# Individual Television Episodes Based on Famous Films/Books/Plays **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 13, 2008, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/individual-television-episodes-based-on-famous-films-books-plays/452873 "2008-06-13T23:52:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Sir\_Rhosis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@Sir\_Rhosis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_Rhosis)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2008, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/individual-television-episodes-based-on-famous-films-books-plays/452873/1 "2008-06-13T23:52:45Z")
Not talking about movies that lift the basic storylines of other films, etc. (so no “Star Wars” is “The Hidden Fortress” or “Forbidden Planet” is a retelling of “The Tempest” or anything of that nature). I’m looking for stuff like “Legacy of Death,” a 1968 episode of “The Avengers” which is a riff on “The Maltese Falcon,” even down to some humorous combos of character/actor names. [http://theavengers.tv/forever/king-8.htm](http://theavengers.tv/forever/king-8.htm) Any other individual episodes of a series do a take on a famous film/book/play? Sir Rhosis ---
**Author:** ![Skara\_Brae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f0a364/32.png) [@Skara\_Brae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skara_Brae)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2008, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/individual-television-episodes-based-on-famous-films-books-plays/452873/2 "2008-06-13T23:56:42Z")
Well, there is that famous episode of [Moonlighting](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0651043/) where the cast does a version of _The Taming of the Shrew_. I think they called it “Atomic Shakespeare.” In fact, I think this is the only epsiode I can remember from that series… ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2008, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/individual-television-episodes-based-on-famous-films-books-plays/452873/3 "2008-06-13T23:58:36Z")
One of the Twilight Zone episodes was Robert Enrico’s adaptation of Occurence at Owl Creek Bridge. Closer to what you’re looking for, though, I think, was an episode of Moonlighting called “Atomic Shakespeare”, which was a riff of The Taming of the Shrew. There also, of course, has been every single tv show ever, which has, for Christmas, done an adaptation of either A Christmas Carol or It’s a Wonderful Life. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2008, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/individual-television-episodes-based-on-famous-films-books-plays/452873/4 "2008-06-14T00:12:12Z")
There was an episode of **Pinky and the Brain** that riffed pretty directly on **The Third Man.** An episode of **That 70s Show** riffed on several Hitchcock movies, most notably **Rear Window**. ---
**Author:** ![PastAllReason](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f07891/32.png) [@PastAllReason](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastAllReason)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2008, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/individual-television-episodes-based-on-famous-films-books-plays/452873/5 "2008-06-14T00:23:00Z")
Several series have done their version of A Christmas Carol, WKRP being only one of them. ETA, I see this was already noted above. I’ve seen at least a couple of series do a version of [Laura](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0037008/). One of these was Magnum, PI. On the subject of Magnum, they also did a humorous Raiders of the Lost Ark, as a deliberate spoof. ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2008, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/individual-television-episodes-based-on-famous-films-books-plays/452873/6 "2008-06-14T00:28:01Z")
Scrubs did an episode that was basically ‘Wizard of Oz’. -Joe ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2008, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/individual-television-episodes-based-on-famous-films-books-plays/452873/7 "2008-06-14T00:29:19Z")
In the [Star Trek Animated series](http://www.startrekanimated.com/tas_main.html), the episode [The Slaver Weapon](http://www.startrekanimated.com/tas_ep_slaver.html) is Larry Niven’s short story “The Soft Weapon”. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2008, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/individual-television-episodes-based-on-famous-films-books-plays/452873/8 "2008-06-14T00:36:49Z")
That **Seinfeld** episode based on **JFK.** ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2008, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/individual-television-episodes-based-on-famous-films-books-plays/452873/9 "2008-06-14T00:41:27Z")
I’ve seen a ton of shows do “12 Angry Men.” (It’s cheap, there are no location shots, and it’s easy to do poorly.) There was an episode of “Just Shoot Me” that did “King Lear” ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_Rhosis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@Sir\_Rhosis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_Rhosis)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2008, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/individual-television-episodes-based-on-famous-films-books-plays/452873/10 "2008-06-14T00:56:03Z")
I’m not really looking for eps that have adapted famous short stories. And yes, now that I recall after it has been mentioned, I saw a truly cheesy “Six Million Dollar Man” where the great Charles Lane played a Scrooge character and Steve woke him up one night and took him through the basic plot of “A Christmas Carol.” Sir Rhosis ---
**Author:** ![postcards](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8e8cbc/32.png) [@postcards](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/postcards)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2008, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/individual-television-episodes-based-on-famous-films-books-plays/452873/11 "2008-06-14T01:09:25Z")
There was an episode of SpongeBob SquarePants that was a take-off on Poe’s The Tell-Tale Heart, with the SB’s squeaky shoes taking the place of the heart under the floorboards. Got to be at least four or five years ago, and I only saw it the one time. ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2008, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/individual-television-episodes-based-on-famous-films-books-plays/452873/12 "2008-06-14T01:14:58Z")
[QUOTE=amarinth] There was an episode of “Just Shoot Me” that did “King Lear” [/QUOTE] They also did a classic episode that was loosely modeled around\*\* _Annie Hall_.\*\* ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2008, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/individual-television-episodes-based-on-famous-films-books-plays/452873/13 "2008-06-14T03:09:42Z")
I’m watching _Get Smart_ right now, and the episode is a takeoff on the Maltese Falcon. They’re in Mexico, and the bird in question is the Tequila Mockingbird. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2008, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/individual-television-episodes-based-on-famous-films-books-plays/452873/14 "2008-06-14T05:07:46Z")
[QUOTE=amarinth] There was an episode of “Just Shoot Me” that did “King Lear” [/QUOTE] And another that parodied “How the Grinch Stole Christmas.” ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2008, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/individual-television-episodes-based-on-famous-films-books-plays/452873/15 "2008-06-14T05:26:13Z")
“South Park” has dozens of episodes like this- the episode I saw most recently was based on “Red Dawn.” ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2008, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/individual-television-episodes-based-on-famous-films-books-plays/452873/16 "2008-06-14T05:44:55Z")
MacGyver, featuring Dana Elcar, did an episode based on the The Sting, which featured Dana Elcar. ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Mapp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miss_mapp/32/369_2.png) [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2008, 10:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/individual-television-episodes-based-on-famous-films-books-plays/452873/17 "2008-06-14T10:03:10Z")
Several TV shows have done riffs on “Twelve Angry Men,” (Happy Days, for example) : one lone juror (the Fonz, for example), holds out to acquit the defendant when everyone else on the jury is ready to vote for guilt. ---
**Author:** ![Darryl\_Lict](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7cd45c/32.png) [@Darryl\_Lict](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darryl_Lict)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2008, 10:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/individual-television-episodes-based-on-famous-films-books-plays/452873/18 "2008-06-14T10:16:02Z")
Futurama parodied\* Armageddon\* in “A Big Ball of Garbage”. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2008, 10:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/individual-television-episodes-based-on-famous-films-books-plays/452873/19 "2008-06-14T10:25:10Z")
The Simpsons have done many episodes like this, riffing on classic movies (e.g. Mary Poppins, Cape Fear), or books (Lord of the Flies). Many of their “Treehouse of Horror” stories come from classic films or short stories (or, in one case, a poem). ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2008, 10:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/individual-television-episodes-based-on-famous-films-books-plays/452873/20 "2008-06-14T10:27:48Z")
[QUOTE=astorian] “South Park” has dozens of episodes like this- the episode I saw most recently was based on “Red Dawn.” [/QUOTE] And the Dickens novel _Great Expectations_ was done as a South Park episode. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/individual-television-episodes-based-on-famous-films-books-plays/452873.md?page=2)