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Over the years, a number of movies have spawned television series. Sometimes the shows have been more successful than the films that inspired them, and other times they've been small-screen flops.
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M*A*S*H*
(1972 to 1983)
One of the longest-running and most critically worshipped series of all time, CBS's M*A*S*H* drew inspiration from Robert Altman's 1970 film, which starred Donald Sutherland, Elliott Gould, and Robert Duvall, and grossed more than $73 million.
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Ferris Bueller
(1990)
NBC gave the series, based on the 1986 film Ferris Bueller's Day Off, a prime-time slot—it aired after The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. The film was a hit, grossing $70 million, but the show was unanimously slammed and dropped after 13 episodes.
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Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventures
(1990 and 1992)
Two television attempts at adapting the 1989 flick Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure: An animated show produced by Hanna-Barbera for CBS in 1990 was was voiced by Keanu Reeves and George Carlin voiced, but CBS yanked it after one episode. In 1992, a second go at the cartoon premiered on Fox Kids and managed to air eight episodes before being canceled.
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The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles
(1992 to 1996)
ABC got a hand from George Lucas for its series. The creator of Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) and its sequels developed an extensive Indy backstory and wrote the show's first 19 episodes. During its four seasons, Young won 10 Emmys, but still couldn't touch the movies, which had a combined gross of $427.4 million.
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Ace Ventura: Pet Detective
(1996 to 2000)
Creators of the show based on the 1994 film—including Seth MacFarlane of Family Guy fame—found a clever way around the problem of casting a believable replacement for Jim Carrey: They made an animated series. Ventura aired for two seasons on CBS and had a third on Nickelodeon.
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Clueless
(1996 to 1999)
ABC scored writer-director Amy Heckerling and several of the 1995 film's stars—but not Alicia Silverstone—for the sitcom, which aired in their Friday-night kid-comedy block, "TGIF." The network canceled it after one season, but Clueless ran for two more years on former cable network UPN.
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Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997 to 2003)
Buffy, the series that starred Sarah Michelle Gellar in the title role, garnered a cult following over its seven-season run. Not only did it far outperform the 1992 film, which only grossed $16 million, it helped put the then-little-known WB network on the map.
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My Big Fat Greek Life
(2003)
My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002) was a massive surprise box office hit, raking in $241 million. But its popularity didn't translate to the small screen, even with Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson co-producing. The CBS series lasted just seven episodes.
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Friday Night Lights
(2006 to present)
The NBC drama based on the 2004 film drew critical raves, but struggled to find an audience during its first two seasons. This month, it moves to DirectTV, which picked up the series when NBC canceled it.
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Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
(2008)
It may be almost 25 years since James Cameron's cyborg franchise was born, but with a fourth installment on the way, the brand is still strong—and Fox is capitalizing. Connor was the highest-rated new series on television when it debuted in March, but has bottomed out since, garnering just 5.9 million viewers to be filled in at press time.
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Crash
(2008)
The 2004 film, a complex drama with several interlocking story lines, won the Best Picture Oscar. Now, premium network Starz is hoping to capitalize on that buzz with a series adaptation.
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10 Things I Hate About You
(in production)
ABC Family recently announced that it picked up the pilot of 10 Things I Hate About You. Like the 1999 film that starred Julia Stiles and the late Heath Ledger, television's 10 Things will focus on a pair of sisters starting out at a new high school.
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