# TV shows that were originally plays, movies, books, or radio shows **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 23, 2006, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-were-originally-plays-movies-books-or-radio-shows/345722 "2006-02-23T02:07:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![ddgryphon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8c91f0/32.png) [@ddgryphon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ddgryphon)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2006, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-were-originally-plays-movies-books-or-radio-shows/345722/21 "2006-02-23T20:49:20Z")
No “Our Miss Brooks” or “Green Hornet?” ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2006, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-were-originally-plays-movies-books-or-radio-shows/345722/22 "2006-02-23T20:51:43Z")
> [@12 buzz](#): > > The movie followed the TV show. But the radio show was first, as were the books. IIRC, the sequence was: BBC radio --\> books --\> BBC TV (also shown in the US) --\> more books --\> movie. I’m waiting for the TV version of **Mame** , which would have: book --\> Broadway play --\> movie --\> Broadway musical --\> movie --(hypothetically)–\> TV ---
**Author:** ![Ensign\_Edison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ab992/32.png) [@Ensign\_Edison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ensign_Edison)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2006, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-were-originally-plays-movies-books-or-radio-shows/345722/23 "2006-02-23T20:57:45Z")
A&E did a series based on Rex Stout’s Nero Wolfe novels. ---
**Author:** ![Papermache\_Prince](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f05b48/32.png) [@Papermache\_Prince](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Papermache_Prince)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2006, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-were-originally-plays-movies-books-or-radio-shows/345722/24 "2006-02-23T21:06:37Z")
Here’s a switch - The 1957 tv show [**Have Gun – Will Travel**](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Have_Gun,_Will_Travel#Radio_show) was so popular they decided to do a radio version. Richard Boone was Paladin on tv, John Dehner had the role on radio. ---
**Author:** ![sciurophobic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cab0a1/32.png) [@sciurophobic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sciurophobic)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2006, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-were-originally-plays-movies-books-or-radio-shows/345722/25 "2006-02-23T21:20:32Z")
**Guiding Light** started as a radio show in 1937. ---
**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:** [February 23, 2006, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-were-originally-plays-movies-books-or-radio-shows/345722/26 "2006-02-23T21:46:42Z")
**"The Adventures of Dobie Gillis"** was based on the short stories and novels by Max Shulman. ---
**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:** [February 23, 2006, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-were-originally-plays-movies-books-or-radio-shows/345722/27 "2006-02-23T21:47:51Z")
Oops… should be \*\*“The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis”. \*\* :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2006, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-were-originally-plays-movies-books-or-radio-shows/345722/28 "2006-02-23T21:48:39Z")
The short lived teen series “Life as We Know It” was based on a nonfiction book called “Losing It”. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2006, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-were-originally-plays-movies-books-or-radio-shows/345722/29 "2006-02-23T22:01:49Z")
> [@ddgryphon](#): > > No “Our Miss Brooks” or “Green Hornet?” Post 11. I, Claudius. ---
**Author:** ![anyrose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/54ee81/32.png) [@anyrose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anyrose)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2006, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-were-originally-plays-movies-books-or-radio-shows/345722/30 "2006-02-23T22:04:15Z")
> [@12 buzz](#): > > > [@Otanx](#): > > > > Nobody mentioned \*\*Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy{/B] yet? Or is it not considered a TV show as they only made 6 episodes? > > > > -Otanx > > The movie followed the TV show the 6 ep TV show followed a 12 ep radio show which followed a book ---
**Author:** ![anyrose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/54ee81/32.png) [@anyrose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anyrose)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2006, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-were-originally-plays-movies-books-or-radio-shows/345722/31 "2006-02-23T22:06:06Z")
> [@Tengu](#): > > > [@Guinastasia](#): > > > > M_A_S\*H-originally a movie > > Originally a book, actually. > Then a movie. IIRC - the book was written at the same time as the screen play to be released simultaneously with the movie ---
**Author:** ![priapus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@priapus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/priapus)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2006, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-were-originally-plays-movies-books-or-radio-shows/345722/32 "2006-02-23T22:11:21Z")
One of the more interesting reincarnations is The Third Man.In the movie,Harry Lime is a charming rogue,who is shot to death by the police. The radio show was based on the early adventures of Lime before he went bad.The tv show I only dimly remember as some kind of mystery show but Lime is clearly a good guy ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2006, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-were-originally-plays-movies-books-or-radio-shows/345722/33 "2006-02-23T22:14:27Z")
**Alien Nation. The Beastmaster. Serenity.** Hey, I can dream, can’t I? ---
**Author:** ![scotandrsn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a4c791/32.png) [@scotandrsn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scotandrsn)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2006, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-were-originally-plays-movies-books-or-radio-shows/345722/34 "2006-02-23T22:16:14Z")
> [@Rodgers01](#): > > I think **The Brady Bunch** was inspired by the movie **Yours Mine and Ours**. According to no less a source than Uncle John’s Ultimate Bathroom Reader, Sherwood Schwartz says he had already submitted the Brady Bunch script, but no one touched it until the success of _Yours, Mine and Ours_ showed that audiences were ready for a story about large blended families. His original title for the show was even _Yours and Mine_, but the producers of the movie threatened suit. Even though they probably would have won, they decided to simply change titles. One alternative: The Brady Brood. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2006, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-were-originally-plays-movies-books-or-radio-shows/345722/35 "2006-02-23T22:20:24Z")
> [@Tengu](#): > > > [@Guinastasia](#): > > > > M_A_S\*H-originally a movie > > Originally a book, actually. > > Then a movie. Then a play (1973?) ---
**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:** [February 23, 2006, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-were-originally-plays-movies-books-or-radio-shows/345722/36 "2006-02-23T22:21:42Z")
> [@Rodgers01](#): > > I think **The Brady Bunch** was inspired by the movie **Yours Mine and Ours**. “Brady Bunch” started out as an idea (titled “Yours and Mine”) that ABC originally rejected until _Yours Mine and Ours_ was released. The same network originally rejected “Happy Days” until _American Graffiti_ was released. > [@](#): > > _There were TV cartoon versions of **Ghostbusters** and **Beetlejuice** , and probably others._ Another “Ghostbusters”, a live-action series with a gorrilla, predated the adventures of Peter, Ray, Egon, and Winston by nearly a decade. ---
**Author:** ![scotandrsn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a4c791/32.png) [@scotandrsn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scotandrsn)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2006, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-were-originally-plays-movies-books-or-radio-shows/345722/37 "2006-02-23T22:22:10Z")
> [@anyrose](#): > > IIRC - the book was written at the same time as the screen play to be released simultaneously with the movie I’m finding several sources saying the book was 1968, the movie 1969. I know the original intention of 2001 was as you describe, though. ---
**Author:** ![anyrose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/54ee81/32.png) [@anyrose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anyrose)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2006, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-were-originally-plays-movies-books-or-radio-shows/345722/38 "2006-02-23T22:32:37Z")
> [@scotandrsn](#): > > I’m finding several sources saying the book was 1968, the movie 1969. > > I know the original intention of 2001 was as you describe, though. oh yeah, that’s right. :smack: ---
**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:** [February 23, 2006, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-were-originally-plays-movies-books-or-radio-shows/345722/39 "2006-02-23T22:58:08Z")
I wonder if “Yours and Mine” would have been reworked as an episode of “Love, Amercian Style” had the latter premiered a year earlier. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2006, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-were-originally-plays-movies-books-or-radio-shows/345722/40 "2006-02-23T23:08:10Z")
“Bewitched” was ‘inspired’ by the movie [URL=http://imdb.com/title/tt0051406/?fr=c2l0ZT1kZnx0dD0xfGZiPXV8cG49MHxxPUJlbGwsIEJvb2sgYW5kIENhbmRsZXxteD0yMHxsbT01MDB8aHRtbD0x;fc=1;ft=20Bell, Book and Candle. The movies **Fame** and **Logan’s Run** became a short-lived TV series. The comic strip “Blondie” was adapted into a series of movies and then a TV series in the 1950s. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-were-originally-plays-movies-books-or-radio-shows/345722.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-that-were-originally-plays-movies-books-or-radio-shows/345722.md?page=3)