Look up "movies that became television shows" on any search engine on the Internet and you are likely to find a very obvious trend: Not very often do television shows do justice to the movies they portray.
From the 1970s to the present day, there has been a growing interest in turning popular movies and cult classics into television dramas in order to fill a time slot. The result has typically been a halfhearted salute to the great movies that were the basis for such ill-conceived attempts.
The idea of continuing the story laid out by the movie is in some regards admirable, but still very unnecessary. The low ratings that most shows attain in their first season attests to the lack of interest by viewers. While story lines are often tweaked and reconfigured to better display the direction in which the story will go, the outcome is still much the same. Many viewers simply do not want to watch their favorite films become little more than drawn-out punch lines.
Several films that have gained notoriety throughout the years have been cloned in such a manner and thrust back into the public eye. Though the full list is extensive, here are just a few examples of why the transition from the big screen to the small screen does not pan out.
"Parenthood" was released in 1989, and the first rendition of this series came to television in 1990, where despite its impressive cast it lasted only one season. In 2009 it was revived under a new producer and did quite well, as it just recently ended its final season.
"Buffy the Vampire Slayer": Though having seen success for several seasons, its initial release was anything but promising when it was delivered in 1992. This is perhaps one of the few movie-to-television transitions that did in fact work.
"Ferris Bueller" is a no-brainer; the mere mention of "Bueller, Bueller," immediately gains recognition from entire generations of moviegoers. The sad attempt at a television series based upon the iconic movie made a gasping effort from 1990 to 1991, when it was finally put out of its misery.
"Uncle Buck" is yet another iconic film that was meant to be left alone. This classic was put to the test on the small screen between 1990 and 1991 and failed abysmally after 19 episodes. Lately there have been talks about revamping the series, but the families of the director and star of the movie have been adamantly against such an attempt.
Though "Tremors" is different from the films listed above in so many ways, this cult classic still gains recognition for its campy nature and overall thrill. The television series spawned by this film did not last long, though the film series did manage to eke out at least four more installments.
Roughly one out of ten films is successfully transferred from film to television. The general public wants their legends to remain, for lack of a better word, legendary.