Over the years we’ve been bombarded with so many former TV shows that have been rebooted into movies that it’s hard to get excited about any of them anymore. But as you flip through the channels, it’s clear that some TV shows actually need to be made into a movie. And although I was tempted just to list every HBO and Showtime series, the truth is that most of their shows actually work well in television form. So I was proud of myself for only choosing three HBO/Showtimes series because as it turns out, there are plenty of shows that could use their own movie.
10. HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER – I’m a big fan of taking TV shows and ending them with movies. I really wanted Lost to end with a movie and I think HIMYM would do well to end with a big movie. We’ve been building to a big event (the actual meeting of the mother) for 9 years now and a movie seems to be the logical next step.
9. PUSHING DAISIES – I think this one would have done better to have started out as a movie, but the show never really had much of a chance. It was too quirky and appealed to a very niche audience, making it nearly impossible to find mainstream success. But the show was intelligent and would work well on the big screen.
8. DOWNTON ABBEY – Sometimes with British shows, it’s either a movie or a crappy American remake (or in the case of The Inbetweeners, both). As much as Downton Abbey has grown in popularity, I think a movie would do it well to get the show more of the attention it deserves. I also think they could take it further with a movie, which could do the series well.
7. TINY TOON ADVENTURES – How is it that all the b-level Nickelodeon characters can get their own film, but the classic WB Tiny Toons, produced by Steven Spielberg, don’t have their own movie yet? WB has been trying to get Bugs, Daffy and the rest of their classic characters back into the mainstream for a while now and the easiest way to do that is to use their younger counterparts (and Spielberg).
6. DEXTER – I struggled with this one because I think it works so fantastically as a TV show. But Dexter has to end sometime and when it does, it needs to go out with a huge bang. The only way to do that is with a movie. They get away with a lot now, but with the budget a feature length film would bring, I think they could send the show off into the sunset with style.
5. CALIFORNICATION – This is my favorite show on television. But sometimes I feel like they hold back or avoid taking it where they really want it to go. David Duchovny is incredible as the sex-addicted author Hank Moody and with a carefully written screenplay and a big character arc for Moody, a movie could be great.
4. THE SOPRANOS – The show didn’t really end, they just stopped making episodes. A movie would be a nice way to revisit Tony and the gang and to see how everyone is doing after the last scene in the diner. This is also a movie franchise that could spawn sequels, which would keep stars James Gandolfini and Edie Falco interested.
3. BUFFY/ANGEL – This is a no-brainer for us Joss Whedon fans. Buffy ended pretty well, but Angel left with a huge cliffhanger. I would love to see what a more mature Joss Whedon would do with his cherished characters on the big screen. And it’s not like Sarah Michelle Gellar is busy these days.
2. FRINGE – Fringe could suffer from the same fate as The X-Files in that if they go with the drama aspect of the show, it will alienate those that haven’t been following it. But if they go with a standalone film, it might alienate fans of the show. I still recommend a grand conclusion to the series via a feature length film so the budget can match the grandness of what the show tries to achieve.
1. COMMUNITY – The plight of Community is enough to make any TV fan go crazy. If it was on any network but NBC, I have to believe this would be a huge hit. As it is, it barely gets renewed each season and when it does, it’s usually as an afterthought. A movie would be perfect to get the Greendale Human Beings back in action and without the confines of network television.
