One of the strangest trends in movies for the past several years has been to turn television shows of days gone by into big screen extravaganzas. For the most part, I do not see them as being over successful. Probably, the most profitable venture into this phenomenon has been the Star Trek series. This is primarily because there was a built-in audience of fans who wanted to see the further voyages of Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock, Dr. McCoy, and company. However, several other television shows have attempted to cross over and most have failed.
The Flintstones tried twice with live-action versions of the classic cartoon. While the first movie was relatively entertaining, The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas was a disaster. It featured a ridiculous looking computer generated version of the Great Gazoo (voiced by Alan Cummings). Even Ann-Margaret (reprising her role as Ann-Margrock from the original series) could not save the movie. Perhaps the Jetsons live-action movie (which has been in pre-production for about 5 years) will do better. Or maybe it is better to leave animated series as they are…. animated.
Several classic television comedies have also tried to become big screen movies. The Beverly Hillbillies, Leave It to Beaver, and Bewitched to name a few. Does anyone even remember them? Nicole Kidman attempted to portray Samantha in a movie whose plot was a convoluted mess. Beaver tried to be a movie centered around plot devices audiences could watch on TVLand reruns that were considerably better (for example, Beaver stuck in the giant coffee cup on top of a giant billboard). I think I have seen The Beverly Hillbillies once and remember NOT laughing at the hicks trying to integrate themselves into Beverly Hills life.
This summer audiences will be delight in two television comedies coming to the big screen. Sex and the City will star Sarah Jessica Parker and the rest of the cast of the original series. Get Smart brings the tremendous Steve Carell to the iconic role of Maxwell Smart, agent 86 of CONTROL.
looking forward to that Jetson’s movie if it ever come out that is… but I have a feeling it will disappoint, much like the animated Jetson’s movie. I have yet to see the live-action Flintstones
Yeaah, I always like the Jetsons and the Flintstones. The first movie at least had some names attached (well… at least when it was released John Goodman, Rosie, Rick Moranis). But I think the Jetsons may be stuck in pre-prod limbo for the forseeable future.
Sex and the City: avoided the series, will avoid the movie.
Get Smart: I think I saw maybe a couple of episodes. I’ll think about the movie when I see trailers for it. Of course, like most movies I will likely wait until the DVD release.
Jetsons: I used to watch the Jetsons all the time, so I will probably take a look at this movie if it is ever released (*five* years in pre-production??).
Bewitched tried to be like the Brady Bunch in not recreating the TV show, but in doing something original based on the original series. Brady Bunch made a big joke of it, Bewitched tried something else. I did find it entertaining though, not really a convoluted mess at all. I enjoyed Leave it to Beaver as well. The Flintstones? Less so than the other two, but okay. I never saw either the original Beverly Hillbillies or the movie.
Everyone has some sort of top list for something. Here’s IGN’s top 25 TV-to-movie conversions: http://movies.ign.com/articles/704/704757p1.html
Not all of them are true TV shows-to-movies though, some, like Office Space, are SNL skits-to-movies. Also, it’s from 2006 so no newer movies than that are on there.
Believe it or not, I forgot about the Brady Bunch and it’s sequel. I did kind of enjoy them and their attempt to create something new while remaining true to the series with all of its winks to the series (Ann B. Davis as a truck driver, Florence Henderson as grandma). I never saw Sex and the City, either. Can’t wait for Get Smart. The Jetsons, according to imdb.com is slated for 2009. We will see.
I love what the Brady Bunch movies did – made FUN of the original series! They took the behind-the-scenes rumors, production mishaps, and all the things people have made fun of the show about all these years and made them into satirical movies that are actually very clever!