alicia Silverstone.
24. Honey I Shrunk the Kids: The TV Show (1997)
Number of Seasons: 3
Peter Scolari replacing Rick Moranis is as solid a recasting choice as they come, and the films series' premise did lend itself well to episodic adventures. However, it also featured the puzzling terrible overacting choices native to so many Disney series, and audiences had seen enough of the forgettable affair by Season 3.
23. Dangerous Minds (1996)
Number of Seasons: 1
Yes, Coolio's "Gangsta's Paradise" was the theme for the show, too. Annie Potts took over from Michelle Pfeiffer, playing real-life teacher Luanne Johnson on a show that lasted 17 episodes on ABC. But in an episode of NPR radio series This American Life that ran that same year, the real Luanne Johnson lamented the show, saying it had her character doing things that were "unethical and silly" to make her "endearing," such as taking her students to a strip club.
22. Rush Hour (2016)
Number of Seasons: 1
The CBS show featured neither lead actor, nor much of the laughter and action from the Brett Ratner-directed film trilogy. Receiving poor reviews, the Hollywood Reporter deemed it "better than Rush Hour 3," though that's faint praise. The show may well have found its footing in a second season, but we'll likely never know.
21. School of Rock (2016)
Number of Seasons: 2
On its own merits, Nickelodeon's made a sweet show for musical number-loving kids, with an affable enough lead in Tony Cavalero and a cast of middle schoolers whom a director clearly instructs to "play it broad" (do ANY cable TV kids shows trust children to know what a joke is without delivering it to them in a gesture-heavy yell?). But compared to the 2003 Jack Black-starring film that inspired it...actually, it's best not to compare at all.
20. Tremors (2003)
Number of Seasons: 1
One's enjoyment of Tremors the series primarily hinges on a prerequisite love for the not-for-everybody 1990 camp classic. Originally aired out of order on the Sci-Fi Channel (now SyFy), the show featured SyFy-level special effects and returning original cast member Michael Gross still fighting those pesky Graboids in Perfection, Nevada. While the show never got a chance to get off the ground, Amazon's planning to try again with a 10-part miniseries featuring a returning Kevin Bacon.