7 TV Shows Based On Movies You Probably Didn’t Know Existed

When a studio isn’t sure what to do with a particular franchise, they generally put it on ice. This wasn’t always the case however, and occasionally these franchises would get a small screen adaptation, in an attempt to find a new audience. Sadly, this often failed and sank without a trace.

So, today we’re looking at seven TV shows based on movies that you may not have known existed.

 

1. The Crow: Stairway to Heaven

Remember when they made a TV show based on The Crow? No? You’d be forgiven for forgetting it.

While the 1994 movie hasn’t aged particularly well, it’s still a very good comic book adaptation. It managed to remain faithful to the source material like few other comic book movies had before, and more than some since.

The Crow was directed by Alex Proyas and had a wonderfully dark and gritty look, blending stylish visuals perfectly with a superb soundtrack and set design. The film came out smack bang in the middle of grunge and just as the goth scene was really taking hold in the 90s. Sadly, apart from Dark City, Proyas has never matched this movie in terms of visuals, style or direction.

The TV movie, despite being significantly low budget, actually did pretty well. The 1994 movie adaptation was doing great business on VHS, which led to some interest being shown to the show. Sadly, rights holders Polygram were sold to Universal during broadcast and the show was cancelled after a single season.

Tragically, Stairway to Heaven would mirror the 1994 Crow movie, when stuntman Marc Akerstream was killed when an explosion went wrong.

 

2. Robocop: The Series

Robocop was huge: The 1987 Paul Verhoeven movie was incredibly popular, and was a prime example of hyper-violent 80s action movies. The movie was so violent it was actually hit with an X rating, usually reserved for movies with strong sexual content. It was re-edited several times and eventually given an R rating.

But Robocop 2 had a mixed reception and Robocop 3 was given a critical mauling and the movie holds an appalling 3% on Rotten Tomatoes. Robocop 3 was actually the first in the series to receive a PG-13 rating, and saw the franchise try to distance itself from its violent origins.

This led the series into the Saturday afternoon tea-time adventure zone here in the UK, a time slot previously held by the likes of The A-Team, The Incredible Hulk and Knight Rider. Robocop: The Series had a one issue though: it was bollocks.

Murphy now had a series of non-lethal weapons to take down his foes, which meant recurring villains, but a lot less violence. The show had an insane budget of $1.2-$1.5 million per episode, so after 22 episodes, Robocop: The Series was shut down.

Fireworks Entertainment did make a second mini-series called Robocop: Prime Directives, just before the TV rights to the character ran out. Four 90 minute episodes were produced, but many did not enjoy the low budget feel of the show. However, the return to the violent style of the original film was welcomed.

 

3. Police Academy: The Series

Yes Police Academy had a TV series (not to be confused with The Animated Series), which was a live-action adaptation of the movies that saw new recruits come to the police academy.

The only recurring character from the movies was Michael Winslow as Sgt Jones, the sound effect producing police academy trainer. The show did see several cameos by the original cast including Leslie Easterbrook, Georges Gaynes and Bubba Smith. Art Metrano also made an appearance as Sheriff Meiser (he played Captain Mouser in two of the sequels), eight years after becoming paralysed after a fall at home.

While I recall seeing a couple of episodes in the 90s, I remember nothing about them, which is possibly some sort of psychological defence mechanism. The series received awful reviews and has generally been forgotten by even the most ardent Police Academy fan, but anyone curious enough to want to put themselves through it can find most of the episodes on YouTube.

 

4. Blade: The Series

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMNL4h8hZEs

Back in the late 90s, Blade was the unquestioned comic book hero king. He didn’t have much competition though, as Blade debuted in 1998, the year after the atrocious Batman and Robin. We wouldn’t see X-Men until 2000 and Spider-Man until 2002, so us comic book fans had to make do with what we got. Luckily, what we got was fantastic.

Blade was followed up with a sequel that managed to surpass the original (largely thanks to Guillermo Del Toro), and then a lackluster third outing in 2004. At that point, it felt very much like the trilogy was done, but then in an unexpected move, it was announced that Blade would continue as a TV series.

A mainstream comic book TV show may not seem like a big deal these days, but back in 2006 it was unheard of. Excitement grew as David S. Goyer, who penned all three Blade movies, would return to co-write Blade’s two-hour pilot episode (as well as the series finale). Rapper Sticky Fingaz (not a typo) was cast to replace Wesley Snipes as Blade, which would be big boots to fill. While the franchise was popular, Snipes’ unorthodox portrayal of Blade was something people really loved about the movies.

Despite the hype, Blade: The Series never found its audience. It managed to be awfully middle of the road and wound up being forgotten after the ratings fell during its first, and only, season.

 

5. Casablanca

Yes, the Casablanca. It had not one, but two TV shows: the first in 1955, and a (very) short lived revival in 1983. Acting as a sequel of sorts to the 1942 classic movie, it sees lead character Rick Blaine now neck deep in 1955 dealing with the Cold War.

Sadly, there’s not much info on this show to be found easily online: There’s nothing much I can dig up about ratings or reviews, due to the nature of the time that it was out.

While I haven’t seen any critical reviews, user reviews haven’t been kind. The most common thing I’ve seen is that Casablanca is pretty, but fairly bland and lacking in all what made the movie great. Charles McGraw was a poor replacement as Rick Blaine, being totally overshadowed by his movie counterpart, Humphrey Bogart. All-in-all, Casablanca is lacking, and it seems that’s the reason it has been soundly forgotten about.

The less said about the 1983 version, the better.

 

6. Lock, Stock…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmuxsKGudIg

British gangster movies were huge at the turn of the century — everyone attempted to jump on the bandwagon. But the first gangster movie to make it big, and the one that most tried to emulate, was Guy Richie’s Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. While people still talk about the movie to this day, many will react with surprise when they find out that it had a TV show spin-off.

Each episode had a different title, as in ‘Lock, Stock and Four Stolen Hooves’ or ‘Lock, Stock and Two Hundred Smoking Kalashnikovs’. The plot followed a group of four close friends who ran a pub called The Lock in London. While they weren’t gangsters per se, they often found themselves mixed up in underworld goings-on. The show may well feel very familiar, but has a ‘comedy-of-errors tone to it.

So why is this the first you’re hearing of it? Truth is, I’m not totally sure. The show did okay with reviewers and didn’t do bad with TV audiences either. Being on at 9pm Channel 4 didn’t seem to hurt it, getting over 3 million viewers for its debut episode, and while these did drop, it still hit well over 1 million for its finale, which isn’t bad for the timeslot. The world quickly moved on from British gangster movies, and maybe series co-writer Guy Richie simply didn’t want to do it anymore.

 

7. Ferris Bueller

Imagine your favourite, timeless 80s movie. Should it have a sequel? Goonies 2? Breakfast Club 2? While many people think they want a sequel to a beloved 80s cult classic, in reality it’s probably better to leave them where they are.

As you can imagine, this is very much the story here. Ferris Bueller is played by Charlie Schlatter, who lacks the charisma and cheek of his movie counterpart. Schlatter’s career didn’t really take off in the way he hoped, but became a regular voice over artist for various cartoons.

The show also featured an early screen appearance for Jennifer Aniston, and a couple of episodes were actually directed by The Incredible Hulk star, Bill Bixby. The show could not compare to the movie, and, teamed with low ratings, it was quickly cancelled.