Welcome to TV Squad Lists (formerly 'The Five'), a feature where each blogger has a chance to list his or her own rundown of things in television that stand out from the rest, both good and bad.
A couple of other bloggers have made lists concerning movies that have been made into TV shows and vice versa. There's The Top 10 Movies Based on TV Shows, The Top 5 Shows That are Better than the Movie, Four Small Screen to Big Screen Flops and AOL's own list. Here is my effort. Enjoy.
1. The Avengers: I tried to sit through this move twice and couldn't do it either time. If anyone can explain the plot to me, they can have my job. This movie is the exact opposite of the TV show. Boring, unoriginal, ignorant and unpleasant to watch.
2. Lost in Space: After the cameos by the surviving original cast members, stop watching. Since when is Dr. smith a psycho? I know Heather Graham is hot, but why is Don West more interested in getting laid than getting home? And what is up with the stupid CGI alien? I'd rather see a monkey with Spock ears.
3. Car 54, Where Are You?: Just a mess. Not even the "brilliant" acting skills of David Johanssen can save this one. Plus any movie with Rosie O' Donnell automatically sucks.
4. The Wild Wild West: Isn't it convenient how President Grant resembles Kevin Kline with a fake beard? The only thing good about this movie was that afterwards, I snuck into Austin Powers 2.
5. George of the Jungle: It escapes me why anyone thinks this movie is worth watching. Even if you've never seen the superior cartoon, the movie is just bad. Poorly directed, inadequately written and if you're going to steal a plot, don't steal it from Crocodile Dundee.
6. The Mod Squad: The only thing mod about these posers was their Gap wardrobes. The real Mod Squad didn't carry guns, that was the whole point. Aside from the title, this movie had nothing to do with the TV show
7. McHale's Navy: Let's remake a classic comedy! OK, who should we get to reinvent one of the greatest comedy roles on TV? How about Tom Arnold? GENIUS! If it weren't for the appearance of Ernest Borgnine (which I hear cost a bundle) this movie wouldn't even get shown on Comedy Central.
8. The Flintstones: Yabba Dabba DON'T! Please see number 3.
9. Scooby Doo: Aside from the age-old problem of characters doing thing they would never do on the original show, this movie had way too much CGI. They should have just made the whole thing a cartoon. Wait a minute, a Scooby Doo cartoon? What a great idea.
10. Leave it to Beaver: This is a valiant effort, but c'mon guys, it's the Beaver, you gotta try a little harder. Personally, I think this movie should have never been made, mainly because, what made the show great was it's simplicity, and a simple movie is one I don't want to see.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
3-29-2007 @ 10:21AM
Dafyd Jones said...
Inspector Gadget?
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3-29-2007 @ 10:34AM
jason said...
Also:
Starsky & Hutch
Fat Albert
My Favorite Martian
Any SNL skit turned into a film except for the first Wayne's World. (Not quite on topic, but worth mentioning)
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3-29-2007 @ 10:39AM
David said...
The Coneheads is a great movie!
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3-29-2007 @ 10:40AM
Hank Shiffman said...
I'm one of those who liked George of the Jungle. A lot. I thought Brendan Fraser managed to combine utterly dense with enough charm to make the character watchable. On the other hand, Dudley Do-Right was a total disaster from opening credits to closing.
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3-29-2007 @ 10:52AM
Danny said...
Bewitched. God that was awful.
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3-29-2007 @ 11:02AM
Akbar Fazil said...
Jason,
How about a little film called The Blues Brothers?
Way better than Waynes World.
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3-29-2007 @ 11:04AM
Vito said...
I do hope you stayed long enough in The Avengers to enjoy the bear suit chase scene that will make you laugh like you're high, and might make you laugh harder if you WERE high (wouldn't know, only needed to see that once).
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3-29-2007 @ 11:08AM
Wild Bill said...
Sgt. Bilko with Steve Martin stunk.
Nearly all the movies based on SNL skits stink, save The Blues Brothers and Waynes World:
Blues Brothers 2000
Wayne's World 2
Coneheads
It's Pat...the Movie
Stuart Saves His Family
A Night at the Roxbury
Superstar
The Ladies Man
All are terrible!
Reply
3-29-2007 @ 11:42AM
BoomFoxx said...
While certainly not the worst, I think it should be noted how pissed off I was when they made Phelps the bad guy in Mission Impossible. Not to mention how they turned a great tv show about deception and trechery into a lame blow 'em up film.
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3-29-2007 @ 12:11PM
Wam said...
A little show called Dennis the Menace, great. Movie...filth. I also thought the Twin Peaks movie blew. And may I go ahead and call The Simpsons to the table, as they should have made the movie in 1997 (when it was still funny and relevant), not 2007.
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3-29-2007 @ 1:05PM
Marc said...
You obviously did not see Dukes of Hazzard. Both that movie and the Direct to DVD sequel/prequel disgraced the show in every way possible, making it more about T&A than anything else.
Dukes of Hazzard should be #1 on that list.
George of the Jungle was actually somewhat funny. Dukes was a disgrace.
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3-29-2007 @ 12:12PM
Bill said...
Vito: Excellent point. If you 're able to get past the fact that the movie is not at all faithful to the show and the general crappiness of the rest of the movie, the bear suit chase scene is awesome. A great sequence in an otherwise terrible movie.
And the Wild Wild West movie always cracks me up. Not the actual movie, but Kevin Smith tells this story of his attempt to write a Superman script with this producer guy who asks that he stay true to the comics except Superman doesn't fly or wear a costume, and that somewhere in the third act there be a "giant f***ing spider." Smith was horrified, for obvious reasons. The project never happens, but years later this same guy produces Wild Wild West, and Kevin Smith seemed strangely happy that the guy finally got his "giant f***ing spider."
http://popculturejunk.blogspot.com/
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3-29-2007 @ 12:31PM
Chuck said...
The Honeymooners
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3-29-2007 @ 12:54PM
Bearman said...
I say remove Wild Wild West which I found entertaining (except for the spider part) and replace it with DRAGNET.
Night at the Roxbury is hilarious and one of the few Will Ferrell movies I actually like.
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3-29-2007 @ 1:40PM
Mark Rabinowitz said...
Ummmm...The Saint? Gotta have The Saint in there.
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3-29-2007 @ 1:42PM
Chuck said...
Yes, Bewitched is at the top of my list! I shudder to think what they'll do to "I Dream of Jeannie." I mean, Jimmy Fallon as Maj. Nelson? WTF?!?!? Maj. Healy, maybe, but not Maj. Nelson! AARRGGHHH!!!!!
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3-29-2007 @ 2:24PM
David said...
We all forgot Gardield. Great cartoon, terrible movies.
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3-29-2007 @ 3:00PM
RAB said...
I agree with everything that's been said so far by everyone...but I do want to mention a really weird tangent. The Flintstones was terrible, but I genuinely enjoyed the "sequel" Viva Rock Vegas. It's the same director...but the writers are completely different and, just as importantly, the cast are completely different and vastly better. Plus a really prominent role for Harvey Korman. The end result was a film that got everything right that the first one got wrong. As I say, this is a tangent because the topic here is not "surprisingly good sequels to bad movies based on tv shows" but this one might be worth checking out by people who rightly loathed the first one.
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3-29-2007 @ 11:14PM
Dante Amore said...
Star Trek: The Motion Picture
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3-29-2007 @ 9:49PM
Eklen said...
Whaaat? Wild bill said Coneheads was a bad movie???? All in all, id have to agree with the TVS list. Except i enjoyed lost in space when i saw it (though i never watched the show)
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