# Successful books that became successful movies and successful TV shows **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 15, 2009, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/successful-books-that-became-successful-movies-and-successful-tv-shows/496524 "2009-05-15T14:36:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2009, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/successful-books-that-became-successful-movies-and-successful-tv-shows/496524/41 "2009-05-16T02:48:47Z")
More manga/TV/Movies: Urusei Yatsura Patlabor Detective Conan Lupin III You’re Under Arrest One _could_ include Ranma 1/2 but I wouldn’t say that the movies were all that famous/successful. ---
**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:** [May 16, 2009, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/successful-books-that-became-successful-movies-and-successful-tv-shows/496524/42 "2009-05-16T03:10:26Z")
**Lassie, Tarzan, The Little Mermaid** and **The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis** all deserve consideration, some of them with big asterisks. “The Little Mermaid” originated as a short story in an anthology, became a successful Disney movie and a reasonably popular Disney Channel cartoon. Dobie Gillis was a book of short stories about Dobie and company, became a moderately successful Debbie Reynolds film and a beloved sitcom (It was also _de facto_ adapted as **Scooby Doo, Where Are You?** ). Tarzan was the subject of scads of novels and films of varying degrees of popularity. While there has never been an outrageously popular Tarzan TV show (Most versions lasted one or two seasons; one version lasted three), cumulatively, all the versions have had as many episodes as **Law & Order TOS**. **Lassie Come Home** began as a short story and then a novel, begat many many movies and several TV series, one of them quite successful. The novel isn’t taught in any lit classes, but it had something going for it, I’d say. **In the Heat of the Night** was successful in all three media. ---
**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:** [May 16, 2009, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/successful-books-that-became-successful-movies-and-successful-tv-shows/496524/43 "2009-05-16T03:19:18Z")
**The Six Million Dollar Man** also deserves some consideration. It began as a mid-level SF novel, **Cyborg** by Martin Caidlin. It was a very popular TV movie (a format that thrived in the 60s and 70s, but not so much since) and series, under the better-known name. Jim Carrey was briefly attached to new movie based on the concept. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2009, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/successful-books-that-became-successful-movies-and-successful-tv-shows/496524/44 "2009-05-16T03:23:56Z")
**Doug Bowe** beat me to Sherlock Holmes, dammit. I know _Little House on the Prairie_ and its progeny started as books and became a TV show… was it ever a theatrical movie? Wiki says no. _Casablanca_ was a movie and, much much later, a short-lived TV show, but I don’t think it was ever a book. Elmore Leonard’s novel _Out of Sight_ became a movie and then a short-lived TV show called _Karen Sisco_. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2009, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/successful-books-that-became-successful-movies-and-successful-tv-shows/496524/45 "2009-05-16T03:35:07Z")
I’m not sure that Shepherd did much more than inspire The Wonder Years, but several of his stories were turned into TV specials, including [Ollie Hopnoodle’s Haven of Bliss](http://www.fandango.com/olliehopnoodleshavenofbliss_v127913/summary) and [The Great American Fourth of July and Other Disasters](http://www.fandango.com/thegreatamericanfourthofjulyandotherdisasters_105055/movieoverview). Shep is my spirit guide. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2009, 9:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/successful-books-that-became-successful-movies-and-successful-tv-shows/496524/46 "2009-05-16T09:04:30Z")
[Lassie](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lassie) ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2009, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/successful-books-that-became-successful-movies-and-successful-tv-shows/496524/47 "2009-05-16T11:40:58Z")
Harry Potter. (Except for the TV show part.) ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2009, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/successful-books-that-became-successful-movies-and-successful-tv-shows/496524/48 "2009-05-16T11:47:58Z")
Hornblower,series of books,an old movie then a very,very good tv series a few years ago,watched an episde the other night;undated and excellent . ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2009, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/successful-books-that-became-successful-movies-and-successful-tv-shows/496524/49 "2009-05-16T12:17:49Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > [_Casablanca_ was a movie and, much much later, a short-lived TV show, but I don’t think it was ever a book. Michael Walsh, best know as a theatre critic and biographer, wrote “As Time Goes By” a novel based on Casablanca. Ed McBain’s 87th Precient books were turned into several movies and a 1960’s TV series. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2009, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/successful-books-that-became-successful-movies-and-successful-tv-shows/496524/50 "2009-05-16T12:35:34Z")
I, the Jury -\> _I, the Jury_ -\> “Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer” ---
**Author:** ![descamisado](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@descamisado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/descamisado)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2009, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/successful-books-that-became-successful-movies-and-successful-tv-shows/496524/51 "2009-05-16T14:20:44Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > I know _Little House on the Prairie_ and its progeny started as books and became a TV show… was it ever a theatrical movie? Wiki says no._Karen Sisco_. No, but it made it to the stage in 2008, with Melissa Gilbert in the role of Ma. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/successful-books-that-became-successful-movies-and-successful-tv-shows/496524.md?page=2)