Some folks at work were talking about yet another TV show being made into a movie, and it made me wonder, what’s left from the 50s-70s to make into movies? Eventually they’ll run out…
I came up with:
My Three Sons
The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis (I don’t think TV movies with the orginial actors should count, ftr)
Make Room for Daddy
Father Knows Best
My Mother the Car
And that’s about it. There’s more, aren’t there?
The Patty Duke Show
Gilligan’s Island
I Dream of Jeannie
Well one they might do is “I Dream of Jeannie”.
“F-Troop” and “Hogan’s Heroes” should be possible.
They could turn “Life of Reilly” or “Topper” back into a movies.
I am sad to say that there must be dozens left.
Jim
Barney Miller
Soap
All in the Family
Gunsmoke
…
This list is a lot longer than the OP thinks.
So, is this where an expression I don’t understand (“living the life of Reilly”) comes from, or the other way around? And what sort of life did he have, a charmed one, or a bad one?
KneadToKnow, I know you’re right. Most of my classic TV viewing was from Nick At Night reruns, and they didn’t show everything.
Meet The Press
Other way around. The OED lists the first use of the term as being 1919, and it gaining popularity rather quickly from there.
:snerk:
William Bendix’s character would get himself into silly situations that always worked out more or less right by the end of the show. He had a famous line ‘What a revoltin’ development this is!"
I barely remember the show, but it was not very good. Better than Car 54 though.
Thought of a few more shows:
“Time Tunnel” and “Voyage to the bottom of the Sea” could be turned into movies.
“Time Tunnel” was Quantum Leap, long before Quantum Leap.
“Voyage to the bottom of the Sea” was a fun show for 8 year olds to watch.
I’ve heard that “Land of the Lost” is being made into a movie. This is scary sad.
It’s not going to happen after the 60 Minutes movie did so bad in the box office. Which was no surprise. What were they thinking to cast Keanu Reeves as Dan Rather?
Good Lord. There must be tons of them. There are scads of short-lived, utterly forgotten shows. And several rememvered ones.
**The Dick Van Dyke Show
Camp Runamuck
Hank
Captain Nice
Mr. Terrific
Man Into Space
That Was the Week that Was
Bonanza
Gunsmoke
Have Gun Will Travel
Bat Masterson
The Hathaways
Gentle Ben
Kolchak – The Night Stalker
Night Gallery
The Smothers Brothers Show** (The original one, before the variety show, where Tom played an angel)
The Bill Cosby Show (any incarnation, including the variety show, or the one where he’s a phys ed teacher. Or Dr. Huxtable)
**The Time Tunnel
Columbo
Probe
Mannix
Land of the Giants
The Flying Nun
**
There are literally hundreds of shows from that era. Think about it – 3 networks (in those days it was 3) times 3 1/2 hours of programming (in those days prime time was 3 1/2 hours) times 7 days a week = 75 hours per week, for 20 years.
Looking only at the #1 rated program for 1955-1975 we see:
The $64,000 Question
I Love Lucy
Gunsmoke
Wagon Train
Beverly Hillbillies
Bonanza
The Andy Griffith Show
Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In
Marcus Welby, M.D.
All in the Family
Leave out I Love Lucy and Andy Griffith (both star-driven) and the $64,000 Question and Laugh-In (both impossible to turn into a script) and you have six #1 shows with the built-in name recognition that could be turned into movies. The only one that has been is The Beverly Hillbillies.
Not to mention shows like Green Acres, The Waltons, Mannix, The Defenders and a bunch of others that are either unforgettable or a sturdy enough genre that they could easily be turned into movies.
Three’s Company?
Now there’s a sitcom that needs an NC-17 adaptation.
There were actually some Bonanza “made for TV” movies in an attempt to revive the series a generation later. Didn’t go anywhere.
Happy Days hasn’t been remade (thank goodness).
There was an attempt to make Sanford & Son into a film. When Chris Rock was approached for Lamont he replied (per Rock) “There’s no way you can do it without Redd Foxx- it was way more The Redd Foxx Show than any of the The Redd Foxx Shows ever were”, which is true; it’d be about like trying to make I Love Lucy without Lucy and Desi.
A “Meet the Press” movie could be good.
It should star Dan Ackroyd and Jane Curtin.
Of course, it would be two hours of set-up for the “Jane, you ignorant slut” scene.
This show started out as a movie.
Wall Street Week with Louis Rukeyser
Over 1978-81, there were three made-for-TV movies, (as well as two cartoon shows) that reunited most of the original cast.
Granted, this was over 20 years ago.
Did they ever make CHiPs into a feature movie?
Maybe “The Love Boat” or “Love American Style”?
Hollywood persons: Please do not interpret this post as an endorsement of the idea of making these shows into movies.