The 10 Worst TV Shows Inspired By Movies

TV adaptations of movies are tricky. For every high quality hit like M*A*S*H, Buffy: The Vampire Slayer, and Friday Night Lights—shows that actually justify the cash-grabbing move by studio execs—there are several more, like Blade: The Series and Planet of the Apes, that wind up being flimsy husks that barely resemble the brilliance of their movie counterparts. Actors get recast, plots get watered down, and budgets get slashed by penny-pinching executives. Simply put, whenever one of these TV shows debuts, it’s always best to put it on mute and pick up a good book.

The latest show to enter this generally cringe-worthy pantheon is FX’s Anger Management, starring none other than Charlie Sheen. Based off of the 2003 comedy that featured since-fallen star Adam Sandler and Jack Nicholson, this show follows a therapist (Sheen) whose own rage issues curtailed a professional baseball career, and it could potentially be the rare movie-to-TV translation that doesn’t make us want to rip our hair out by the roots. But before you check out the premiere of Anger Management tonight at 9 p.m. on FX, take a look at how bad it could potentially be with our list of The 10 Worst TV Shows Inspired by Movies.

RELATED: Green Label - Movies That Should Become TV Shows

Written by Jason Serafino (@serafinoj1)

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Comic book fans everywhere were in for a surprise when the Blade movie series became one of the most successful superhero franchises of all time; however, when the property was brought to the small screen, none of the magic from the films came along for the ride. With Sticky Fingaz filling in for the role of the Blade, the vampire hunting hlaf-vamp that was originally played to perfection by Wesley Snipes, this show never found a proper footing on Spike TV. Mr. Fingaz put in an admirable effort, but in the end we’ll always remember Snipes as our favorite IRS-avoiding vampire hunter.

There were a multitude of problems with this show. First, the visual style that Guillermo del Toro brought to Blade 2 was completely gone, as the talent behind the show had to find a way to bring Blade’s world to life on a much smaller budget. Secondly, all of the violence and bloodsucking mayhem from the films had to be significantly toned down for a much stricter set of TV standards. And worst of all, no real villains from the Marvel comics showed up to square-off against the daywalker. This was the perfect recipe for a show that disappointed fans of the movies and comics alike.

It only lasted a mere 14 episodes, but the live-action TV adaptation of Planet of the Apes wasted no time trivializing the classic movie series. It’s not that the show was out-and-out abysmal, it’s just that it heavily relied on formulaic plots and characters that very rarely changed from week to week.

But it wasn't only the plots and characters that took a hit; it was the budget too. The original Apes movie was so far ahead of its time in terms of makeup and special effects that it still holds up today. But that type of production budget isn’t possible on a TV show, so the look of the apes and the sets took a serious step backward from the films.

It also didn’t help that the series’ human stars, Ron Harper and James Naughton, simply couldn’t compare to Charlton Heston. Fortunately, Roddy McDowall returned as the ape Galen to salvage something here. The show still tried to retain the socially conscious leanings of the original movies, but it’s plainly obvious that Planet of the Apes was a sad way for CBS to try and retain interest in the series after the original film franchise had ended.

Clueless entered the zeitgeist of America in the ‘90s by portraying members of the tail-end of Generation X as nothing but a bunch of materialistic, self-absorbed, slackers with way too much disposable income at their fingertips. It was completely on point and incredibly entertaining. But any magic that director Amy Heckerling and Alicia Silverstone put up on the screen was gone by the time ABC launched an adaptation of Clueless on TV in 1996.

Oddly enough, this is one of the rare movie-to-TV adaptations to actually retains some members of the original cast, including sexy Stacey Dash, but it wasn’t enough to save it from being relegated to the wastelands of UPN after its first season. Lacking the original movie’s charm and vision, this show quickly became generic TV fodder that simply served to clog up the airwaves. It’s sad that a movie based off of Jane Austen’s Emma couldn’t spawn a TV show that was more watchable than Homeboys in Outer Space.

In the pre-Peter Jackson remake days, the only glimmer of hope for King Kong fans was the short-lived Kong: The Animated Series. Unfortunately, after seeing only a couple of episodes, most fans probably would rather watch the 1976 remake on a continuous loop. The show basically dealt with a clone of the original Kong traveling around the world with a ragtag group of explorers to find some mythical ancient stones. Yeah, we’re not kidding.

This show ranged from incredibly childish, to terribly frustrating, week in and week out. The animation was decent, but it’s hard to swallow some of the human characters and plots that Kong had to deal with. We understand this was made for children at the time, but even they know when they’re being served lousy television. That’s why most of them probably went right for the remote to find far better animated fare.

When Shaft was first released in theaters in 1971, Richard Roundtree’s performance as the blaxploitation antihero quickly made him a cultural icon. Then, when it was announced that the property would be coming to TV along with Roundtree, people must have absolutely flipped. Unfortunately, the show wound up as nothing more than a black eye on the Shaft legacy, and a huge miscalculation by CBS.

The biggest sin that the TV version of Shaft committed during its seven-episode run was to attempt to tone down one of the most iconic characters in the history of film. John Shaft was no longer a renegade private detective on the outskirts of the law; instead, he was one of the good guys working alongside the establishment.

That meant no more foul language; no real violence; and no more shots of the sleazy, strip club-ridden streets of '70s Manhattan. Sure, Roundtree was still Shaft, but it seemed like someone had stolen his edge and replaced it with cotton candy.

Oh this was bad. After Dumb and Dumber became a monster hit in 1994, ABC decided to rush a cartoon featuring Harry and Lloyd into production to piggyback off of that success. The only problem was that this toon was aimed at children; the same exact demographic that was too young to actually go see the movie when it came out. So instead of retaining the gut-busting—and admittedly juvenile—humor from the movie, the show went a route that was more reminiscent of Ren & Stimpy.

Featuring a talking beaver named Kitty, this show was the bottom of the barrel as far as Saturday morning cartoons were concerned. No cast members from the film lent their voices to this project, and it only lasted a little over three months before mercifully being given the ax. Perhaps people had unrealistic expectations for the show, but it’s hard to believe that the talent behind this cartoon couldn’t have done a bit better than this.

Well after the Police Academy movies gave America a chuckle in the '80s, a live-action series based on the property was launched in the late ‘90s with horrifying results. Aside from Michael Winslow (the guy who could make sound effects with his voice) none of the original cast bothered to show up for this train wreck. We’re not saying the original movies were high art, but this show managed to make the dreadful direct-to-video sequels look like the lovechild of Citizen Kane and Casablanca in comparison.

Severely sterilized for television, this series sapped away the charm of the original movie and went for plots and laughs that were the lowest of the low brow. The first Police Academy movie is the type of guilty pleasure that everyone secretly enjoys; however, we can’t imagine anyone pulling this series out to watch on a rainy day.

Tell us if this sounds like a good idea: Take the premise of a cult-classic movie, change nearly every character for absolutely no reason, strip away everything that made it funny, and turn it into a TV show. Sounds like typical Hollywood, right? And that's exactly what NBC did with the short-lived TV series based on Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. This wasn’t just bad—it was Veronica’s Closet bad.

Similar to the movie, Ferris (played by Charlie Schlatter) is self-aware of the plots of the episodes and often breaks the fourth wall in order to talk to the audience. But in this universe, Ferris knows that a movie has been based on his life, and he even goes as far as to cut a cardboard cutout of Matthew Broderick in half with a chainsaw because he disliked his portrayal so much. It’s a concept worthy of the surreal mind of David Lynch, but it was done with only a fraction of the success.

The only notable aspect of this series is that it features a very young Jennifer Aniston as Jeannie Bueller, Ferris’ sister. But even that novelty wears off once the characters begin to open their mouths.

Nothing makes high school kids want to further their education more than Animal House. The hilarious 1978 comedy about a rowdy fraternity house was the ideal movie for the younger generation to get a dangerously skewed perspective on how they should act while in college, and at the time it was hailed as genius. Then ABC came along and tried to capture lighting in a bottle again with the sitcom Delta House.

The highlight of the original was John Belushi’s portrayal of Bluto, the overweight, beer chugging, loudmouth. He intelligently decided not to join this mess, so the producers replaced him with Josh Mostrel, who played his brother, Blotto. This was just one of the many eye-rolling changes that hit the woefully unfunny show. Worst of all, the humor was toned down for a mainstream network audience, thus completely missing the point of the movie.

Producers apparently clashed with the network repeatedly over the content, and before long, Delta House was on the scrap heap. The only positive to come out of it was the fact that it served as an initial launching pad for the career of Michelle Pfeiffer.

Its star may have faded since 2002, but when My Big Fat Greek Wedding was first released in theaters, it was an overwhelming hit that made over $350 million on a $5 million budget. Obviously the eyes of network executives were soon replaced by cartoonish dollar signs as CBS jumped at the chance to bring the hit film to the small screen. Big mistake.

After just seven episodes, Nia Vardalos' show came to a screeching halt and was never heard from again. The fresh feel and genuine humor of the original movie got lost in translation as My Big Fat Greek Life settled on being a rather formulaic sitcom, as opposed to relying on what made the original so successful.

With other popular sitcoms like King of Queens and Everybody Loves Raymond reigning supreme at CBS at the time, there was just no room for My Big Fat Greek Life. It also didn’t help that one of the main stars from the movie, John Corbett, who played her husband, had to be replaced due to scheduling issues. Not a good way to start.