It's recently been announced that Source Code, The Adjustment Bureau and Universal Soldier are being developed into TV shows. In the former's case this makes a lot of sense because the premise of Duncan Jones time-travel thriller (with some obvious tweaking) is ripe for weekly Quantum Leap-esque adventures. It could be argued that Universal Soldier could make a decent enough action drama, too... but The Adjustment Bureau? I don't see it.
Nevertheless, studios are hoping people's attachment to those movie hits means they have readymade small-screen audiences. But that's not what Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles discovered, as it was cancelled after two underperforming seasons. To be fair, it was a surprisingly decent attempt to make a series out of the Terminator mythos, but clearly most people wanted ingredients it couldn't provide: big-budget spectacle every single week and Arnold Schwarzenegger as the lead.
So do you hate it when television tries to develop films into weekly series? Or is it a good idea, provided the concept works as a continuing idea? Does it make a lot of sense, as the inspiring movie almost acts like a pilot-before-the-pilot and studios already know people like the idea?
Have any past examples of a movie-to-TV adaptation filled you with joy, or dismay? Buffy The Vampire Slayer must surely be the best example of a successful adaptation, as it totally eclipsed its cinematic forbearer (which is now treated as a joke by most people). Maybe they should be looking at flop movies that had a great concept and potential for episodic stories, rather than successful movies with very limited ideas? After all, in most cases, there's a reason a movie is a movie.
